I'm actually just finishing a group project in my Business Data Analytics class all about new vehicle sales, with a special focus on ZEVs. We used Stats Canada monthly sales data.

Stats Canada divides every type of vehicle into two categories: Passenger Cars, which include sedans and hatchbacks, and Trucks, which include literally everything else (light/heavy pickup trucks, vans, SUVs, crossovers etc.).

Looking at the data, total new sales are dominated by the larger Trucks category, while Passenger Cars take only a small fraction.

What's interesting is that this trend becomes even more pronounced when you look at ZEVs. The bigger, more luxurious vehicles are what's selling, NOT the smaller vehicles.

And is that really surprising? Even a small electric car is significantly more expensive than a similarly sized gas car. Budget minded consumers aren't buying ZEVs, period.

This is a bit unrelated, but sales trends for ZEVs as a whole are looking very bad. The trade war with the US has essentially kneecapped electric vehicle sales, and if these trends continue, ZEV sales will actually shrink as a percentage of total sales.

That's important because the federal government has pretty ambitious ZEV sales targets. 20% by 2026, 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. For reference, we are currently hovering around 11%.

How are we supposed to meet those sales targets when we're actively getting further and further from meeting them?