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Capital region residents dominate Vancouver Island electric vehicle ownership

Sidney, Saltspring have the most per capita, Port Alberni and Campbell River the least
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Sidney records the second-highest per capita rate of electric vehicle ownership on Vancouver Island with 8.5 vehicles per 1,000 residents (Wolf Depner/News Staff)

Statistics from the Victoria Electric Vehicle Association show the Greater Victoria area as an early adopter when it comes to the use of electric vehicles on Vancouver Island.

The figures show 8.5 licensed full electric vehicles per 1,000 capital region residents as of March 31 – 198 total vehicles.

The average of the 19 Vancouver Island communities is 3.8. Campbell River and Port Alberni share last place with 0.3 vehicles per 1,000.

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Perhaps not surprisingly, Salt Spring Island leads all communities on a per capita basis by a far margin, with 15.2 licensed full electric vehicles per 1,000 residents. Metchosin ranks third on a capita basis with 7.3, behind Sidney and ahead of Central Saanich.

These figures mean Sidney ranks fourth in ownership and second on a per capita basis. Central Saanich ranks in 11th place in raw numbers, but fourth on a per capita basis.

Saanich, Oak Bay and Victoria lead all Vancouver Island communities in terms of raw numbers with 676, 239 and 212 vehicles respectively. Their larger populations, of course, mean that they rank behind smaller communities on a per capita, with Saanich in sixth place with six vehicles per capita, behind Sooke, which records 6.9 vehicles.

Oak Bay ranks seventh in per capita with 5.9, while Victoria ranks ninth with 4.1 vehicles per 1,000 residents, placing it behind Langford/Highlands with a per capita rate of 4.2 and ahead of Esquimalt with 3.5.



nick.murray@peninsulanewsreview.com

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wolfgang.depner@peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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