Canada's China-EV import quota: one period closes, a slower one begins

When we wrote about Canada's new quota for Chinese-built EVs two weeks ago, the first six-month period still had a few days left to run. It has since closed, and a second period has opened at a noticeably different pace.

The government's quota tracker, updated September 18, 2026, shows the first period (March 1 – August 31) finished at 15,603 of its 24,500-unit allowance — about 64%. The second period, which opened September 1 and runs to February 28, 2027, carries the same 24,500-unit base plus whatever carried over unused from the first. Three weeks in, it has logged just 160 units. Add the two periods together and the full first quota year sits at 15,763 of 49,000 units used, or about 32%, with more than five months left to run.

One detail in the tracker is worth flagging ahead of a rule that has not taken effect yet. Starting in year two, a rising share of the quota must go to EVs priced at or below $35,000 (before freight and duties), beginning at 10% and rising to 50% by year five. That reserve does not apply yet, but roughly half of everything imported under the quota so far (about 7,800 of the 15,763 units) already falls in that price tier.

Separately, the Electric Vehicle Affordability Program (the federal $5,000 rebate toward a new battery-electric vehicle) reported $2.00 billion remaining as of September 1, down from $2.05 billion a month earlier. That works out to roughly $1.6 million a day in claims. It's one data point, not a trend, but it is the first month-over-month comparison we've had.

Nothing about the quota mechanism itself has changed since our last post. What has changed is the evidence: a limit of 49,000 vehicles a year is, for now, being filled slowly by supply and dealer readiness rather than by its own limit.