A total of 1,646,609 new motor vehicles were registered in Canada last year.

The number marks a 6.5 percent increase from 2020.

For people who are concerned about greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, there’s a positive side in the figures released Thursday (April 21) by Statistics Canada.

The federal agency reported that zero-emission vehicles made up 5.2 percent of all new motor vehicle vehicles registered in 2021.

Statistics Canada described this development as an “important milestone”.

“This represents a gain of 3 percentage points from 2018, when 2.2% of new motor vehicle registrations were zero-emission vehicles,” the agency reported.

“Within this group,” Statistics Canada continued, “68.3% of new ZEVs registered in 2021 were battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and 31.7% were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).”

Moreover, “New registrations of both of these fuel types increased in 2021, with 78.3% more PHEVs and 50.4% more BEVs than in 2020.”