Celebrating batteries big and small and what we do with them

Canada is a battery powerhouse when it comes to the raw materials needed to make them, and it’s a rapidly growing manufacturer of batteries too.

Canada’s battery manufacturing industries have grown by leaps and bounds over a five-year period, with revenue from manufactured goods over quadrupling, from $175,741 million in 2019 to $779,980 million in 2024.

Total salaries and wages in the battery manufacturing industry almost doubled from 2023 to 2024, rising from $73.9 million to $144.3 million.

Canada’s battery manufacturing industries are mostly concentrated in Ontario and Quebec.

Batteries are increasingly being used to power motor vehicles. Indeed, approximately 1 in 20 light-duty vehicles registered in Canada in 2024 were electric vehicles. This included 585,978 hybrid electric vehicles, 487,618 battery electric vehicles and 197,581 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Overall, in 2024, registrations of light-duty electric vehicles rose by over one-third (+38.6%) from 2023, with battery electric vehicles (+48.8%) growing at the fastest pace.

Although growth in new registrations of plug-in hybrid vehicles and battery-electric vehicles was strong in 2024, its momentum has slowed as some government rebate programs have been paused or reduced starting in January 2025. In contrast, new registrations of hybrid electric vehicles have increased in the first three quarters of 2025.

The most common battery is, of course, the humble household battery used to power remote controls, flashlights or toys.

Every two years, we ask Canadian households what they do with their dead or unwanted batteries. In 2023, just over two-thirds (68%) of Canadian households had dead or unwanted batteries to dispose of. Among these households, 61% took or sent their dead or unwanted batteries to a depot or drop-off centre, 18% threw them in the garbage and 11% returned them to a supplier or retailer.

Canada produces copper, gold, lithium and nickel, which are used in the production of batteries. Ontario and Quebec were Canada’s largest producers of gold, nickel and cobalt in 2023, while British Columbia accounted for almost half of all copper produced nationally.

Mining data for reference year 2024 and preliminary estimates for 2025 will be released on February 25, 2026.