1913-14 flat tin

1915-16

1917

1918

1919

1920

1921

1922

Style of 1929-30

Style of 1931-32

Style of 1933-34

Style of 1935-37

Style of 1938-48

Windshield sticker for 1944

Style of 1951-54

Style of 1955-61

Style of 1962-63

Style of 1964-65

Style of 1966-68

Style of 1969-72

Style of 1973-75

Style of 1976-80

Style of 1981-88

Style of 1989-92

Style of 1993-96

Style of 1997-date

Style of 1997-date

The first car appeared on the island in 1905, and raised such a ruckus that a law was passed in 1908 outlawing the operation of any motor vehicle.  Automobiles were strictly illegal on PEI until 1913! At that point, owners paid a $5 registration fee and the markers were provided by the owner.  The marker carried the registration number and "PEI". The example shown here, #11, was registered to a McLaughlin Touring that was driven across Canada by George A. B. MacDonald - a remarkable feat in those days!

It is not clear when the province started issuing the license plates; actual examples point to around 1915-16 as shown at left.  But with so few examples surviving in the absence of any provincial records we probably will never know for sure.  Plates were not dated until 1923, and up until that point, were made of various materials and color coded to the year, much like Quebec.

Needless to say, because of the small population, registration figures remained much lower than any other province save for Newfoundland (which didn't become a province until 1949).  Early PEI plates are very hard to find today.
 

• The 1915 example shown seems to have been remade into a 1916.
• The 1920-22 plates were undated, but the range of digits dictated the year:
• 1920: 1001-3000
• 1921: 3001-5000
• 1922: 5001-
• Since the late 40's, if you lost one of your license plates, the DMV would make you up a new one from a blank plate.  In the beginning the numbers were painted on, but in more recent times numbered stickers were used.  This practise was abandoned in 1981.

If you look closely, you can see the numbers are really stickers on this replacement plate.

• In 1980 a front plate was no longer required. Therefore a sticker was given out that read "Front plate validation not required".  Since 1981, plates have been for the rear only.
• All plates issued since 1981 are valid.

Examples of the early experimental Scotchlite reflectorized plates. 
As you can see, they did not hold up well in PEI's harsh climate.

• 1973: 100th Anniversary of entry into Confederation (1873)
• One of the more interesting pieces of license plate trivia is that plates for ambulances and hearses were reissued very quickly without a slogan in 1973!  When you think about it, such a vehicle is "No place to be in..." 
  
• 1977: Annual Scout Jamboree was held in PEI.
• 1989: CJ '89 Means "Canadian Jamboree '89".  The Boy Scouts return to PEI.
• The Anne of Green Gables design was dropped because of a copyright issue.
• In 1998 two designs became available to the motorist:  the Confederation Bridge and Confederation House.  The Bridge plate is the more popular one, and the one supplied by default.

The ABC-123 format introduced in 1981 is not as simple as one might think.  It is too complex to describe here, but suffice it to say they didn't start all plates with 'A' because with the number of registrations, they would have never  gotten to 'B'!