The Province of Ontario once provided incentives of up to $14,000 to support the purchase or lease of eligible electric and hydrogen vehicles and offered an EV charging station rebate, also known as the Electric Vehicle Charging Incentive Program, which offered up to $1,000 back on every eligible charging station installed. That rebate program ended in 2018. With the elimination of these incentive programs and grant funding opportunities sales of EVs dropped by 55 per cent in 2018.

Currently, no similar rebate or incentive exists for residents of Ontario.

As the Provincial government recently committed to providing millions of dollars in funding towards securing EV production in Ontario, it is hoped that rebate programs supporting the purchase of EVs and/or the installation of EV infrastructure may return.

Without the incentive program, expansion of electric vehicles in the corporate fleet is more expensive. The City established Capital Project OPS-027-18 (Greening the Fleet) which is used to cover the incremental vehicle cost above that of an internal combustion engine vehicle and for the purchase and installation of electric charging stations. The Greening the Fleet capital project will provide $50,000 in funding beginning in 2022.

Risk Analysis:

Climate Change Mitigation

Switching from fossil fuels to electric vehicles will lead to a decrease in GHG emissions. The Community Energy Plan (CEP) currently includes a target participation level of 10 percent of light duty cars and trucks by 2041. Achieving the 10% target will result in about 40,000 tonnes CO2 reduction or about 5 percent of the total transportation emissions. Should the targets set in the CEP regarding the adoption of zero emission vehicles not be met, there is a risk that the environmental emission targets set out will not be achieved.

Technological Risk :

The risks associated with investing in forward-looking technology include rapid increases in technology resulting in new industry standards – i.e. charging standards or other zero emission vehicles using different methods such as hydrogen fuel cell technology. Hydrogen fuel cells currently have two distinct advantages to electric vehicles – longer driving ranges and shorter refuelling times. However, there is a current lack of hydrogen refuelling stations.

With respect to electric vehicles, significant changes or improvements to electric battery capacity or charging methods/capabilities (i.e. in-road charging, vehicle-to grid charging) wireless) also represent a risk to investing in current generation hardware.

Financial Matters:

Retrofitting infrastructure to accommodate EV charging can be expensive. Therefore, it is advantageous to install EV infrastructure during construction.