Plug in, breathe easy

Anyone who’s ever been trapped in a traffic jam on a highway with the gas gauge on empty knows well the fear of running out of fuel.

For electric car drivers that fear factor, dubbed “range anxiety,” is much more acute. They can’t just cruise into any gas station to fuel up their cars. Instead, they must carefully plan any trip, factoring in where they can charge their engines and how long it will take.

That’s a challenge that is suppressing electric car sales. Indeed, there are currently only 7,000 on Ontario roads. That’s despite years of government rebates of up to $14,000 for a new electric car, aimed at encouraging more sales because of the hefty impact they have on reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change.

So it’s welcome news that the Wynne government has put the pedal to the metal with a $20 million “build-it-and-they-willcome” plan that will see a new network of almost 500 charging stations across the province at stores, fast-food restaurants and downtown office towers by the end of March 2017.

The charging stations are just a small part of the province’s wide-ranging $8.3-billion plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they are an important component. More than a third of Ontario’s greenhouse gas pollution is caused by the transportation sector, with cars and trucks responsible for 70 per cent of that share.

The new charging stations are just the beginning of numerous incentives coming down the road to get drivers to switch to electric cars, including $1,000 rebates to install plugs in garages or carports, a cash-for-clunkers program, and free “fuel” under Ontario’s overnight charging program between 2017 and 2020.

It’s a smart car plan that will increase the chance that the government reaches its target of increasing the sale of electric vehicles to 5 per cent of the total — or about 14,000 a year — by 2020. We’ll all be able to breathe easier if that target is reached.