Ontario to spend $20M on car charging stations

The Ontario government announced plans Tuesday to spend $20 million this year on more public charging stations for electric vehicles.

The province is seeking public and private sector partners to create a network of fast-charging EV stations in cities, along highways and at workplaces, apartments, condominiums and public places across Ontario.

“Climate change is already costing the people of Ontario,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said in a statement. “It has devastated communities, damaged homes, businesses and crops, and increased insurance costs. Our government’s new Green Investment Fund will support concrete steps toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Building more charging stations will promote sustainable transportation while empowering people in Ontario who want to take action in the fight against climate change.”

Wynne and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Glen Murray made the announcement while taking part in the United Nations’ 21st Conference of the Parties on climate change in Paris.

A shift to low- and zero-emission vehicles is key to the fight against climate change and achieving Ontario’s greenhouse gas pollution reduction target of 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, the government said in a statement. Funding for the EV charging stations will come from Ontario’s new $325-million Green Investment Fund.

QUICK FACTS:

Transportation in Ontario is the single-largest emitting sector in our economy. Greenhouse gases from cars account for more emissions than those from industries such as iron, steel, cement, and chemicals combined.

With a growing population and expanding urban regions, transportation emissions pose one of the province’s greatest challenges in achieving its emissions targets.

A Canada 2020 poll shows that 84 per cent of Canadians believe that prosperous countries such as Canada have an obligation to show international leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.In May 2015, Ontario became the first province in Canada to set a midterm greenhouse gas pollution reduction target of 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.

There are approximately 5,400 electric vehicles currently registered in Ontario.