Toronto’s proposed EV strategy aims to make all transportation electric by 2050

Toronto’s proposed electric vehicle (EV) strategy aims to make all of the city’s transportation electric by 2050, as reported by The Toronto Star.

The proposed strategy was sent to Toronto’s city council infrastructure committee for approval on January 9th.

It aims to boost the current number of electric vehicles from 0.6 percent to five percent by 2025, 20 percent by 2030 and then 80 percent by 2040. The strategy states that the plan is critical in delivering city council’s promise to fight climate change, as vehicles currently account for around 30 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The strategy notes that to reach these goals, there needs to be more public charging stations along with on-street residential plug-in stations for people who don’t have driveways.

Sarah Buchanan, a program manager at Environmental Defence who participated in consultations, told The Toronto Star that the proposal is “ambitious and solid.”

“My concern is implementation — how serious city council is about taking all those steps, because some of them have a price tag upfront,” she said. Buchanan said that the city will require help from other governments, and that the Ford government doesn’t plan to increase electric vehicle ownership.

Data from Electric Mobility Canada released last month showed that electric vehicle sales in Ontario are plummeting following the Progressive Conservative government’s decision to cancel a rebate last year.

Source: The Toronto Star