With the Ontario election scheduled to take place next year, the provincial NDP released their zero-emission vehicle strategy this week.
Andrea Horwath announced the strategy earlier this week, saying the ongoing climate crisis is the greatest threat the world faces.
The NDP EV strategy would require all new vehicle sales in Ontario will be zero-emission by 2035. This includes cars and trucks, but does not include heavy-duty trucks.
In addition, all transit fleets will receive provincial support to be electrified by 2040.
Some of the other highlights include:
- Provide Ontario auto manufacturing plants financial incentives to re-tool to produce EVs
- Set a province-wide EV sales target of 15% by 2025, 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2035
- Offer strong incentives to buy EVs and added incentives to buy manufactured-in-Canada EVs. These incentives would exclude luxury vehicles.
- Government of Ontario fleet fully electrified by 2030
- Provide $600 to households who install a charging station in their home
- Require new builds to put vehicle charging capacity in new homes
- Finally, build charging stations on public properties, including along roadways and GO Train stations.
The Ontario provincial election is on June 2, 2022.
The ruling Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario has yet to release their election platform, nor have they released a specific EV strategy ahead of the election. Under Doug Ford, the party eliminated the popular $14,000 EV incentive soon after being elected in 2019.