Ontario Doubles Down On Electric Car Incentives

Ontario is serious about reducing its carbon emissions and wants to encourage its residents to buy an electric car. Its leaders know that doing so will take money. Lots of money. A new incentive program will pay drivers up to $14,000 to buy an electric car. At present, there are only 5,800 electric cars on the road in Ontario, which is Canada’s most populous province. “We know we can do better than that,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said Wednesday,  according to the Toronto Star.

The goal of the $20-million program is to get people thinking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, which account for 35% of all emissions in the province.  “Cars account for more greenhouse gas emissions than the iron, steel, cement and chemical industries combined,” Wynne says.

Under the current incentive plan which went into effect in 2010, electric car buyers are eligible for subsidies of between $5,000 and $8,500, depending on the price of the vehicle. Under the new program, the incentives will increase to between $6,000 and $10,000. If the car costs more than $75,000, the amount is limited to $3,000, on the theory that someone who can afford a car that expensive doesn’t need as much help from the taxpayers.

Wynne says some plug-in hybrid cars will qualify if they are approved by the Ministry of Transport. Also, the total subsidy can rise to as much as $14,000 if an electric car has an extra-large battery and seats at least five people, making it suitable for carpooling. Details about what constitutes an extra large battery have not yet been finalized. If the new Chevy Bolt qualifies for the maximum subsidy, that could make it very attractive to Ontario drivers.

Ontario is aggressively pursuing other methods to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% below 1990 levels. It will soon announce a cap-and-trade system for industrial carbon emissions. The government is also boosting its funding to build more electric vehicle charging stations by $20 million.  Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said electric vehicles can use HOV lane regardless of how many people are riding in them and will be able to use high occupancy toll lanes foe free once they are up and running.

Getting people to transition to zero emissions cars isn’t hard. All it takes is commitment, leadership, and money — three concepts the US Congress is largely unfamiliar with.

City of Windsor, Ontario first in North America to deploy BYD electric buses

The City of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, has signed a letter of intent to purchase up to 10 BYD 40-foot electric buses for City transit services in 2012. The agreement also opens talks to bring manufacturing of BYD buses to the Ontario region in the near future. Transit Windsor has the unique distinction of running in Canada as well as in Detroit, making this launch one that serves on both Canadian and United States’ roads.

Bus design for Windsor. Click to enlarge.

Additionally, BYD and Enwin Utilities are working towards having a master plan to repurpose the Windsor bus batteries into fixed Energy Storage Stations when the buses retire (in 12 to 15 years).

One of our primary goals was to position Windsor among the first cities in North America to pioneer the efficient use of electric buses within its public transit authority and to establish Windsor as a hub for the development, manufacture and commercialization of energy products including electric buses.

—Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis

BYD is in the process of completing FMVSS, CMVSS, and other certification testing in North America this year with further plans for fleet sales and deliveries after the first Windsor bus deliveries. BYD’s all-electric vehicles in commercial fleets have traveled over 10 million miles over the last two years. BYD has delivered more than 300 all-electric buses worldwide and has orders for more than 1300 more in 2012, making it the largest electric bus manufacturer in the world, according to the company.



Source: Green Car Congress

Canadian Government to Offer Up to $10,000 in EV Subsidies

The 2011 Chevy Volt





The Canadian government has just invoked the ire of Toyota Motor Company by offering up to $10,000 on vehicles like the Chevy Volt. The rebates take effect in July 2010 and the Volt will most likely qualify for the maximum rebate. Since Toyota does not have any concrete plans for mass producing plug-in hybrid vehicles, they are crying foul and bitterly complaining.

Currently in the US, Federal tax rebates up to $7,500 apply to vehicles that are electrified, whether they be all electric of plug-in hybrids.

From The Windsor Star:

Toyota Motor Corp. and several other critics are sounding an alarm over the Ontario government's plan to offer rebates of up to $10,000 to people who buy plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles.

Toyota says the move looks like a deliberate ploy to help General Motors Corp., in which the province is now a minority shareholder after it rescued the company, along with the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty chose a GM Chevrolet dealership in Toronto on Wednesday in which to announce that his Liberal government would offer the rebates on new vehicles after July 1, 2010. Stepping in and out of GM's upcoming Chevrolet Volt electric car, he said he wants one out of every 20 vehicles in Ontario to be electrically powered by 2020.

Ontario had to help stabilize the auto industry by providing aid to GM and Chrysler Group LLC, said Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada Inc. But he said that was meant to be a one-time action -- step in and get out.

"How long does this continue?" Beatty said. "We can't set up a situation where the future of the industry depends on constant subsidies."

"This suggests that (the government) is prepared to be interventionist beyond their aim to help the industry recover."

Toyota, known for its hybrid technology, was not informed of the government's intention to offer the rebates and was taken off guard upon learning the announcement venue was a Chevrolet dealership, Beatty said. "The question is: Is this a well thought-out industry strategy? Or is it sort of the next stage in advancing a particular product and helping a particular company?"

Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers echoed Beatty's concern. "A cynic would say this is just government subsidizing a product that is produced by a company they own. I think that is a bit too cynical. I just think it is bad policy, from a variety of perspectives."

Ontario lent General Motors US$3.16 billion as part of an overall US$60-billion rescue package for the automaker. Together with the federal government, it now owns a 12 per cent stake in the revamped GM, which exited bankruptcy protection last week.

"The fact they are offering such a high upfront incentive is an admission that there is high risk for this technology," DesRosiers said. "Years before the vehicles are available, they're putting a bribe of $10,000 in the marketplace, and the only reason they do that is because they anticipate they aren't going to sell."

DesRosiers said the government would have been further ahead if it followed the lead of the U.S., which has invested $25 billion in a fund to promote electric battery technology.

"If the government was serious about helping the electric car industry, they would have put one, two, three, five billion dollars into a fund to promote companies to develop the technology," he said.

Ontario's goal is to become a world leader in building and driving electric cars, McGuinty told reporters.

"This would put Ontarians into cleaner, more efficient vehicles, and expand the electric vehicle market for manufacturers," he said. "Expanding the use of electric vehicles by consumers and government will help create and sustain jobs in the auto sector and put Ontario at the forefront of the new, green economy in North America."