Ontario making electrical vehicles more affordable

With the rate of air pollution growing, people are trying to do something about environmental concerns. The Ontario government is making electric vehicles more affordable to the public through an incentive program that aims to reduce greenhouse gases and help communities to switch.

The province’s first Electric Vehicle Incentive Program was announced in 2010. The new program will give people more reasons to go green. Also, there will be an increase incentive range for those who choose to buy an electric vehicle from between $5,000 and $8,500 to between $6,000 and $10,000. Also, there will be an additional incentive of $1,000 for anyone who buys an electric vehicle with a larger battery and another incentive increase for those who buy an electric vehicle that has five or more seats. These are just some of the many increased incentives.

“It’s a good switch to trying to reduce our environment impact,” Karina Richters said, the environmental coordinator of Windsor Essex County Environment Committee. She points out that it is necessary to have this program for Windsor based on the population of the people who use cars in the city.

“In Windsor, about 25 per cent to 27 per cent depending on the year of our greenhouse gas emissions within our community is based on our transportation. The vehicles people drive are contributing to that 25 per cent, so it’s the significant portion. To trying to turn away from gas vehicles to electric vehicles will provide some reduction in that greenhouse gas community,” she said.

Windsor has been one member of this program trying to reduce air pollution and to encourage its citizens to choose healthier transportation.

“The program that Windsor is actually working with is the one that for $20 million that they put a grant program forward that suggested you can put forward sites in which electric vehicles charging station could be located,” said Melissa Osborne, City of Windsor senior manager of asset planning.

Osborne said that Windsor has submitted various sites they would host. Plug and drive, a non-profit organization is actually submitting the grant on behalf of several different municipalities throughout Ontario and they would create Ontario wide network if the grant is approved by them and Windsor would then hold various sites throughout the city that have electric vehicle charging stations.

“For the location of charging stations, what we are looking at is various the parking lots throughout the city that actually meet the requirements of the guide lines,” Osborne said. “The locations where there is fairly high traffic, they would promote people traveling through the city and those parking lots have been identified as potential opportunities for putting electrical vehicle charging station.”

It is unknown exactly when this will ocarina in Windsor but it looks like there will be more reasons to go green.