Reducing pollution from the transportation sector is critical to Canada achieving its climate targets. That's why the Government of Canada is making it more affordable for Canadians to purchase, charge and drive electric vehicles (EV) across the country.
ZEV Infrastructure Landing Page
Today, Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, launched a new, integrated, federal zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) infrastructure landing page.
The ZEV infrastructure landing page is an NRCan-led web presence dedicated to information on federal programs supporting the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) chargers and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. This landing page, developed by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) in collaboration with Infrastructure Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), consolidates federal program streams, including the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP), the CIB's Charging and Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure Initiative and Infrastructure Canada's Zero-Emission Transit Fund. It will help Canadians locate federally supported and publicly accessible chargers from coast to coast to coast.
In order to ensure Canadian businesses and organizations have access to the most comprehensive federal funding for their ZEV infrastructure projects, NRCan and CIB have developed an infrastructure pre-screen that will identify the funding opportunities best suited to their needs. This new, single window is the result of close collaboration between NRCan and CIB, as they are jointly delivering on the commitment to support the installation of an additional 50,000 chargers and hydrogen refuelling stations.
New EV Chargers in Vancouver
Parliamentary Secretary Dabrusin also announced a $280,000 investment in PCI Developments to install 75 EV chargers at two multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Vancouver.
Funded through NRCan's ZEVIP, the chargers will be available to Vancouverites by November 2023. PCI Developments also contributed over $280,000, bringing the total project cost to over $560,000.
Since 2016, the Government of Canada has invested a historic $1 billion to make ZEVs more affordable and chargers more accessible for Canadians. These investments are supporting the establishment of a coast-to-coast network of chargers in local areas where Canadians live, work and play, while federal rebates of up to $5,000 are helping more Canadians make the switch to a ZEV. The federal government has approved funding to support the installation of over 34,500 ZEV chargers to date.
Budget 2022 delivered an additional $400 million to NRCan and $500 million in financing through the CIB, which is advancing the deployment of 50,000 new EV chargers by 2027. It also announced $1.7 billion to extend the zero-emission vehicle purchase incentive program until March 2025 and the expansion of the types of vehicle models eligible under the program, which would include more vans, trucks and SUVs.
These investments are steps toward reaching Canada's target of ensuring that all new passenger vehicles sold in Canada are zero-emission by 2035 and that 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles sold will be ZEVs by 2040, where feasible. And just like investments in everything from clean technology to nature protection, today's update is part of achieving Canada's ambitious climate change goals to build a cleaner, healthier and affordable future for all Canadians.
