City may plug into new provincial funding for EV charging stations

The province's new EV ChargeON program is providing grants to subsidize the construction of new EV charging stations in cities and towns with under 170,000 people

Cambridgetoday.ca
Oct. 25, 2023
Doug Coxon

The City of Cambridge says it will consider applying for a portion of $91 million in new provincial funding made available last week to subsidize the construction of new electric vehicle charging stations outside of large urban centres.

EV ChargeON is open to communities with less than 170,000 people as well as any Indigenous community in Ontario.

The province says the goal of the program is to give drivers the confidence they need to make the transition to electric vehicles.

“Building more public charging stations is part of our government’s plan to be a global leader in the electric vehicle industry and provide more travel options for commuters,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation in a press release.

“The EV ChargeON program will help get more electric vehicles on the road by building the infrastructure needed to support them, while securing a better future for Ontario.”

The province began accepting applications for the program last Friday through a Community Sites Stream. The competitive grant subsidy program will take applications until Jan. 31, 2024.

In addition to municipalities, eligible applicants to the program include businesses, not-for-profit corporations, organizations, and broader public sector institutions like hospitals and universities.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital may also consider plugging into the program, said hospital spokesperson Stephan Beckhoff.

The province says money in the EV ChargeON program will help it build more EV chargers on government-owned land, including Ontario’s highway rest areas, carpool parking lots and tourist destinations such as Ontario Parks.

This includes supporting Ontario’s Ivy Charging Network, which represents the largest public highway fast charging network in the province, with charging stations installed at all 20 renovated ONroute stations along the province’s busiest highways, the 400 and 401.

As of September 2023, Ontario had more than 2,900 public charging stations with 7,900 ports. These include 6,600 Level 2 ports and 1,300 Level 3 fast-charging ports.

The City of Cambridge owns nine public EV stations already.

Seven are Level 2 ChargePoint charging stations, with 14 ports, located in municipal parking lots and two are Level 2, four port, Flo charging stations located on-street.

The city has additional EV stations for its vehicles.

All public stations were partially funded by grant funding except for the one in the Water Street South lot which was donated and upgraded by the city.

The province says that as of September, there were more than 135,000 electric vehicles registered in Ontario, including both battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

By 2030, over one million EVs are expected on Ontario’s roads.