Ontario is adding workplace incentives to help get more electric vehicle infrastructure installed at businesses around the province.
Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca announced the Workplace Electric Vehicle Charging Incentive yesterday at the Electric Vehicle Discovery Centre in Toronto. The new program will support employers and building owners who want to add EV chargers.
The program will pay for up to 80 percent of the capital costs to install Level 2 chargers, with a maximum payout of $7,500 per charging space. Funding for the incentive will come from funds raised by Ontario's carbon trade market.
Level 2 chargers use 240-volt electrical connections, like a stove or dryer, and can give an electric vehicle 18 to 100 km of range per hour depending on the charger and the vehicle.
The number of chargers allowed per workplace is limited by the number of parking spaces. It starts with up to two chargers for up to 74 parking spaces, and ramps up with parking lots having more than 1,250 spaces allowed 50 charging station incentives. Although if the parking spaces are available to the public, like in a parking garage, the number of incentives per space is reduced. Lots up to 149 spaces get two incentives and 2,500 are required for the maximum incentive.
There is a limit on the amount of funding for the program, with applications closing when funding is exhausted, but the government hasn't said what the limit is. Subsidized installations would not be required to allow free charging, but are required to stay in operation with that building or workplace for five years.
The new incentives will help condo and apartment dwellers who don't have access to garage charging to consider plug-in vehicles. It also helps push owners of existing buildings to add charging stations, and also benefits those constructing new buildings which are required to have chargers as part of the province's new EV-friendly building code regulations.
The province hopes to hit a sales goal of five percent of new car sales per year (around 14,000) being EVs by 2020.
