Ontario Introduces New EV Incentive Program

TORONTO - - The program provides incentives for purchasing electric vehicles, and for installing chargers in homes and businesses.

Ontario's first Electric Vehicle Incentive Program was launched in 2010. Through this program, incentives were provided for the purchase of 4,800 electric vehicles and about 1,100 home chargers. Currently, 5,800 EVs operate in the province.

The new program

- provides up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of chargers for home and business use

- increases the current incentive range for EVs from $5,000 - $8,500 to $6,000 - $10,000

- provides an opportunity to receive an additional $3,000 incentive for vehicles with larger battery capacities

- provides an additional $1,000 incentive for vehicles with five or more seats

- continues to provide incentives linked to battery capacity of more than 5 kilowatt-hours

- caps incentives for vehicles priced between $75,000 and $150,000 at $3,000

The incentives build on a December 2015 announcement that the province will invest an additional $20 million in creating a network of fast-charging public EV charging stations to support city-to-city and in-city EV travel across the province. Transportation is the single-largest emitting sector in OntarioÂ’s economy. Greenhouse gases from cars account for more emissions than those from industries such as iron, steel, cement and chemicals combined.