Electric vehicle rebate among staff proposals to speed up Toronto’s target to become a carbon neutral city
With a climate emergency looming large, staff at Toronto Community Housing are proposing the use of money saved from rent rebates from electric vehicles to accelerate the target of becoming carbon neutral.
Rent rebates would be paid by the city, after deducting the cost of the rebates, and would be paid by the tenants who choose to use the vehicles.
The money for the rebate would be raised from existing, planned and upcoming rebates for electric vehicles.
With the help of the vehicles, the city could have a new fleet of electric vehicles for its residents, and would have the advantage of a rebate to offset the cost of the vehicles, plus the rebate from existing programs.
The cars, which are mostly electric, can be driven for free, unlike gas-powered cars, which cost money to drive and a yearly gas tax.
The city’s current fleet consists of five cars, all electric. The city is considering buying another electric vehicle for rebates of up to $2,500 in the year 2016.
In addition to the rebate from the cars, the vehicles also provide additional environmental benefits, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, energy-efficient light bulbs and even reduced CO2 emissions from the vehicle’s batteries.
If the city were to use a percentage of the rebate from the vehicles to offset the costs of the cars, the cars could be cost effective.
Toronto is currently looking at converting to a zero-emissions fleet by 2030, but the current fleet is not considered a zero-emission fleet, because the cars run on gasoline.
The cars would be used as part of a pilot project, in which electric vehicles are used, and then the rebate system would be modified in the future.
While the rebates are a good idea, it is the other parts of the plan that could become controversial.