A recent CBC article revealed that Toronto city council and the Canadian federal government will cough up $5,00,000 each for electric vehicle chargers. This $10,000,000 expenditure isn’t for John Q Public’s benefit. Nope. It’s to install 526 new chargers for city-owned vehicles only.
For those keeping score, that is over $19,000 per charger. And since this is a government plan, the cost will surely balloon out of control and be completed well past the December 2025 completion date. As reference, just check out how well construction the Eglinton LRT transit line is going!
Councilor Jennifer McKelvie said at a morning news conference that the city has a fleet of more than 10,000 municipal vehicles; the largest in Canada and among the largest in North America. By using electric vehicles, it’ll bring Toronto closer to net zero emissions by 2040. Th irony is that 60% of global electricity production comes from fossil fuels.
To stay in power, politicians are buying into the electric vehicle myth. Projects are being ‘greenwashed’ to make it seem like the plans are environmentally sound, while elected leaders bury their heads in the sand about how clean electricity is being generated.