Electric vehicle rebate among staff proposals to speed up Toronto’s target to become a carbon neutral city (and one of the best ways to do that is to drive a electric vehicle every month)
The Toronto Public Library (TPL) is gearing up to implement a sweeping effort to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gases with an electric car rebate program.
The Library, which is in the early stages of rolling out a pilot program, is hoping to receive public funding in the form of a two-year rebate on annual vehicles purchased with a government grant, with a limit of $5,000.
To qualify, owners of a qualified plug-in vehicle would have to fill out a simple form with a library card number, name of vehicle, and mileage per year.
The library says the program, which would apply to the current fleet of 20 plug-in electric vehicles, is meant to provide a more sustainable model to drive, and ultimately, reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also creating an incentive for drivers to be more environmentally conscious.
In an interview, library spokesperson Jiaw Pei said that the two year incentive program is part of the library’s efforts to become a 100 per cent green city by 2030 – a goal that Pei thinks is “very doable.”
The government has set two key goals for Toronto: becoming a 100 per cent clean and renewable city by 2030 and becoming a zero-emission city. But so far, Pei said the city has yet to achieve that, even with its own electric vehicle fleet.
And while the idea of driving electric cars every day for a year, which would total around 20 years of driving, seems enticing, Pei said the program would be far more sustainable if it were extended to the entire population of Toronto.
“It’s a more sustainable model,” Pei said. “Not only is it more sustainable if you’re driving electric to begin with, but then if you have the option to buy an electric car every year, it would also be more sustainable to buy an electric car every year.” However, this is not feasible in the short-term, he said, as it would be economically unsustainable.
“Even if you were to buy one electric car every year, it�
