More than 80 more electric vehicle charges coming to Durham Region with help from Whitby and Brock

The Region of Durham is investing a $600,000 federal funding boost into 85 electric vehicle charging stations across its eight municipalities.

The money comes courtesy of the federal Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program which has recently released its third wave of funding. Overall, the program is set to invest $680 million in car chargers and hydrogen refuelling stations across the country. Applications are open until 2027.

The Region is set to install 67 of the chargers themselves. Meanwhile, Whitby will install 14 and Brock Township and the Durham District School Board will install two each. The Region and Whitby have already installed 102 car chargers. This latest batch will bring the total up to 187 by the end of 2024.

Additionally, the region is putting some of the money toward upgrading its vehicle fleet. Council adopted a Light Duty Fleet Electrification Plan back in April. This plan aims to transition all regionally owned vehicles to low-carbon options in stages. The first target is the Region’s ambulances by 2030, then all public works and transit vehicles by 2032. Finally, all police cars will be replaced by 2042.

The move comes years after the Region declared a climate emergency in 2020. At that time, the Region set a goal to reduce its emissions by 20 per cent by 2025 and 40 per cent by 2030. However, recent projections indicate the Region will only reach an eight per cent reduction by 2025 and a 17 per cent reduction by 2030. The new fleet replacement plan will accelerate this.

On the latest round of chargers Regional Chair John Henry said, “I’d like to extend an enthusiastic thank you to all our partners across Durham Region. Without them, our largest and most successful application grant to date would not have been possible. I’m thrilled to continue our push to a clean energy economy, which includes the installation and expansion of EV charging stations throughout Durham.”