For a province with so much riding on the future of the automotive industry, you can't shake the feeling that Ontario is starting to fall badly behind in the electric vehicle revolution now unfolding - elsewhere.
Latest is the news that China is pulling together its industrial actors and investing $15 billion to become a leader in electric and hybrid vehicles. One commentator said this of the move:
“The car industry was long ago designated as a pillar industry for China. And the second thing is green technology or high tech; this is where the action is going to be, and China wants to be there.”
One can imagine substituting "Ontario" for "China" in that first sentence, but what about the second?
And, it's not just China that sees the opportunity. Last month, U.S. President Obama was in neighbouring Michigan to break ground on a new battery factory to serve the electric vehicle industry. His administration has allocated $5 billion to electric vehicles, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm estimates that 62,000 jobs associated with the industry will be generated in that one state over the next decade.
So, where is Ontario? The McGuinty government seems to "get it" on one level that this is the future, but has so far confined itself to consumer rebates on electric vehicles, and committing to buy electric vehicles for government fleets.
This is all to the good, but amounts to small baby steps while our competitors take giant strides. We are getting left behind.
Fundamentally, this is a matter of infrastructure and industrial policy. Electric vehicle take up by Ontario drivers will only happen in a meaningful way when the infrastructure is in place to support them. And, this involves action on multiple fronts, including standard setting, grid upgrades, and charging stations.
Industrial policy involves working with existing and new companies and workers on creating the conditions where electric vehicle components are developed and manufactured in Ontario rather than elsewhere, and ensuring that these vehicles are powered by clean, renewable energy produced here at home to create even more jobs.
The necessary comprehensive policy for Ontario to catch up and to become a leader in electric vehicles cuts across several Ministries and therefore needs some kind of cross-government Task Force to pull the right decision makers together to make it happen. Such a Task Force should be coupled with an advisory body that brings in experts from municipalities, industry, labour, and environmental organizations.
Oil is a finite resource, and as the Gulf spill and ongoing tar sands destruction have shown, comes at an increasing cost to our life support systems. Ontario needs to catch up to other jurisdictions in pursuing electric vehicles as one core part of getting off oil, and needs to significantly up its game on this front, starting today.
Matt Price
Policy Director
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