“We can always look at whether the deadline makes sense or not” Chow answers EV Taxi question

No insurer will cover a fully-EV Taxi in Toronto

Regarding Toronto’s 2030 deadline to mandate all-electric Taxis, Mayor Olivia Chow says “We can always look at whether the deadline makes sense or not.”

Chow was speaking at the March 17 press conference featuring the City’s response to recent American tariff threats.

Taxi News asked Mayor Chow about the recent US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) announcement that it is reconsidering its emissions requirements for commercial vehicles.

“Given that there is still not one single insurance company which will insure a fully electric Taxi in Toronto, will you consider revisiting the deadline to make all Vehicles for Hire electric?” was the question.

Chow’s full reply is posted below; the pertinent sentence in the answer was, “We can always look at whether the deadline makes sense or not.”

At the October 11, 2023, meeting, City Council adopted motion EC6. 6 to transition the Vehicle-for-Hire Industry to zero emissions. Taxis and rideshare vehicles will need to be 100 per cent electric by 2030. Although several Taxi industry deputants including an insurance broker had previously told the Economic Development Committee that no insurance company will insure a fully-electric Taxi in Toronto, the ED Committee and later Council forged ahead with the decision to mandate EV Taxis.

Taxi industry members including Abdul Mohamoud of Co-op Cabs; ; Gurjeet Dhillon of Scarborough City Cab; and Kristine Hubbard of Beck Taxi all pointed out in 2023 that the Taxi industry were early adopters of hybrid technology and supported the move to lower emissions vehicles a decade ago, before rideshare was legalized and Toronto Council permitted the number of vehicles cruising for rides to explode from 5,500 to 86,000. However, the move to fully-EV Taxis is impossible in the current insurance environment.

Item EC6.6 – Transitioning the Vehicle-for-Hire Industry to Net Zero Emissions by 2030 will require an individual, “as of the date they are first granted a taxicab owner, limousine owner, or private transportation company driver licence or its renewal after December 31, 2029 to register and use a Zero Emissions Vehicle, and to require that as of January 1, 2031 all vehicles-for-hire must be Zero Emissions Vehicles, subject to the exceptions outlined”

Exemptions include allowing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to operate as vehicles-for-hire until December 31, 2032, and making Accessible Taxis and stretch limos subject to further study.

Transcript of Chow’s answer on EV Taxis and insurance:

“We are giving incentives for people to migrate into electric cars, except we will stop giving incentives, financial incentives to buy Tesla, so that we have a decision has been made in there.

“But then, there are other electric cars around, and as to how long it might take, we would like to reduce our greenhouse gas emission, our carbon footprint, as quickly as possible, but we have certainly said that ‘If you want to buy Tesla, go ahead, but don’t count on taxpayer money.’

 “We can always look at whether the deadline makes sense or not to subsidize it.”