The plan for charging 85,000 EV VFH: where is it?

Toronto should delay 2030 EV deadline until it has a plan for charging stations

City of Toronto spends $92 million on ferries, forgets to buy charging infrastructure pic.twitter.com/egY4gqI5vW

— 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) April 3, 2025

Update April 17: Taxi News received a copy of the document “Toronto’s Comments re Integrated Energy Resource Plan” on April 16th. The full document and EV bullet points have been added to the bottom of this column. An article dedicated to the document will be posted soon.

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When Toronto works without a plan, Taxi operators pay the price.

If operators can’t get a straight answer on something as basic as allowable vehicle age, what fresh hell will arise from insisting 85,000 Vehicles for Hire (VFH) be fully electric bring by 2030?

It’s utterly demoralizing for new Canadians and enterprising individuals to diligently follow all the rules the City lays down, and then watch their business spiral down the drain anyway. It’s wasteful, inefficient and egregiously unfair.

Thus far in 2025, Toronto has already sent out a letter demanding Taxi owners of 2017 and 2018 model year Taxis replace them by March 31^st, and many did so.

Then, on March 28^th, Council voted to give these cars a two-year extension, contrary to the recommendations of staff.

Taxi Operators who obeyed the City’s letter committed to a (now) unnecessary payment of $900 per month for a new vehicle, while operators who care least about the state of the industry were rewarded with two free years.

But the chaos around vehicle age extensions will probably be just a mole hill when compared to the mountain of Council’s decision that all VFHs need to be Electric Vehicles (EVs)  by 2030.

As noted by multiple industry members in October 2023, Toronto is nowhere near ready with the infrastructure and charging stations that will be required for the VFH industry to go all electric by 2030. What’s worse is that if Toronto has anything that looks like a plan to be ready for 2030, no one knows what it is or where to find it.

In October 2024, I wrote the City asking about Toronto’s submission to Ontario’s Energy Future Plan, which is meant to be the guiding document for electricity generation and transmission in the decade ahead. Staff indicated that Toronto’s submission was being drafted, and told me to inquire again in December, 2024.

In April, after the vehicle age debacle, I inquired again only this time the answer is worse: staff do not even know to which Ontario government energy needs consultation I am referring. The deadline for submission was December 13, 2024.

Did Toronto even make a submission to Ontario’s Affordable Energy Future: The Pressing Case for More Power?

I word-searched the entire Ontario document, and the word “Toronto” came up twice, both times in this context:

“Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) now forecasts that electricity demand alone will increase by 75 per cent by 2050. That means Ontario needs 111 TWh more energy by 2050, the equivalent of four and a half cities of Toronto.”

Does that 111THh of energy Ontario will need by 2050 include the infrastructure, transmission lines and charging stations for the 85,000 Vehicles for Hire that must be EVs by 2030?

I may not be an expert on long-term energy needs forecasting or infrastructure planning, but after 40 years of writing about Taxi in Toronto I am pretty confident in predicting this: if anyone gets screwed by a law requiring the purchase of an expensive EV for which there is no commercial insurance and insufficient charging stations, it will be the Taxi operators.

In case you suspect I am exaggerating, please view this video of Councillor Paula Fletcher grilling Toronto staff on the fact that they spent TWO YEARS writing a plan to spend $92 million to transition the city to all-electric ferries to Toronto Island, but never once considered where the electrified docks or charging facilities would be installed. Now, multiply that confusion from two ferries to 85,000 VFH.

The age-of-vehicle chaos is just the most recent example in a long tradition of requiring Taxi drivers to foot the bill for Councillors’ virtuous whims, which over the years has included Propane Taxis; 100 per cent Accessible Taxis; and Let’s Paint All Taxis Pink for Breast Cancer Month.

The 2030 requirement that all Vehicles for Hire be 100 per cent EV is in a class all of its own: to begin with, it’s not just a wild idea, like the Pink Cancer Cabs were. “All EV by 2030” has already been passed into law by Toronto, so operators have about three years to decide whether the industry is worth the investment before they order a vehicle.  

Further, the election of Donald Trump and his raucous “Tariffs and Trade” program has sucked all the oxygen out of the room when it comes to making big, bold business decisions. Canadians are worried about having a job, a place to live, and food to eat. Reducing emissions and net zero programs have fallen off the bottom of the virtue-signalling priority list.

Until citizens and taxpayers including Taxi operators see and agree that Toronto has a realistic plan for additional electricity infrastructure and charging stations, Toronto should delay its regulations demanding 85,000 VFH drivers invest in 100 per cent electric vehicles.

Please, Toronto. Plan Ahead.

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UPDATE: Taxi News did finally receive a copy of Toronto’s submission to Ontario’s Affordable Energy Future: The Pressing Case for More Power on April 16. The full plan is posted below; the three-point section specific to Electric Vehicles reads as follows:

“With respect to electric vehicles:
— Incentivize personal electric vehicles and associated power management devices on residential chargers to address Toronto’s second largest source of community wide emissions – emissions from gasoline vehicles.
–Develop funding programs to support commercial electric vehicle projects associated with local electrical capacity upgrades.
–Consider commercial electric vehicle rate design alternatives to decrease costs and incent demand management.”