Welcoming Autochargers.ca to the City of Markham: 100 new clean tech manufacturing jobs
Today, Mayor Frank Scarpitti joined Ontario’s Minister of International Trade, Michael Chan and other dignitaries in a ribbon cutting ceremony for Ontario’s first electric vehicle charging station manufacturing facility. Autochargers.ca will produce and ship electric vehicle charging stations across Canada. The facility will create approximately 100 new clean tech manufacturing jobs.
“We are now seeing how good policy and the need to become more sustainable create new jobs in our economy,” says Mayor Scarpitti. “The only way we are going to advance more electric vehicles is by having the infrastructure in place and the fact that that infrastructure is going to be manufactured here, is exciting news and speaks to what’s happening in the economy.”
“The only way we’re going to change the world out there is by making it easier for the consumer to buy electric vehicles and be able to charge wherever they go,” says Mayor Scarpitti.
Markham’s Alectra Drive for the Workplace program, encourages green commuting while also testing the impact of daytime charging on Ontario’s electricity grid. The first-of-its-kind initiative that involves the use of 16 Level 2 EV charging stations, ten outdoor and six indoor for program participants only, plus one Level 2 charging station for public use.
“We are at a point where we can actually take advantage of new technology that is coming, this pilot project will give us opportunity to collect data, to monitor demand on workplaces and Ontario’s grid. And will provide incentive, to get people across the finish line to buy an electric vehicle and know while at work, can charge up, don’t have that anxiety.”
By making EV charging stations more accessible, the program will help reduce battery range anxiety for participating drivers, and support the province’s goal of increasing EV sales to five per cent of all new passenger vehicles sold by 2020.
“Our challenge is big, those are ambitious goals,” says Mayor Scarpitti. “This is also coming full circle. We were the first municipality to sign a contract with the Province, a fee tariff contract, for rooftop solar installation. We are also the first to have a level 3 charging station for electric vehicles.”
At the City of Markham, we believe in smart solutions, in the revolution of a green economy. We are using emerging technologies to help reduce energy costs, which is also in line with the Province’s target to have 5% of new car sales be EV by 2020.
The reduction of greenhouse gas emission is in line with Greenprint – Markham’s Community Sustainability Plan, a long-term strategy to become a net zero community by 2050.
Autochargers.ca is an independently owned business; Gleb Nikiforov is President and CEO. The grand opening was organized in partnership with Plug’n Drive, a non-profit organization that promotes electric vehicles.