Saskatoon’s Community Electric Vehicle Adoption Strategy

The City of Saskatoon has committed, through its Low Emissions Community Plan, to electrify personal and commercial vehicles. The targets are that 30% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, and 90% by 2050; and that 50% of all new heavy trucks be zero-emissions by 2030, and 100% by 2040. For Saskatoon alone, these targets would require that over 55,000 personal electric vehicles (EVs) be available by 2030 and 369,000 by 2050.   The city is proposing to assess the feasibility of meeting these targets through a suite of incentives, policies, education, programs, and infrastructure while also considering barriers to EV adoption. The study will identify the following: 
a. Availability and affordability of EVs for the public, including their accessory equipment and the technical expertise they require, based on current market trends and life-cycle costs    b. Charging network capacity, including how many chargers are needed to support Saskatoon’s full adoption of EVs; the proportion of stations that should be residential, workplace or public; grid limitations; and appropriate usage fee-models for sustaining public station operation   c. Workplace and home charging needs, including infrastructure, policy and capacity changes for buildings    d. Education and incentive programs for increasing uptake to meet targets, their costs and their likelihood of success     e. The ability of EVs to meet specific conditions in Saskatoon, including cold climate, longer drive distances, types of equipment required (e.g., heavy duty), plus EV-specific considerations such as such as battery operation, disposal and maintenance.

The above will provide a framework that allows the city to deliver services that will meet its targets for electric vehicle adoption. This study aligns with, and complements work that Saskatoon is doing in DFC-22-0018 that is focused on the municipalities’ internal electric vehicle adoption strategy.   Innovative aspect(s):  This project is one of the first to tackle the adoption of electric vehicles in a community in Saskatchewan, a province where EV adoption has lagged 

Replicability:  • The city has a landing page for all EV initiatives that will be publicly available and updated when milestones are reached    • The city is a sponsor of SaskEV Society Inc., a non-profit organization formed by EV owners and enthusiasts from Saskatoon and the surrounding area. The city will be participating in the society’s events to share study findings, promote EV initiatives, and communicate with the organization to ensure its members are informed (and can inform others) about what the city learns and develops  (Project Description from original funding application)