Grey County is looking at how it can reduce the emissions of its fleet of vehicles through the use of electricity and possibly hydrogen fuel.
A staff report Thursday (Sept 28) recommends that as an early step, the County apply for some funding from Natural Resources Canada for 20 electric vehicle chargers.
“Pickup trucks and SUVs. These are vehicles that would be parked to charge overnight. We’re not currently looking for these chargers to work for heavy-duty vehicles,” says County Climate Change Initiatives Manager Rebecca Danard, adding it wouldn’t be for vehicles like ambulances and snow plows, adding, “This is just for light vehicles to begin with.”
The report says County-owned vehicles and equipment account for 24 per cent of municipal energy spending and 38 per cent of municipal greenhouse gas emissions.
County vehicles are kept for seven to 12 years and staff suggest they begin to switch over to zero-emission vehicles as soon as they can, in order to meet the County’s emission reduction targets.
Its goals are to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2026, 40 per cent by 2030, 55 per cent by 2035, 70 per cent by 2040 and net-zero by 2045.
Danard says, “Transport services is investigating what light-duty electric vehicles are currently available. It’s a very dynamic market at the moment—pricing, performance, battery life, different manufacturers. It’s a very changing environment, so we’re hoping to nail down some facts, bring up some case studies and really have a good recommendation to make by 2025 as to what EVs, exactly, we need to buy.”
If the funding application is approved, the plan would be to install the chargers at the public works depots in Ayton, Chatsworth and Clarksburg, as well as at the Grey County administration building.
The staff report says they are also, “reviewing options for heavy-duty vehicles, including hydrogen fueled vehicles.” Danard aims to also apply for education and awareness funding from Natural Resources Canada.
Danard told the committee, “I’m looking to build on some momentum that’s currently happening locally about clean hydrogen. I’m hoping to create an event modeled on something that was hosted by the City of Greater Sudbury which was called Mines to Mobility which brought together the mining industry as well as automotive suppliers to really figure out the supply chain between mining critical minerals and putting them into EV batteries.”
Owen Sound is home to clean energy technology company Hyrdogen Optimized.
Danard says, “I think we have the potential to do that here, having local sources of hydrogen, figure out what the producers need, what the consumers potentially want from the suppliers and how to put all of those pieces together.” She says having a local hydrogen fuel producer removes what’s considered to be the biggest barrier to adopting the fuel. “We potentially have the opportunity to really be leaders in this space,” says Danard.
County councillor, Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy noted at the meeting, hydrogen technology is advancing quickly, with the ability to partially run large vehicles on hydrogen already existing. He noted with regard to hydrogen optimized, “Thier plan is to make that hydrogen as cheap as diesel.”
“We’re going to have an opportunity in Grey and Bruce to have a leg-up over anyone else, almost in the workd with Hydrogen Optimized here, using that and us being able to take advantage of it,” said Boddy, adding, “It’s coming and we need to be ready.
The committee voted in favour of staff’s recommendations to apply for funding for the chargers and the education and awareness funding.