A Green Municipal Fund (GMF) grant for the City of Surrey has been jointly announced by the Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Announced on June 20, 2014, an investment of $75,400 will be put towards the replacement of a fleet of light-duty gasoline vehicles with four electric vehicles (EVs). This measure will aid in reducing the City’s gasoline consumption by 4,345 litres annually, in addition to decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 12,720 kilograms per year.  

Nina Grewal, Member of Parliament for Fleetwood-Port Kells, on behalf of the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources, reiterated the government’s commitment to continue investing in innovative green technologies, which will help protect the environment and promote economic growth.

The GMF is a three-year pilot project, which will help the City to review and evaluate the environmental, economic and operational impacts of operating a small fleet of electric vehicles. In addition, the project will assist the City during further consideration of future EV expansions and in meeting its goal to reduce corporate GHG emissions by twenty percent by the year 2020.

It is the hope that Surrey, as British Columbia’s second largest city, will be able to provide some guidance to other municipalities that may consider transitioning to electric vehicles in the future.