The Toronto Region is not only electric in atmosphere, but transportation as well. Canada as a whole is diving headfirst into building more sustainable transportation methods for the good of the planet and the Toronto Region is leading the way by investing in a robust electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem.
Canada’s energy is 82.5 percent emission-free, double that of the United States and 20 points better than the European Union. However, transportation still accounts for 25 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario’s proportion of CO2 emissions generated from electricity has declined from 17 percent to 2 percent in a 15-year period, and the province is taking steps to continue this momentum. As part of the federal 2023 budget, The Government of Canada unveiled a $120 billion clean economy plan.
At the centre of it all is the Toronto Region. EV companies in the Toronto Region leverage an end-to-end EV supply chain to easily source talent, materials, and facilities to create an electric vehicle. What the Toronto Region lacks in quantity of minerals, we make up for in high-tech research and development facilities, an abundance of skilled talent, and a strong supply chain connecting companies to manufacturing facilities across the country.
With the recent announcement from the Government of Ontario that strengthens the trade relationship between Ontario and Michigan, the Toronto Region continues to grow its ties with major EV manufacturing hubs across Canada and internationally. You could build an electric bus from beginning to end right here in the Toronto Region.
The quality and size of manufacturers in the Toronto Region is another major contributor to the strength of the industry. EV companies in the Toronto Region have access to a community of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that choose to stay due to the high volume of EV companies, as well as government incentives. Each OEM’s presence creates a snowball effect that only builds a stronger EV sector for companies in the Toronto Region.
Magna
Magna International recently expanded its Brampton, Ontario facility. This expansion includes a new 490,000 square-foot facility to manufacture battery enclosures for electric vehicles in Brampton, supporting the Ford F-150 Lightning and other future OEM programs. Ford’s presence in the Toronto Region was a key factor in Magna’s expansion.
Tesla
Autonomous vehicles are the future of electric mobility and Tesla’s automation manufacturing facility in Markham, Ontario is making the Toronto Region a major player in this fast-growing field. “Tesla Toronto Automation” has scaled up production of machinery for battery cell production by expanding their facility to 110,000 square-feet.
Stellantis
The world-leading automotive manufacturing corporation, Stellantis, invested $3.4B in its Brampton and Windsor plants to increase EV production. Stellantis’ Brampton plant is recognized globally, having received the World Class Manufacturing award. Additionally, Stellantis’ Windsor branch creates an easy and quick supply chain solution to one of Northern Ontario’s mineral hubs.
Nova Bus and New Flyer
The electrification of public transportation is top of mind in the Toronto Region and Canadian corporations Nova Bus and New Flyer are helping us get there. The City of Toronto is set to shift to all zero-emission Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) vehicle procurement by 2025 and to have a 100 percent zero-emission fleet by 2040. The TTC operates one of the largest electric bus fleets in North America and the electrification of this fleet will make a sizeable dent in the country’s overall emissions. The Government of Canada supports this mission by allocating $140M in funding toward the procurement of electric buses and building infrastructure for EV charging. Nova Bus is located in Montreal, Quebec and New Flyer in Winnipeg, Manitoba – demonstrating the strong interprovincial supply chain operating within the Toronto Region.
Spotlight on York Region
The local EV research and development sector in the Toronto Region is constantly growing. In July 2023, York Region announced the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) is launching an “OVIN Demonstration Zone” in partnership with the City of Vaughan and the City of Markham. The OVIN Demonstration Zone will provide support to SMEs, while testing critical technologies in the autonomous vehicle space. York Region’s incubator VentureLab is also home to one of the OVIN Regional Technology Development Sites. With the new Demonstration Zone, York Region has two strong assets that add tremendous value to EV and autonomous vehicle developers.
“Ontario has emerged as a leader on the global stage as the automotive and mobility sector undergoes a transformation towards connected, autonomous and electric vehicles,” said Raed Kadri, Head of OVIN. “Through the launch of the OVIN Demonstration Zone, we are inviting the world to come see all that Ontario has to offer, from the wealth of critical minerals in Northern Ontario, to the manufacturing strength of Southern Ontario, and everywhere in between.”
EV innovation is popping up at every turn thanks to the strong ecosystem built by world-renowned transportation companies and generous incentives from both the provincial and federal governments. EV is the future of mobility and the Toronto Region’s EV supply chain is future-proof, ensuring that EV software and hardware companies have the resources they need to succeed.
Learn how Richmond Hill is embracing the concept of a smart city through the City Rover Project.
Nestled in Toronto Regionthe center of Canada’s economic powerhouse, the Toronto Region, Richmond Hill has seamlessly woven technology into the fabric of its urban landscape, transforming the city into a dynamic and interconnected hub.
Richmond Hill leverages cutting-edge technologies to enhance quality of life, optimize resource management, and foster sustainable urban development. From intelligent city maintenance systems to academic partnerships, Richmond Hill embodies the true essence of a smart cities, where tech innovation converges with human diligence to create a harmonious business and living environment.
This effort is exemplified in Visual Defence’s CityROVER project, which revolutionized the use of AI cameras in Richmond Hill and around the world.
What is Visual Defence’s City Rover?
“Visual Defence has been based in Richmond Hill for over 25 years and started as a security company. We were one of the first companies to digitize CCTV and had several CCTV projects in major airports like Pearson, Heathrow in England, and Frankfurt in Germany,” said Roy Tal.
“Six years ago, we had a lot of cameras in a lot of different places and thought it would be more useful to understand what’s happening in the cameras, and that’s when artificial intelligence was first becoming accessible to the public, so we tapped into it early.”
One of the unique use cases Visual Defence identified was pothole detection. Richmond Hill was one of the first partners to utilize this new technology. Visual Defence added artificial intelligence capabilities to the cameras that go inside the city vehicles to detect potholes and other hazards in real-time. This eliminates the need for the city’s residents to report potholes, allowing them to be detected and fixed before they can become a safety concern.
Along with detecting safety hazards, Visual Defence’s City Rover creates reports and heatmaps to help the city organize and prioritize urban maintenance. “It’s an end-to-end process, the vehicle detects it, sends it to the cloud, creates a work order, and somebody goes to fix it,” said Tal.
The Toronto Region’s openness to tech innovation and government support made Richmond Hill the perfect launch pad to roll out such a project. “Toronto Region municipalities are some of the best to work with, they are very open to partnering with organizations like ours,” said Tal.
This speaks to Richmond Hill’s robust academic community that partners with businesses and government to create a seamless and efficient way of life for its residents.
“We met with Roy and his team to discuss some of the challenges we face as municipalities and how the work that Visual Defence is doing could support that, and that was really the start of the City Rover project,” said Anthony Ierullo, Director of Economic Development with the City of Richmond Hill.
“Richmond Hill was essentially the demonstration site for this product,” said Ierullo. “Our ability to demonstrate that this software had utility in the sector allowed it to grow.”
“Visual Defence’s City Rover is a great example of the public sector working with the private sector to advance thinking and open our lab, turning the municipality into a living lab to support innovative product delivery that not only benefits the business but also benefits the broader community at large,” said Ierullo.
In what other ways is Richmond Hill integrating technology?
“What came out of this is that we saw ourselves (Richmond Hill) as an incubator for tech businesses,” said Ierullo.
After the success of partnering with Visual Defence, Richmond Hill saw a reciprocal opportunity for business and government. In 2020, the city held design competitions with local businesses to pitch products and grow the opportunity.
Richmond Hill went on to partner with OCAD University and Centennial College as part of the city’s Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC).
The goal of this partnership is to connect businesses with local academic institutions to address challenges and research solutions. CLIC has worked with over 40 businesses since 2021, developing businesses and tech innovation.
Connecting Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence of Smart Cities of Toronto Region
“There are a lot of players in the incubator space, including well-known ones like VentureLab and York University’s YSpace, which are doing great things for the region. A gap we identified was addressing human-centered design,” said Ierullo.
CLIC has worked with several AI-centered businesses that rely on advanced technology and human interaction to elevate the process, merging cutting-edge tech and human creativity. One example is a customer service AI business that allows patrons to interact with an avatar to centralize call center interactions, so staff can address broader concerns.
“It really reduces redundancy and waste, AI will not put people out of work, but it will change the way we work,” said Ierullo. “Just like any other transformative technology, there is an adjustment period and from that, new opportunities are being created.”
This sentiment is echoed in the outcomes of Visual Defence’s City Rover project. The City Rover detects four times the amount of urban disturbances as a person searching for potholes or fielding calls from city residents. As a result, city workers are free to use 100 per cent of their day planning and solving problems.
“This technology does not replace the job of inspectors, it takes the tedious tasks away so they can focus on the most pressing tasks,” said Tal. “People are good at solving problems, and what this technology does is it gives us time to do what we do best and removes the monotonous stuff like looking at the road for hours, creating a more sustainable way to run cities.”
For more information on Visual Defence visit https://www.cityrover.com/.
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