Backgrounder: Canada Drives Emissions Reductions From Commercial Transportation Fleets

On July 30, 2025, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, on behalf of the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced more than $21 million for nine research, development and demonstration projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s transportation sector.  

These Energy Innovation Program — On-road Transportation Decarbonization projects address technical and market barriers for medium- to heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) that have low or zero emissions; increase zero-emissions vehicle uptake; and improve system efficiency.

Minister Solomon also announced $4.97 million for the City of Toronto, through the Green Freight Program (GFP), to transition heavy-duty vehicles to low-emissions powertrains.

Green Freight Program

Project name: The City of Toronto – Repower Project
Recipient: City of Toronto
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding amount: $4,974,060
Description: Under this project, the City of Toronto will convert 60 existing compressed-natural-gas waste-collection vehicles to operate on a hybrid-electric system.

Energy Innovation Program – On-Road Transportation Decarbonization

Project name: AlumaPower Zero-Emissions Mobile Power Generator Demonstration With Purolator Canada
Recipient: AlumaPower
Location: Sarnia, Ontario
Funding amount: $5,000,000
Description: This project will demonstrate AlumaPower’s Aluminum Fueled Galvanic Generator as a power source for a variety of electric vehicle (EV) charging applications, including Purolator’s Urban Quick Stop in Mississauga. 

Project name: Development and Demonstration of an Innovative Zero-Emission Powertrain for Heavy-Duty Vocational Vehicles
Recipient: 14156048 Canada Inc. operating as Effenco (A Martinrea International Inc. Company)
Location: Vaughan, Ontario
Funding amount: $5,000,000
Description: This project will develop and demonstrate an innovative powertrain and charging system for electric MHDVs that lowers the cost of buying vehicles and addresses battery weight and dimensions limitations. 

Project name: Low-Energy Defrost and Defog for Commercial EV Trucks  
Recipient: Betterfrost Technologies
Location: Oakville, Ontario
Funding amount: $3,989,275
Description: This project will demonstrate an innovative defrost and defog system for electric MHDVs that uses less energy than current methods and reduces defrosting time on start-up from 20–25 minutes to one minute.

Project name: Addressing the Market Gap: A Cost-Optimized, High-Performance, 63.5-Tonne Hydrogen–Electric Truck
Recipient: Elemental Trucks Incorporated
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,500,000
Description: This project will develop a high-performance, 63.5-tonne hydrogen–electric truck that improves upon the cost/performance ratio of current heavy-duty hydrogen-fuel-cell truck technology. 

Project name: Affordable, Resilient and Low-Footprint Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for Multi-Unit Residential Buildings
Recipient: The University of Western Ontario 
Location: London, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,500,000
Description: This project will design, test and validate energy, communication and cyber-security systems supporting EV charging on a carousel parking structure. 

Project name: Ingear Transmission R&D Project for Medium- and Heavy-duty Vehicles
Recipient: Inmotive Inc.
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,500,000
Description: This project will develop an innovative transmission system that improves the range of electric MHDVs for the same battery size. 

Project name: AlectraDrive for Fleets
Recipient: Alectra Utilities Corporation
Location: Vaughan, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,044,695
Description: This project will use innovative, utility-controlled charge and discharge of MHDVs to optimize grid performance and support peak-demand management for broader transportation decarbonization of MHDVs. 

Project name: An AI-Based Digital Support Toolkit for the Deployment of Battery-Electric Buses in Canadian Urban Transit Systems  
Recipient: McMaster University
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,010,080
Description: This project will develop an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered, web-based toolkit that enables system-level planning and optimization of electric buses and charging infrastructure for Canadian public transit agencies.

Project name: Energizing the Future With V2X  
Recipient: Alectra Utilities Corporation
Location: Vaughan, Ontario
Funding amount: $900,000
Description: This project will use bi-directional charging of light- and medium-duty vehicles and V2X applications to dispatch vehicle fleets strategically, reducing electricity demand in congested areas.