CleanBC Go Electric ARC program invests $5M in clean transportation

The CleanBC Go Electric Advanced Research and Commercialization (ARC) program is investing $5 million in a third round of funding to support research, development, and demonstration of new made-in-B.C. technologies. The funding is for firms that contribute to the province’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sector.

“B.C. is the first jurisdiction in the world to legislate a 100 percent ZEV target by 2040 ­– and since moving our target date to 2035 – with progressive targets for 2025 and 2030,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “We are steadily moving toward this commitment, and in fact reached our first target years ahead of schedule. CleanBC supports these targets through many actions, including rebates, infrastructure development, training people for future jobs in zero-emission transportation and community energy, and investing in clean-energy technologies.”

Sky’s the limit: Twenty-one projects have benefited from more than $9 million in funding since the ARC program was announced in 2018, including Vancouver-based cleantech companies Zen and the Art of Clean Energy Solutions, CORE Energy Recovery Solutions, and Ionomr Innovations in 2022, plus electric motorcycles outfit Damon Motors in October 2021.

Notable other projects from the second round of funding included a hydrogen-fuelled dinner cruise boat for use in Vancouver’s harbour, and converting existing Harbour Air aircraft to be fully electric.

“Technological innovation is just one of many hurdles on the journey to realizing our goal of becoming an electric commercial air operator,” said Bert van der Stege, CEO of Harbour Air. “We value the Province’s support for the project, which not only supports our emission-reduction goals, but has also created good-paying cleantech jobs.”

Spending spree: The B.C. government announced its budget for 2023 in March, and it’s wasting no time in deploying that money. By April, it had already cut hundreds of millions of dollars in cheques. This latest round of funding, in addition to adjacent investment vehicles like the CleanBC Plastics Action Fund, shows that the folks in Victoria have no intent of slowing down.