Toronto scraps incentives for Tesla taxis and limousines

In the Canadian city of Toronto, newly registered Tesla vehicles for taxi and limousine services will no longer benefit from the city's licensing fee grant. According to the Toronto mayor, the trade war with the US is to blame - or specifically Elon Musk.

The city incentivises taxi and limousine owners to switch to zero-emission vehicles by reducing the licensing fees before 2030. However, excluding Tesla from the subsidy is more symbolic than anything else. Of the 21 zero-emission taxis and limousines that operate in Toronto, only nine are Tesla vehicles.

However, it seems Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow wants to send a message to Washington. No other vehicles by a US manufacturer will be excluded from the grant, only Teslas, as the move is not supposed to target automotive workers, but the Tesla CEO himself. Musk has recently become a rather influential, albeit unelected, figure in the White House.

And she is not the only city official who wants to exclude Tesla. Deputy Mayor Mike Colle wants to close down the Tesla store at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. He told The Star that Musk is “the second most powerful man in the Trump administration who is hell-bent on destroying the Canadian economy.” According to CBC, Colle has written to the real estate management firm Oxford Properties, asking them to cancel its lease with Tesla. But that is unlikely to happen.

driveteslacanada.ca, cbc.ca