Forty suburban Montrealers who normally drive to subway and commuter-train stations every day will begin an unusual pilot project in September.

They’ll be carpooling to their train stations in 10 plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volts. The 40 will be divided into groups of four drivers who live close to one another and who have similar travel patterns. It will cost them just $29 more than the $113 they used to pay for their monthly transit pass.

Car maintenance, parking and electric charges will be subsidized by the project, jointly funded by transit agencies, General Motors Co. and Hydro-Québec.

The project — part of a provincial effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, reduce dependence on oil and develop Quebec’s expertise in next-generation transportation technology — is one of several such initiatives. Quebec is betting big on electric transportation as a way to help it meet ambitious climate-change goals. It wants to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 20%, compared with 1990 levels, by 2020.

The lack of charging stations for electric cars has limited the use of such vehicles in the past, so Hydro-Québec is joining forces with four businesses that operate large parking lots: Rona hardware stores, St. Hubert restaurants, Metro grocery stores and the province’s commuter-train agency.

Together, they’re setting up the Electric Circuit. Touted as Canada’s first public charging network for plug-in electric vehicles, the circuit will open early next year with 120 public charging stations in and around Montreal and Quebec City. Users will pay a flat $2 fee for electricity and a parking spot.

Not that there’s much of a demand for the juice yet. Only about 30 plug-in electric cars are licensed in Quebec, most of them part of a trial being run by the Mitsubishi-MiEV in Boucherville, near Montreal.

But the province has big ambitions, envisioning hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles zipping around Quebec roads in coming years. And Quebec is throwing around cash to lure in motorists. Buyers of electric cars or hybrids can get a rebate of up to $8,000. As of January, Quebecers also will be eligible for a subsidy of up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of vehicle-charging equipment in their homes.

Communauto, a fast-growing car-sharing service in four Quebec cities, is leading the way in getting plug-in electric vehicles on the road. It is adding 50 Nissan Leaf all-electric cars to its fleet, beginning this autumn.

The provincial government will join the effort next year, purchasing 400 plug-in electric cars to replace aging, gasoline-powered cars in various departments. Today, only 50% of Quebec’s public transit is electric-powered, most of that accounted for by Montreal’s subway. By 2030, the province wants 95% of all public transit to be powered by electricity. That means electrifying commuter trains, most of which are now diesel-fuelled, and switching from diesel buses to electric versions. Montreal is also mulling over electric tramways.

Premier Jean Charest set the stage for these changes in April, when he launched a 2011-20 electrification action plan costing about $250 million. By 2030, the province wants 1.2 million electric vehicles on the road. If that’s achieved, that cost may look minor, compared with the long-term
benefits. IE