November 21, 2011

An article in today's Maritime Executive by Harry Valentine raises the possibility that advanced batteries and electric propulsion are better suited to economic water-surface cargo transport than today's conventional diesel ships. Imagine what it would do for the air and water quality in that stretch of water as well. I expect the real barrier will be the need for updated regulations and inspection that will permit this technology to actually see service in Canadian and U.S. waters.

November 17, 2011

Canadian Business magazine has written another negative article regarding Frank Stronach, Magna and EVs in general.

Of course, the fact that Stronach is in favour of electric vehicles is just more reason for the Harper government to shun them. Magna got that memo, and moved its EV RD&D work to Europe and the U.S., ensuring Canada will benefit even less from the shift to electric drive than it would have otherwise.

In fact, CB was so intent on trashing Frank and EVs, they almost lost the original point of the story - the introduction of the SeaScape electric-assist pedal-boat, waterborne brethren to the BionX electric bicycle line.

While CB says the SeaScape won't sell due to its high sticker price, take a look at it yourself before taking their word for it. Once you see what the SeaScape really is, you will realize CB's statement is akin to saying Cadillacs will never sell because they cost 10 times the price of 2-year-old Nissan Versa.

October 24, 2011 OttawaStart announcement
January 13, 2011 article in the Ottawa Sun

November 10, 2011

It has been many months since I posted here. It's not because my interest in EVs has waned, or the battle for zero-emissions vehicles has been won. On the contrary, I was elected President of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa (EVCO) at the end of January, and have focused on distributing my (almost daily) EV messages via the EVCO e-mail distribution list. However, on reflection, I note that posts to that list are not recorded on the Web anywhere, which makes it difficult to track them down again and I think is a bit of a lost opportunity for spreading the EV message. So, I'm going to start posting here again, and try posting links to the EVCO list, to see if that approach satisfies both objectives.

January 20, 2011

I raise the matter here today because a couple of things have been passed my way since my rebuttal of the Gwyn Morgan column in the Globe and Mail, in itself a classic example of the problem.

In recent weeks, a few folks have posited that WikiPedia is being manipulated to erase and undermine the pro-EV message of recent years. WikiPedia is in fact easy to manipulate, if you have the time and ability to be persistent. In effect, he who makes the last change wins. Because WikiPedia is seen as a reliable source of information, and is increasingly relied upon by the technical crowd as a key information source, the revisionism takes its toll on the accuracy of the record over time.

In another example, this article was passed to me long after its best-before date. The URL reads "http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/31/battery_cars_destroy_the_world/". That's a pretty clear indictment of EV technology. The actual headline for the article reads "Diesels greener than battery cars, says Swiss gov report". Pretty damning stuff - except that the actual paper being report upon says nothing of the kind. Pretty cool twisting of the message, don't you think? It works because the phrase in the URL is almost subliminal, but it sets the tone for reader. Then the headline suggests that an authoritative source (the Swiss government) has done a study that determines diesel engines produce less environmental damage than using an electric car. Which would be fine, if that is what the paper actually said.

The study in question, Contribution of Li-Ion Batteries to the Environmental Impact of Electric Vehicles is actually a study of a specific battery technology. On that subject, the report says: "The Li-ion battery plays a minor role regarding the environmental burdens of E-mobility irrespective of the impact assessment method used. Transport services with an ICEV (internal combustion engine vehicle) cause higher environmental burdens than with a BEV (battery electric vehicle)." Doesn't quite align with "battery_cars_destroy_the_world", does it? So, there must be a smoking gun elsewhere in the paper to justify the URL phrase and headline. Let's look at the concluding paragraph from the paper.

"All the facts taken together, the results of the LCA (life cycle analysis), the various sensitivity analyses, the modeling applied for EOL (end of life), the assumption for the used electricity mix, etc., suggest that E-mobility is environmentally beneficial compared to conventional mobility. The Li-ion battery plays a minor role in the assessment of the environmental burden of E-Mobility. Thus, the Li-ion battery in an [sic] BEV does not lead to an overcompensation of the potential benefits of the higher efficiency of BEV compared to an ICEV."

Hmmm, the paper concludes that the BEV is environmentally beneficial compared to the ICEV. Again, how do we get from there to "Diesels greener than battery cars", or "battery_cars_destroy_the_world"? Not based on the content of the paper, which means that someone has completely obfuscated the truth of the paper, hoping that most readers will not read beyond the disinformation article to find out the facts presented in the paper.

In summary, whenever you encounter an article suggesting EVs are environmentally inferior to fossil-fuellers, be on your guard for disinformation. Dig in, and root out these bits of insidious message manipulation. This example was particularly crass - most message manipulators are more subtle. In particular, watch out for assumptions about energy sources (e.g., suppose the electricity is generated 100% from coal using 1930s generating technology, vs a rational measure of the electricity generation mix).

Remedial media: not fun, but it needs to be done.

December 14, 2010

I have done the analysis for Ontario a couple of times in the past few years. Assuming that most electric car charging is done at night (to qualify for lower off-peak prices), the difference between daily peak and lowest demand in Ontario (weekdays) is sufficient to charge approximately 7,000,000 vehicles, with no increase in generating capacity needed. That is more vehicles than are currently licensed in Ontario. For a Canadian analysis, see the Electric Mobility Canada backgrounder at http://www.emc-mec.ca/files/EMC-2009oct07_ElectricVehiclesAndTheGrid.pdf.

Won’t wind and solar generate a lot of the power needed for electric cars?

Wind and solar generate less than 1 per cent of Canada’s power supply, and most provinces have subsidies aimed at increasing that portion. The most spectacular example of the sky-rocketing 16 times as much for solar power, and three times more for wind, as the current average electricity rate. Ontario’s 20-year power plan calls for $23-billion in subsidies to the wind and solar industry, supposedly allowing coal-fired power to be phased out. But its own numbers show that with wind and solar capacity available less than 30 per cent of the time, these costly projects still won’t bring about the end of coal. Meanwhile, electricity consumers will be hit with price increases of 46 per cent over the next five years, making Ontario industry uncompetitive with almost all provinces and American states. No wonder Premier Dalton McGuinty’s green dream is turning into a nightmare as an election looms.

Renewables (other than hydro) are the new kids on the generation block, but they are the fastest growing segments. Governments in Canada subsidize the oil industry as well, and they’re a mature industry making historic profits. Wind and solar are intermittent energy sources, but the fuel is free, zero emissions and does not require tailings ponds or billions of dollars to be spent on clean-up. With its large hydro resources, the Ontario grid is not at any risk by accommodating large amounts of wind and solar electric generation. In fact, solar generation is highly sought after, as it produces maximum supply at the time of maximum demand – hot summer afternoons. If Ontario has to buy electricity on the spot market at such times, the price is very high.

In the meantime, we will continue to import oil to keep the internal combustion fleet running in the eastern half of the country, while exporting western oil to the U.S. At least we produce electricity at home, creating jobs here instead of Venezuela and the Middle East.

Are electric cars really “green”?

That depends on how the electricity is generated. Water generates most of the electricity in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba and B.C., while Alberta and Saskatchewan generate nearly all power from coal and natural gas. Overall, about 75 per cent of Canada’s electricity comes from water and nuclear power, and 25 per cent from fossil fuels. When measured by fossil-fuel emissions, use of electric cars in Canada can generally be considered green. The situation is the reverse in the United States, where fossil fuels, mainly coal, generate 75 per cent of electricity. So operating an electric car there would account for more fossil-fuel emissions than a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle (thus making GM’s Chevy Volt a tougher sell to eco-conscious consumers, the target market for electric vehicles).

Studies (1,2,3) show that even in areas where electricity comes 100% from coal, electric cars are still better for air quality and greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline powered cars. It is easier to clean up 1 smokestack, than 100,000 tailpipes. Individuals have the option of making sure their personal electricity consumption is off-set by green generation.

Perhaps the natural gas used to extract crude from the tar sands in Western Canada should be used instead to help create greener electricity by using it to replace coal with natural gas as a fuel in the thermal generating plants throughout North America. Is it more lucrative for the natural gas industry to burn this relatively clean (compared to coal) fuel to produce crude oil?

Are electric cars practical in Canada?

Besides of their high price tag, limited range and the inconvenience of long charging cycles, there’s another factor that even the greenest Canadians need to consider before buying an electric car: our northern climate. Anyone who has had trouble starting a car in cold weather knows that battery performance plummets with temperature. In our dark, cold winters, we also need battery power to heat the car and run headlights. The combined result is a much shorter driving range than they’ll be touting in the electric-car showroom.

Practicality, like beauty, rests in the eye of the beholder. I have been driving electric vehicles since 1979 in Ottawa, where we know something about cold. We have a solution for keeping the batteries warm – insulation. Driving range is reduced somewhat in winter (about 10%), mostly because of additional drag due to snow and slush. Ironically, the way we keep the gassers ready to start in cold weather conditions is to plug them in (so the block heaters can keep the oil in the engine sump from turning to frozen sludge).

As for the high price of electric vehicles, that will come down with volume production, like it has for consumer electronics and advanced batteries that power portable devices. The limited range is a non-issue for typical urban driving. For occasional longer trips, people can rent a gasser or use a plug-in hybrid. Fast charging facilities exist, although they have not yet been installed in quantity. Personally, I find that recharging my car overnight (while I am also recharging) works very well, and eliminates the need for regular additional stops for gasoline fill-ups. How long does it take to recharge my electric car? About 10 seconds: 5 seconds to plug it in when I get home; and another 5 seconds to unplug when I’m ready to leave.

The green-car race is imploding as beleaguered citizens, struggling to deal with tough economies, see their electricity rates soar and expensive wind and solar power missing in action when most needed. Other jurisdictions are rapidly changing direction, but Ontario keeps whistling merrily in the wind, bound for uncompetitive green oblivion.

The current state of economic mismanagement has nothing to do with the desirability of cleaner cars. Other jurisdictions with plans to green their grids are doing just fine economically, e.g., Germany, Denmark. If Ontario can stop importing coal, that would likely be beneficial for the provincial balance of trade, not to mention health care costs associated with asthma and respiratory diseases.

Just last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the development of an electric-car battery to be competitive with the internal combustion engine might be five years away. “The storage capacity of [electric] car batteries needs to be increased by six or seven times, their lives need to be extended by 15 years, and their cost needs to be reduced by a factor of three,” he said at the UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico. I think I’ll sell my GM stock while I’m ahead.

Actually, the current state of electric vehicle technology looks pretty competitive now. Range of 400 km or more per charge, fast recharging stations, maximum speeds in excess of any legal speed limit on the continent, less expensive to fuel, less expensive to maintain, can be charged at home while I’m sleeping, and no tailpipe. Even so, battery technology will continue to improve, as Secretary Chu says. All that remains is to find the courage to proceed.

Darryl McMahon
Author, The Emperor’s New Hydrogen Economy
Member, the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa
Owner, electric car, electric tractor, electric boat, electric bicycle

1) http://www.electroauto.com/info/pollmyth.shtml
2) http://bakerinstitute.org/publications/Executive%20Summary%20final%20with%20cover%20secured.pdf
3) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es702178s

June 1, 2010

It's a pleasure to read an article by a good writer, that just lays out the facts and without an axe to grind. So, herewith, please enjoy Brian's article from May 27th where he covers several topics related to electric vehicles that appeared in some editions of the EMC weekly newspaper in Eastern Ontario.

May 12, 2010

Today's Metro Canada free newspaper features the Toronto-based A2B electric prototype in an article. This is a hot-looking, super-compact 2-seater electric, that will turn heads, and then give whiplash to onlookers as it blasts through urban commuting missions.

If you want to see a vibrant electric vehicle industry in Canada, producing vehicles that people want to buy, then you want to support the innovators that put cars like this together, and all the components and gadgetry that makes them possible, right here in Canada. Of course, if we took this car to an Ontario licence bureau this week, we would not be allowed to license it, simply because it runs on electric power.

May 7, 2010

For more information on the Ontario electric vehicle licensing ban, visit the 10n10.ca Web site.

April 23, 2010

Natural Resources Canada has accepted the Final version of the Demonstrating Electric Vehicles in Canada - Project Guidelines report prepared by Electric Mobility Canada and the Centre National du Transport Avancé. This is a solid step forward in Canada's strategy to foster a domestic electric vehicle industry via the EV Technology Road Map.

April 22, 2010

This AOL article examines the fanciful GM claim for fuel economy for the Volt design. By extension they also take on the Nissan equivalent claim.

Is the poor American consumer so dumb they really can't understand anything other than the frequently questioned EPA numbers?

In my experience, real-world EV drivers completely understand the concept of km/h per kWh, or in the U.S. miles per kWh. They also tend to have a very good sense of what a kWh costs them, including any green premium they are paying to ensure that electricity comes from a clean energy source. Without exception, they then do a simple division operation to arrive at a unit that any car owner understands: cents per km (or mile). Of course, that's a bit of math the gas-guzzler makers don't want us to do. Because if I can buy my electricity at night for $0.06 a kWh, and get 5 km to the kWh, my fuel cost in my EV is 1.2 cents per km. On the other hand, our fuel-sipping gasser, which gets about 8 litres / 100 km on its best days, with gasoline at $1.00 per litre, is sucking back 8 cents a km, in fuel cost alone. So, 1.2 cents a km with zero emissions or 8 cents a km with a witch's brew of toxins, carcinogens and greenhouse gases spewing out behind. If comparably priced, which do you think consumers will find more appealing?

Canadians don't need to worry about this decision anytime soon, as GM won't provide any commitment to Volt sales in Canada, and Nissan's most optimistic date is at least a year and a half away - leaving plenty of time to find another reason to not provide this solution to Canadians.

Happy Earth Day!

April 13, 2010

Hot off the virtual press! You can visit the federal government's Web page to get your PDF copy of the document or just the executive summary.

A fascinating juxtaposition: the federal government publicly announces its electric vehicle strategy while the government on Ontario continues its covert campaign to make electric vehicles illegal.

April 4, 2010

Edmonton Journal article titled E-bikes win China back its reputation as The Bicycle Kingdom.

A refreshing and welcome news item after the news in December where the Chinese government was preparing to throw roadblocks in front of electric bicycles.

March 30, 2010

Today, Nissan announced that it will put its Leaf electric car on sale in the U.S. in December 2010, and provided pricing. The MSRP will be US$32,780, before rebates. Available rebates include $7,500 from the federal government, and $5,000 for California residents - dropping the effective price to about $20,000. That compares favourably with hybrids currently on the market, and the rumoured price point for the GM Volt.

Sadly, for Canadians, a Nissan Canada representative indicated that sales of the Leaf in Canada will not begin until the autumn of 2011 at the earliest, and pricing for the Canadian market is not yet known.

March 9, 2010

The decision was apparently made in late January, but news is just getting out now that GM management has elected to cancel their plug-in hybrid project within the Cadillac division, based on the Volt technology platform. The decision was made on economic grounds - the same reasoning GM used to kill the EV-1 battery electric and previous hybrid technology projects. (GM execs were widely quoted around 2000 as saying that the Toyota and Honda hybrids were money losers and would drive those firms into bankruptcy. Yet, if I recall correctly, it was GM that required government bailouts to survive last year.)

The argument that the Cadelectric would be too heavy to perform well smells off to me. With an extra $30,000 per unit to play with, I'm sure real automotive engineers would have found a way to lighten the vehicle - say with carbon fibre shell parts, aluminum structural members, etc., to resolve that issue.

If GM stays true to its history, it still has time to kill the already much-delayed Volt, likely by many small measures. Holding out the possibility of real production for as long as possible will keep the competitors out the market longer, as investors will be skittish about going head-to-head with a government-financed venture with the resources of GM behind it.

Still, if the Volt does get short-circuited, there may be many orphaned LiFePO4 batteries looking for homes come early 2011. Of course, GM may also choose to simply use our tax dollars to eat the cost of scrapping everything related to the Volt. They did not hesitate to shred everything associated with the EV-1.

March 3, 2010

I'm pleased to announce the resurrection of Dale's Web pages dedicated to the transformation of his CitiCar. (now hosted here) Check it out.

February 25, 2010

I guess if you want free advertising on my Web site, this is the way to get it. It was nice to finally see one of these in real life. Coca Cola announced the vehicles late last year. Kenworth (the manufacturer) says the vehicles save 30% on fuel costs in urban operations.

Coca Cola also uses full-electric small trucks in places like Uruguay, but apparently has no plans to bring real EVs into use in Canada. Pity.

Save fuel - save money - save the environment. If a company as financially hard-nosed as Coca Cola can figure out it makes sense, why are so many others seemingly so mired in the hydrocarbon trap?

February 10, 2010

As the only major North American automaker with an electric truck platform, they have to be seen as the front-runner for the contract to start converting the U.S. postal service to electric power - a huge contract that is on the table in coming months. Basing the AZD conversion work has to be a plus on that front as well.
Electric 2011 Ford Transit Connect Unveiled at 2010 Chicago Auto Show

February 9, 2010

As one who has been driving electric for over 30 years, I have long wished we could just put people into full-function electric cars for a day so they can actually experience it, and really get what they're about at a visceral level, not just as an esoteric theoretical "good thing to do". Tyler drove one for a day, and now he really gets it.
Zero-emission Tesla always draws a crowd

February 6, 2010

Fred Green's Obituary in the Ottawa Citizen

January 28, 2010

Today, I had the pleasure of addressing the Friends of the CRC about the history of the electric car, and why it is poised to make a major comeback on our roads. They were kind enough to record the presentation, and provide me with a copy. If you would like to view it, you will need RealPlayer. The presentation, The Rise, Fall and Rise of the Electric Car runs about 50 minutes. I hope you enjoy it.

January 27, 2010

Tesla has announced the Tesla electric car is now approved for sale in Canada, and will establish their first Canadian dealership in Toronto in the spring of 2010.
Globe & Mail report on Tesla arrival in Canada

The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric car with a range of 244 miles (390 km) and a governed maximum speed of 125 mph (200 km/h). Come July 2010, it should qualify for Ontario provincial incentives, such as a purchase rebate, green plates, and use of HOV lanes even when the driver is alone in the vehicle.

Tesla Web Site

January 11, 2010

Whither ZENN for 2010? They have announced the end of production of ZENN LSV in the next few months. It appears that plans for a highway-capable EV have evaporated. The focus now appears to be EV drive trains based on the EESTOR technology. What's the outlook for EESTOR? This Autoblog Green article about EESTOR may well of interest.

December 31, 2009

So, the die-hard EV-deniers keep harping that EVs can't cut it in high-mileage applications. ElectriCab has developed a solution for an all-electric taxicab. With a combination of high-capacity on-board battery and fast charging stations, their electric minivan cab is getting the job done, travelling hundreds of miles a day.
MMD Newswire story on the ElectriCab

December 30, 2009

Almost a year after announcing the pilot project for LSVs in the province, the provincial government finally took deliver of a Nemo electric truck for its own fleet. Sadly, the acquisition comes after ZENN, the other producer eligible to supply vehicles under the pilot project, announced it will cease production of their vehicle before the end of April 2010, and long before the pilot project is scheduled to end. For a province that exports electricity and imports all its oil, it seems faint encouragement for an industry where the province could become a world leader.
Techstocks story on the Nemo delivery to the Quebec National Assembly

December 21, 2009

Bikes in the Fast Lane story on Chinese government reversing course on reclassification decision

December 14, 2009

Thomson Reuters article titled "Sparks fly as China quarrels over battery-powered bikes" says a green transportation group in Beijing is concerned about the lead-acid batteries in some e-bikes as an environmental issue. As if the motorcycles and cars that will take the place of the e-bikes in danger of being panned don't have lead-acid batteries in them for starting, lighting and ignition. And those gas-burners bring a host of other environmental issues with their expanded use, including more sprawl and traffic congestion. It also ignores that the lead in the batteries is sufficiently valuable to encourage recycling.

The rest of the world has largely standardized on 32 km/h (20 mph) as the acceptable electric assist maximum speed. Presumably the manufacturers only want to sell what they export within China as well. Keeping the official limit at 20 km/h (12 mph) will only force the small manufacturers to divide their resources over two model lines, one for each power rating. Given China is a large market, this could encourage those manufacturers to focus on the domestic market rather than models suitable for export, which could slow their acceptance in the rest of the world which has so much of its manufacturing done in China now.

December 11, 2009

ZENN, the producer of a passenger LSV in Quebec made it official: the plant in St. Jérôme will cease production of their line of low speed electric vehicles on April 30, 2010. Previous plans to introduce a highway-capable electric car have also been scrapped. The company will instead bet all its chips on the EEStor capacitor technology, and a drive train based on it, in hopes they can sell that to another player that can actually make the vehicles.

No word on what support will be provided to owners of the newly orphaned car line.

That leaves only Nemo as a supplier under the current Quebec pilot project, and they only build a truck; no cars in their line. That's going to make the value of the pilot project pretty questionable unless another passenger LSV is allowed to acquired under the project.

December 5, 2009

Let's hope the R4 retains much of the spirit of the concept vehicle, and sports a price that means it actually takes to the road, and not just the Audi museum.

Audi's Web page on the e-tron concept car

December 4, 2009

Unlike the major automakers, it's good to see that other vehicle makers see the right way to build a hybrid: an all-electric drive train with a small heat engine used only to extend range on those trips where the battery capacity is not sufficient.

December 1, 2009

The story that brings me back to this theme today comes from British Columbia, our scenic left coast and nominal home of Canada's preponderance of treehuggers.

In June of 2008, the B.C. government, which had previously legalized low speed electric vehicles (LSV), turned the rules upside down, and devolved the authority to allow LSVs (or not) to the municipalities. So, instead of using the established provincial regulatory infrastructure, LSV owners in B.C. now have to get permits from both the provincial and municipal governments in order to be able to drive their cars. To my knowledge, this need for two levels of permits for a vehicle class is unique in Canada. Clearly, the municipalities were not prepared for the hand-off, and many have fumbled the ball. For example, the article reports that on the North Shore of Vancouver, the current patchwork of regulations means that it is not legal to drive your LSV to the works yard where you have to go for the required inspection.

If that weren't confusing enough, the provincial government has confused LSVs with highway-capable EVs in some of their literature, and the province has introduced yet another term - Neighbourhood Zero Emissions Vehicle or NZEV - to describe the vehicles. They are usually called LSVs in most other Canadian jurisdictions and NEVs in most of the U.S.

In hopes that it will help some current and prospective LSV/NEV/NZEV owners in B.C., we continue to maintain our list of which municipalities have legalized these neighbourhood and climate change friendly vehicles. We're doing this because, having created this regulatory nightmare, the provincial government has declined to provide this valuable information to its constituents and taxpayers. (B.C. municipal officials: please feel free to provide us with updates.)

November 17, 2009

Last week, Chrysler walked away from its earlier commitment to deliver 3 different models of electric and electric-hybrid cars.

Today, there is a rumour that forward-looking EV darling Aptera is in trouble.

While GM continues to advertise their Volt plug-in hybrid prototype, the actual delivery date keeps sliding off into the future. Remember, when originally announced in 2006, it was supposed to be in showrooms by now. Most recent guess - late 2010 - in limited numbers. GM will yet find a reason not to deliver. The last time they were forced to deliver (1996), they started a blood war with the State of California that concluded with a concerted search and destroy mission to eradicate the EV-1 from existence. They got that concession in return for a promise to deliver hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to showrooms in quantity in 2008. Per usual with GM and environmental commitments, never happened. GM may have to change its colours due to government and UAW ownership, but green isn't one they will adopt willingly.

If you want a sense of how this is going to end, find a copy of The Lost Cord by Barbara Taylor.

Enthusiasts and small conversion companies have built literally thousands of on-road electric cars, trucks and motorcycles in North America in recent years. It's a viable option, and more likely to achieve results than continuing to wait automakers that have fought the technology tooth and nail for decades while pretending they'll deliver someday.

Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, climate change, dependence on foreign oil; you can continue to wait and hope that someone else will solve the problem for you, or you can ACT!

I visited the trade show for the Plug-in and Hybrid Electric Vehicle conference (PHEV09) in Montreal yesterday, hosted by Electric Mobility Canada. [Disclosure: I am a member of EMC.]

The PHEV09 Trade Show at Complexe Desjardins (Montreal) 2009.09.30

Two things really struck me. The first was how few companies made an appearance here given the apparent level of interest in EVs in the world media and the Obama Administration. Perhaps this is a reflection of the total lack of interest, or even hostility, towards EVs being demonstrated by the Canadian federal government and most provinces, even those starting to talk 'green'. By contrast, the delegates at the conference seemed very upbeat about what they were hearing at the presentations.

The second thing that struck me was the David and Goliath image presented by Steve Dallas and his stunning home-built electric car that works today vs. the GM Volt prototype. While Steve invited people to sit in his car, GM reps were on hand to ensure no one took that liberty with their vehicle.

Steve is from the Toronto area, in Ontario. The Ontario government recently announced incentives to take effect in 2010 that would substantially subsidize the price of the GM Volt (which will not be built in Ontario, if it should ever become available for sale. Because Steve showed initiative and built his own electric car, it will not qualify for any incentive under the provincial program. With that sort of tilted playing field (announced tax dollars support for an unavailable hybrid to be made outside the province; no support for an electric car built in the province), it should come as small surprise that Steve has no interest in producing more copies of his smart 2-seater electric car. Pity.

Steve Dallas's electric car 2009.09.30

Video of Shai Agassi making the announcement at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show (2009.09.15)

The announcement on the Ides of July 2009 included statements which were as stunning to a long-time Ontario electric vehicle advocate as they were ambitious and sweeping. Statements like “The McGuinty government aims to have one out of every 20 vehicles driven in Ontario to be electrically powered by 2020. “ and “Ontario will also add 500 electric vehicles to the Ontario Public Service fleet.“

It's as if someone flipped a switch and your government finally got the message. You know, THE message. As if someone finally put together the devastation of climate change from burning fossil fuels in our vehicles, the burden of health effects caused by automotive emissions, and the need to foster an economic environment that is about sustainability instead of the extinction of the human species, and grasped that there is an answer.

It's hard to believe that this came from the same government that had to be badgered into allowing electric-assist bicycles in the province, and only relented in 2006 with a pilot program. Or the same government that only grudgingly permitted Low Speed electric Vehicles (LSVs) on our roads this year, and with such harsh restrictions that no one will build a vehicle to meet the unique and oppressive Ontario regulations; and that a decade after the federal government created the classification. Or the same government that took away preferential license fees for electric cars a few years ago. Or the same government that still prohibits electric motorcycles from using major Ontario highways.

However, I am confused by the one-year phase-in period before any of the announced incentives come into effect. Why not let the pioneers that already drive battery electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles benefit now? Why not provide a retro-active reward payment to those with licensed vehicles as of the effective date showing a Motive Power of E(lectric)? If the motivation really is putting clean air, electric cars that produce less Greenhouse Gases on Ontario roads, why not reward those innovators that are already doing so?

My fear is that this government is not so much interested in cleaner air as they are in providing an additional bail-out to GM and Chrysler, now that you are shareholders. The devil is in the details, and my concern is that your government will restrict the incentives to specific makes and models, as it did with the fuel efficiency incentives of recent years.

On reflection, if your government had taken this stance just three years ago instead of putting it off another a year into the future, perhaps we would have a domestic market for the burgeoning surplus of electricity in the province. A surplus that has reached such proportions that we are now shutting down perfectly functional nuclear reactors to reduce the supply. Further, last summer, when gasoline was over $1.40 a litre, Ontarians would have had another option for their transportation needs – electric vehicles.

Personally, I look forward to getting my Green Plates for my current, highway-capable, electric car, and I hope this signals a pervasive change in your government's attitude toward electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Now, if only there were HOV lanes in Ottawa.

After almost 30 years of reliable service, Edmonton chose to accelerate its removal of the remaining fleet of electric trolleybuses. I was in Edmonton on the day in question, and composed a photo-essay on the subject. I can't help but think that the residents will come to regret this decision in years to come.

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