Media Culpa On Wente And Electric Cars

Another bad column, another takedown:

We expect regular eco-trashing and McGuinty-bashing from Ms. Wente, but there is an election going on in Ontario, and it behooves the Globe and Mail to provide readers with facts relevant to his policies. In addition, Wente’s suggestion that Costco’s decision indicates lack of demand for current Nissan, Toyota and GM electric products is misleading and should be clarified.

Actually, Imp has a good piece on the same topic.

The Green Future Comes To Vancouver

May 6, 2009 -- Condo buyers at Concord Pacific's new Cosmo building in downtown Vancouver will have the capacity to plug in and charge their electric vehicles.

[...]

"We're saying it's no longer science fiction. It's a reality. "It's also not long before high-density projects without plug-in capability will be obsolete. It will be like buying a TV today without high definition. We think for the purchasers, this project will give them a longer market advantage."

[...]

Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association president Gerry Martselos also praised Concord. "EV charging is fast becoming a checklist item for future home buyers, as the majority of EV charging will be done overnight at home," he said in a statement.

Here's the building's website.

Sounds expensive (rigging out your parking spot for recharging costs about $5,000), but still, Vancouver has been been doing a lot along these lines. Probably Canada's greenest city at the moment (love those rooftop gardens on the condo buildings).

Ontario Moves To Create Electric Car Infrastructure

California-based Better Place will establish a Canadian head-office in Ontario. They will build an electric car demonstration and education centre in Toronto to lay the groundwork to help get electric vehicles running on Ontario roads. By May 2009, the Ontario government will release a study which will look at ways to speed up theintroduction of electric vehicles including:

- Financial incentives designed to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles
- Preferred access to transportation grid to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles
- Forward looking procurement policies to speed government adoption of electric vehicles into fleet services where appropriate
- Coordinated public education and promotion of electric vehicles as a mode of personal transportation.

Better Place will build

...an open network of battery exchange stations and charge spots in homes, businesses and parking lots.

...which electric car owners will then subscribe to. Places to charge your Zenn, in other words.

You know, without a lot of fan-fare, the McGuinty Libs seem to be taking a lot of interesting if small steps in the right direction.

Good News On Electric Vehicles

Low-speed vehicles such as the ZENN electric car are finally going to be allowed on Ontario roads.

Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said yesterday such city commuter vehicles would be roadworthy – once equipped with additional safety features. Low-speed vehicles 'are a new kind of vehicle and it will take a new set of standards to allow them to be safely driven on Ontario roads,' he said."

The top speed on these things is only about 40K, so obviously they are not highway ready. But if you live downtown in one of the large Metropolises like T.O. or Montreal (where they are already in use), that is usually about all you need (and all you can manage, given the traffic). I can see The City of Toronto itself making use of these things--they already employ a small fleet of smart cars.

The company website can be found here, a good Western Standard piece on Zenn cars can be found here.

Toronto Company's Electric Car Can Now Run On Quebec Roads

...but not, ironically enough, Ontario ones. The story is here, and a surprisingly informative piece from the Western Standard here.