Gaetan on the EV: Likes the Project Arrow EV

By Joe Gaetan

May 23, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

 

About 25 years ago I attended a Sustainable Living Exposition at the Direct Energy Centre, now known as the Enercare Centre at the Exhibition grounds. Unlike today the general public in the 90’s did not jump onto the sustainable bandwagon. I came away from that exposition with many memorable takeaways, including a type of lawn made from seeds that required one cutting a year, and test riding a Segway. The Segway was, in the writers opinion a fine form of personal transportation and ahead of its time. It is unfortunate that the Segway did not become more mainstream as municipalities banned their use. That exposition also led me to buy a battery-operated lawnmower. The size of the battery of which was the size of a carry-on piece of luggage.

The battery capacity of the “BOLM” was insufficient to allow me to cut my small lawn in one outing. On top of that the battery died within a year at a replacement cost of over $100.

This has the potential to become an All Canadian car – it will take a lot of automotive sector cooperation.

Last week I attended EV Charging Expo 2023, hosted by Electric Autonomy Canada ( https://electricautonomy.ca/ ). According to Laura Maurice, Vice President Partnerships and Client Services, the event received about 2,000 registrations from Canada, the U.S.A., and International. The B2B show was geared towards connecting buyers with partners and suppliers whose goals were to “electrify” and included 55 exhibitors as well as 20 EV vehicles. During this EXPO I test-drove a “Sarit” (insert picture) Micro-Mobility Vehicle invented by Frank Stronach the founder of Magna International. The Sarit can be deployed in many ways, from food delivery to personal conveyance. The Sarit has a range of approximately 100 km per charge.

I was pleased and impressed to see the exposition also included the APMA, Project Arrow EV concept vehicle (insert pictures). For those who are not aware of this vehicle, it is the brainchild of the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (https://apma.ca/).

I am old enough to know what happened to the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow. As such I was quite interested to speak with APMA about the future of the concept vehicle. The question I posed to them was “when are we going to manufacture this vehicle in Canada”? All of the components (except the microchips) are made right here in our great country.

As many of you may know the Provincial and Federal governments have pledged approximately $13 billion to Volkswagen to build a battery plant in Saint Thomas. It also looks like they will have to pony-up a bunch more cash to keep “Stellantis” from heading south of the border. It seems to me that a better use of the $13 billion would be to fund the Canadian made Arrow EV.

As I am a member of an EV team in a condo in Burlington ON my motivation for attending the exposition included, wanting to see firsthand what was available in terms of electrical infrastructure, last mile technology, smart chargers, and government assistance.

Something I have encountered as a part of being a member of an EV team is that far too many people have little knowledge and understanding of EV’s or which vehicle would best suit their lifestyle and driving needs. One of the exhibitors, PlugNDrive (www.plugndrive.ca) offers a service that includes a “The PlugnDrive Roadshow” that is coming to Burlington later this year. PlugnDrive offers, EV related resources, vehicle pricing, rebate information and EV test drives.

Hopefully the car will not go the same way as the Avro Arrow

The one thing I was most disappointed with was the lack of infrastructure funding available through the ZEVIP federal program (https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/transportation-alternative-fuels/zero-emission-vehicle-infrastructure-program/21876 ). Having spoken with Burlington Hydro we are aware that the ZEVIP program has no funds allocated to condominium corporations to improve their electrical infrastructure. The reason why condo corporations should be afforded financial assistance for electrical infrastructure can be dealt with in another article.

Perhaps M.P. Karina Gould can weigh-in as to how our federal government is planning to help with this necessary and much needed infrastructure.

Joe Gaetan is a frequent contributor on civic matters

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