By Doug Draper
We’ve heard our elected people in Niagara say we need 21st century ideas to keep the manufacturing sector in this region alive. And here may be one.
John Scott, director of Project Eve, with a Canadian-made electric car at Niagara's regional headquarters. Photo by Doug Draper
Why not get a group of Niagara-area industries together to build and assemble the parts for a homegrown, all-Canadian electric car?
“This is a regional opportunity,” said Bryan Webb, a representative for the Niagara Industrial Association. “We can do it. We have companies here that can all benefit and the chances for prosperity boggles the mind.”
Webb shared these comments with Niagara At Large while standing next to A2B – an obviously not so sexy name for a first-of-a-kind electric car for the country. The vehicle, about the size of a Volkswagen, was parked in front of Niagara, Ontario’s regional government headquarters this past July 28, It is a product of Project Eve, a coalition of Canadian manufacturing companies, research facilities, colleges and universities, and others, all bent on producing a fully electric car that can be fully licensed for the road and can meet or exceed all government safety standards.
There is no gas-powered engine under that hood. Just batteries and related electrical components.
John Scott, managing director of Project Eve, told NAL that this car is capable of going up to 210 kilometres (more than 120 miles) at speeds of more than 100 kilometres or 60 miles per hour on each charge from a wall plug at home. Another way of looking at it, he said, is that this car can go the same distance for about $8 worth of electricity compared to $100 worth of gas, given the current high prices for that fuel.
Scott and company were in Niagara with the car for two days this late July to meet with political representatives and local manufacturers across the region that may have an interest in building parts for the car.
Webb said the idea would be to start small, building a few dozen or more of the cars for a public body or other groups that may want to include them in their fleets. There might be a dozen or more industries in the region manufacturing the parts that would be shipped off to another site in Niagara where they would be assembled. Whether or not a small-scale effort like that would grow into something larger would obviously depend on the public demand for alternative energy cars.
As for the cost of the car, Scott said that is hard one to answer because the cost would obviously depend on supply and demand. The few electric cars on the market today can cost $40,000 or more because few are being produced. But if there is enough of a demand out there to start massing producing them, there is no reason why they couldn’t come down to prices comparable to gas-fueled cars, he said.
Scott and his Project Eve team say they will be returning to Niagara in September for more discussions with local manufacturers over the possibility of producing and assembling the car here. Niagara At Large will keep you informed.
(We encourage you to share your views on this story in the comment boxes below and to encourage your friends and associates to join the growing number of readers regularly visiting Niagara At Large as an independent source of news and commentary in our greater Niagara region.)
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Very impressive. This is where government incentives could be useful. More money in places like this, and less for the Tar Sands.
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Fantastic news! Are they accepting resumes?
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I so hope this happens! I have wondered why we can’t do this ourselves, instead of waiting for someone else. We have plenty of brains and determination. This needs to happen.
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Let’s see if Niagara can get its collective you know what together to make this happen. I’ve gone over the specs on the vehicle and they’re pretty impressive, even compared to Nissan’s Leaf and Mitsubishi’s i-Mi EV. I like the scalability of the platform from coupe, family hatch, CUV to mini van.
There is a definite future for electric vehicles and having domestic technology and manufacturing is crucial.
I love my electric scooter which is great for errands around Port Colborne plus an occasional trip to Welland.
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Would like a mode of transportation that i can use that does not require a license for. Need modes of transportation for unlicensed drivers, both public and private modes.
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We have enough capable workers in the Niagara area,GM John Deere and numerous people who lost their jobs because of Free Trade (NAFTA) sending our jobs to Mexico, this idea gives a ray of hope to our Niagara workers, let’s hope this can happen,
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Angela, the electric scooter that John mentioned may not require a license. I’ve seen more and more of these, and they’re quite impressive.
I used to have a property on Niagara St. Welland, and the car noise was significant. More electric vehicles (and I’m seeing more all the time), means less noise, as well as other benefits.
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I don’t want to darken the mood, but if we were fortunate enough to nurture such a manufacturing enterprise here, and if it were to flourish, down the road, it too, could end up in Mexico, China, or elsewhere Let’s face it, plants will go where labour laws, environmental laws, health and safety laws, democratic institutions etc.are not an “encumbrance”.
… OR, we could re-negotiate NAFTA.
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NAFTA was the bright idea of the Chambers of Commerce of USA and Canada they lobbied their respective governments for over ten years to enact this job killing deal, the canadian people were against this unlevel pact Jean Chretien was elected on his promise to kill and not sign on to this so called Free Trade deal ,as we know he broke his promise and sealed this bad deal, first to go was Ford Glass of Niagara Falls ,the GM foundry , Ronal of Stevensville , Hayes Dana Thorold and last year John Deere of Welland my party the Green Party want’s to kill or renogiate the deal, the US put a tarriff of one billion dollars on our lunber,why don’t we put a dollar a barrel enviro fee on our tar sand oil to the US to pay for clean ups and more enviromental means of production.
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It’s a great idea that has been in the works for a while.
That Canadian organizations are funding the Research and Development is laudable.
The issue remains however… why choose to open a plant in a heavily unionized, entitlement mentality jurisdiction like Niagara?
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Dave, I read your article, which was very informative. Thanks.
One point though. In Niagara, we are part of the “Eastern Interconnect Electrical Grid”, and according to the Public Safety And Emergency Preparedness Grid (prepared after the August 14, 2003 blackout). “we could import approximately 4,000 megawatts from Manitoba, Quebec, New York, Michigan, and Minnesota.” This means that our Niagara sources of electricity aren’t always local, or “clean”. That being said though, I’m 100% in favour of electric cars.
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The name that should b for ur electric car is …..C-lectric….has the select sound n electric all in one name
My name is ernest Ningewance from thunder bay
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