The local paper has a reprinted article from The Economist with the header of Not on our roads:bureaucrats against electric cars and progress.
Bureaucrats against electric cars, and progress
IN THESE times of high petrol prices and worries about climate change, you might think that any country would be proud to enjoy a lead in manufacturing electric cars. Not Canada, it seems. Two Canadian companies, ZENN Motor Company and Dynasty Electric Car, make small electric cars designed for city use; a third, which will use new battery technology developed by Exxon Mobil, plans to launch a model later this year.
But almost all these “low-speed vehicles” (or LSVs) are exported to the United States because Canada refuses to allow their use on public roads. Transport Canada, the regulatory agency, questions their safety. It doubts they would stand up in a collision with a delivery truck or a sport utility vehicle. Officials say they crash-tested one which didn’t fare well, though they refuse to release the data. The agency wants LSVs confined to “controlled areas”, such as university campuses, military bases, parks and Canada’s few gated communities. Its advice has carried weight with the provinces, which make the rules of the road.
It is true that the cars are made from lightweight metals and plastics. But the manufacturers allege political bias: Stephen Harper’s conservative government has much support in oil-rich Alberta. Backed by thousands of would-be buyers, they are campaigning to reverse the agency’s decision. “It’s a ludicrous regulatory situation. All you can point to is oil and the big guys and think there’s a conspiracy somewhere,” says Danny Epp of Dynasty.
Mr Epp reckons that his car should be allowed on urban streets with speed limits of around 50kph (30mph) or less. But Dynasty recently gave up the battle. In March it announced that it is being bought by a Pakistani firm, which will move production to Karachi and export to the United States from there.
ZENN—that stands for zero emission, no noise—promises to fight on. Ian Clifford, its boss, points out that there has not been a single death related to LSVs in the United States, where 44 states allow them and some 45,000 such cars are in use. And gas-guzzlers imperil public safety by polluting the air, he notes. But Mr Clifford is not expecting change soon. He claims that his campaign against Transport Canada has made him enemies. “Two senior, entrenched bureaucrats have told me personally that if it is the last thing they do, they’ll keep LSVs off the road in Canada,” he says.
Alright, I’m not going to blame this one entirely on the government; the bureaucrats in question are not necessarily Conservatives but I will imagine a hefty boot being hurled toward the capital buildings nonetheless.
Unfortunately this just sounds like more of the same from the entrenched auto interests who have to be among the most out of touch industries operating today. Everything about current auto design flies in the face of rising energy prices and just plain common sense.
Owning a car means not only paying higher fuel prices every year especially now that they are beginning to reflect reality but every higher prices for any repairs to these absurdly fragile cars. Every day I seem to pass another traffic slowdown because two people are comparing some small dent because it could very well translate into thousands of dollars. Not long ago our cars were made of much stronger stuff.
In the article above, we have corrupt officials denying the future on the basis of the cars not standing up to being hit by SUVs. I have a Hyundai and I don’t think it would fare much better. But that’s not the point. What I propose instead of making the environment and small car owners carry the cost, place the onus on the big vehicles. Ask them to pay a premium for their increased drag on the environment, increased demands on all resources including roads, and increased potential to do damage. Asking the small cars to step aside is blaming the victim.
Do we not want to encourage small vehicle ownership? It does benefit us all.
Keep the parking stalls small, and the lanes narrow. Make the big guys work for it. From where I sit in my little thing, I see too many who cannot make a proper turn with their outsized cartoons of transport. Open the gates for all alternative modes whether bicycles or segways.
That’s my idea if we still have the metal cars. What we really need are to turn transport into plush. Remove the ego and the hardness, and make everybody drive around in Fisher Price knockoffs….bouncing off each other….nobody gets hurt and aggressive dicks can beat their fists within the confines of bright pink gel bots.
