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The Electric World And Its 2020s Plans
Though 2020 has been a year of numerous challenges, it has not caused a complete halt on the various plans across numerous industries. The United States in particular has a plethora plenty of interesting, noteworthy events. Things including California’s move to end sales of new gas-powered cars, startups going in production, traditional companies pouring billions into electrification, and more.
Britain will ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030, 5 years earlier than initially planned. Several other countries, mainly European, have also announced similar plans earlier this year, or from previous years of the 2010s decade.
What About Canada?
What about Canada? Has Canada made any exciting, newsworthy plans revolving battery-electric vehicles? Any exciting upgrades to the infrastructure? Plans to take fossil fuel-powered vehicles off the road? Home-grown startups? New car models that arrived in 2020 or coming very soon? Factories dedicated to electric vehicles? All of these topics shall be explored.
Chargers
As battery electric vehicles rely on charging outlets to get their power, charging stations tend to be the main topic of infrastructural announcements.
Solar
Solar charging a vehicle is not available in Canada, as automakers have not yet built it into any of their vehicular models. The country itself has not attempted making such either. Given that much of Canada has plenty of sunny regions, this could likely garner more attention in the coming years for this decade.
Removable Batteries
Unlike China, Canada does not have any battery swapping stations set up. It has not announced recent plans to do so either. The reason for this heavily boils down to the fact that the battery electric vehicles offered for sale in Canada do not allow or advise regulars consumers to remove their vehicle’s battery. However, if electric automakers from China decide to sell their vehicles in Canada, and Canada approves of it, then this could change sooner then expected.
It should be noted that Nio is presently the only company with proven battery swapping. Nio did say that it hopes to become a global brand with a presence in golden markets such as the United States and Europe. It has not announced a fixed date for when it will enter either of these regions, however.
Qi
Within the smartphone industry, nearly every major smartphone offers wireless charging, being it the Apple iPhone 12, Google Pixel 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G, and many others. What about the automotive industry? Can vehicles can be charged wirelessly over giant charging pads? A quote from Gruzen details what is going on in regards to this.
” Industry groups including SAE International (global), IEC/ISO (global), and CATARC (China) are bringing forward industry standards to ensure full interoperability. In this way, wireless charging does not meet the same fate as plug-in chargers, in that automakers and regions have different types of plugs, are drivers often have difficulty finding one that works.” – Alex Gruzen of WiTricity
At the present, Canada does not have any wireless charging stations or pads available for use at home. The nation has not announced when this might arrive either. BMW at one point sampled wireless charging with its BMW 530e plug-in hybrid. It did this with a limited selection of customers in Germany, then California, United States.
Electric Vehicle Chargers
If there is one area of the Canadian electrical infrastructure that is continuing to expand across the country, it would be the continual addition of electric charging stations. Numerous municipalities have announced plans this year for expansions. The following locations below are a few of many.
York Region
Tony Van Bynen, Member of Parliament for Newmarket–Aurora, as a representative of Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister Of Natural Resources, announced $350,000 to help the Regional Municipality Of York build 70 electric vehicle level 2 chargers to be installed over the region as part of the government’s promise to a low-carbon future.
Québec And New Brunswick
In November, Steven Guilbeault, Minister Of Canadian Heritage and Member Of Parliament for Laurier–Sainte-Marie, announced a $5-million investment in Québec and New Brunswick for the installation of 100 electric vehicle fast chargers as part of the government’s plan to build a national network of electric vehicle charging stations. The funding will allow the Montreal-based association of Earth Day Canada to build and locate electric vehicle chargers, which will be functional by 2021, at 50 IGA grocery stores across the two provinces.
Durham Region
On December 02, 2020, the Oshawa Express released a post announcing that Durham received more than $296,000 investment from the Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program. The investment will support the installment of 60 electric vehicle connectors across 21 municipally-owned and publicly-accessible locations. The addition of more charging locations, will encourage more people to use electric vehicles and reduce internal combustion pollutants.
Yukon Territory
The Yukon government’s climate change plan has set a goal of 4,800 electric vehicles on Yukon roads by 2030. The Territory has launched 3 fast-charging stations since November 2019, and plans to bring a station to Haines Junction and Marsh Lake soon.
Banning Internal Combustion Engines In Canada
Canada has not made any notable, concrete plans of when it will completely ban the internal combustion engine. The general plan appears to be banning the sale of new internal combustion engine cars by 2040, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Québec is the notable exception here. To date, it is the only province that has clearly announced that it wants to ban the sale of new gas and diesel-powered vehicles as of 2035. British Columbia has mandated that 10% of vehicles sold in the province must be zero-emissions by 2025, while an outright ban comes in effect 2040.
Nunavut being a large, vast, subarctic and extremely sparsely populated Territory faces special challenges in infrastructure. In fact, Qulliq Energy Corporation states that the 25 power plants operating in Nunavut’s community solely run on diesel. Officials also mentioned the cost of renewable energy in the territory is extremely high.
Home-grown Canadian Electric Car Startups
Canada has plenty of automotive assembly plants owned by foreign brands. Some of which have announced plans to build electric cars in the country.
United States And China
Within the last decade and slightly longer, the United States has created Rivian, Nikola Motors, Lucid Motors, Canoo, Fisker Automotive, Karma Automotive, Lordstown Motors, and Atlis Motor Vehicles. China has plenty, but the notables would be Nio, WM Motor, Xiaopeng Motors, and Byton. Croatia’s Rimac Automobili is a notable one for Europe given that it solely focuses on hyper all-electric vehicles. It should be importantly noted that not all of the startups mentioned here are in good shape. In fact, some of them could very well disappear within a year or two from now, if they do not clean up ongoing scandals, or financial problems.
Canada’s All-electric Startup Plans
Canada has not come up with any all-electric vehicle startups within the last decade. It has not made any major announcements, plans, or signs of any coming at this time either. Of course, this could quickly change going from 2020 onward into 2021 and beyond. Until then, Canada has been deeply silent in this regards. There is one exception that will be discussed shortly: Project Arrow
The Recent Past
Havelaar Canada unveiled a concept electric truck during the Spring of 2017. Since then, there has been no further word or mention of it. The company’s website still remains up and functioning, only without mention of the E-Pickup.
Current Potential
Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) directed a project to design the first First all-Canadian electric vehicle. The Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation’s virtual reality CAVE will assist engineering the virtual model, while Ontario Tech University in Oshawa builds a physical one. APMA announced that the finalist for the vehicle design is a team from Carleton University’s School Of Industrial Design in Ottawa. The team won over 25 other applicants across Canada. Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau congratulated the team over a Tweet on October 13, 2020.
Vehicles New To Canada For 2020
The 2020 year has not brought as much new models to dealerships as companies have hoped for. Despite slowdowns and hardships from the year’s COVID-19 challenges, a number of interesting vehicle have arrived:
Battery Electric Vehicle Manufacturing In Canada
Canada has announced plans to invest in battery electric manufacturing. While much of it thus far is being done for foreign companies such as Ford Motor Company, local companies could arrive on the scene in the near or distant future.
Oakville Assembly Complex
On October 08, 2020, the Prime Minister Of Canada posted an official news release in regards to repurposing the the Oakville Assembly Complex for battery electric vehicle production. He also mentioned that it will help secure 5,400 well-paying middle class jobs across Ford’s production workforce in Canada, grow the green economy, especially in Southern Ontario where thousands of Canadians are employed across the automotive supply chain.
GM Oshawa Car Assembly
General motors has been frequently mentioning their commitment to a future of zero emissions. The company has laid out plans for plants in the United States, but nothing solid for Canada at this time. Former workers, as well as Green Jobs Oshawa have urged General Motors to retool the plant to build battery electric vehicles there. Others have been skeptical about it due to the immense financial cost, logistic issues, and that a government-owned plant would struggle to develop the technology needed to produce high-quality electric vehicles.
Summary
Similarly to 2019, 2020 has not brought any exciting breakthroughs to the battery electric vehicle market of Canada. This is not to say that 2020 has not brought anything special at all. The arrival of the Porsce Taycan, an all-electric performance brand from prestigious automaker Porsche, shows that some legacy makers are indeed taking electrification seriously by offering stylish, fast, yet also practical vehicles. While the increasing additions of electric stations does not sound to exciting on paper, it is immensely beneficial for people that actually use and charge their electric vehicles as they travel.
Finally, if there is one thing that should be considered exciting for all Canadians is APMA’s Project Arrow. Should this project continue to smoothly move along, it will be a major move in the home-grown Canadian automotive industry.
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