Plugging in to electric cars
By Fiona Wagner • Bankrate.com

Many companies are focusing development dollars on lithium-ion batteries (which are small, safe, powerful and yet still extremely expensive), while China's BYD company, backed by Warren Buffet, is developing a ferrous iron battery that will travel 400 kilometres on a single charge. ZENN is looking toward U.S. battery maker EEStor Inc., which is developing an ultra-capacitor that will charge in minutes and power a car for 400 kilometres at speeds up to 125 km/h.

"Developing a better battery is a big race," says Scrimgeour. "Someone has to crack this code."

Other challenges
While building a battery that can hold a charge without costing a small fortune is a massive challenge, there's also the question of developing an infrastructure to support these new technologies.

"Infrastructure is vitally important," says John Stonier, spokesman and director for the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association. "You can't sell electric cars if nobody can charge them."

While many major cities around the world are focusing on building a public charging infrastructure, Vancouver has taken a different approach by becoming the first major city in North America to change its building codes to address charging capabilities in new condos and single-family homes.

"The thinking was this: If you're building a building that should last 50 to 100 years, you have to build for the energy infrastructure of 100 years from now," says Stonier.

The naysayers
Critics of electric cars argue that instead of reducing emissions, battery-powered vehicles merely displace the source of pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack. What's more, they say plugging in millions of electric cars will not only cause Canada's energy emissions to increase, but will stress our already burdened grid.

Not so, say industry insiders, as the long tail pipe theory neglects to take into account a country's particular energy resources. Canada, for example, is a world leader in renewable hydro electric power production, and according to Statistics Canada, it provided 59 per cent of our electricity supply in 2002.

As for taxing our supply, most recharging would be done at night when the grid has excess capacity.

Next steps
Canada is the only G8 nation without federal financial incentives for adopters of this technology (the ecoAUTO rebate that encouraged the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles ended March 2009), and provincial incentives are few and far between:

• Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty recently announced he wants electric cars to make up five per cent of all cars on the road by 2020 and offered rebates of between $4,000 and $10,000 for plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles purchased after July 1, 2010.
• PEI offers a provincial sales tax rebate of up to $3,000 on hybrids.
• Residents of Manitoba may qualify for a $2,000 rebate on the lease or purchase of a hybrid vehicle.
• BC residents who purchase a hybrid may be eligible for a 100 per cent PST reduction.

No one knows when consumers will benefit from the mass production of all-electric cars that are commercially viable, affordable and reliable; estimates range from between two and 20 years. But in the meantime, automakers, industry advocates and investors all agree -- more support is needed.

"A big piece of the puzzle in encouraging consumer adoption. That can be done by raising awareness and helping to develop infrastructure but also incenting consumers to think about electric vehicles as their next vehicle purchase," says Scrimgeour. "The more financially attractive you make those purchases, the more opportunity there is for the average consumer to adopt socially responsible technology."

Fiona Wagner is a freelance writer living in Hastings County, Ont.