[Newsbot]

Title: Canada puts brakes on electric vehicles
Category: Business
Posted By: bootlegga
Date: 2008-06-23 12:26:25
Canadian

[mtbr]

Buy a hybrid instead of a golf cart.

[sandorski]

WTF? Company sold and will be moving to Pakistan?? That pisses me off more than the complaint made in the article. Although, perhaps the company would not have been sold if Canadian sales were better.

[dino_bobba_renno]

The car only has a top 50 km/hr and most provinces and municipalities simply don't have any legislation regarding blended traffic. Whether Zenn likes it or not that will take time as studies will have to be done, debated and turned into legislation.

I'm not even sure if I would support seeing these cars around Calgary as most of our roads have speed limits over 50 km/hr. Mtbr, can you imagine these things on the Deerfoot . As if traffic isn't bad enough on there.

[N_Fiddledog]

It's kind of ironic though. In a way the guys who want to drive electric vehicles right now are being shot in the foot by their own weaponry. I mean they want everything controlled, monitored, and licensed according to nonsense rules, so now they've got it, and it's not so nice when it's happening to you.

It is a dumb rule though. It's like the guy said, you can license a Vespa.

[RUEZ]

sandorski wrote:

WTF? Company sold and will be moving to Pakistan?? That pisses me off more than the complaint made in the article. Although, perhaps the company would not have been sold if Canadian sales were better.

Quote:

"We found Transport Canada to be very hostile towards low speed electric vehicles," echoed Danny Epp of Dynasty Electric Car in an email to AFP.

The Canadian company was recently sold to a Pakistani group which plans to move production to Karachi and continue exporting its vehicles to the United States.

The company that was sold was Dynasty Electric. That company originally began in Kelowna BC then moved to Vancouver. I doubt profits are going to go up if they still plan to export to the U.S. but ship from Karachi.

[RUEZ]

N_Fiddledog wrote:

It is a dumb rule though. It's like the guy said, you can license a Vespa.

True but if a Vespa can't keep up with the traffic it doesn't create an obstruction, it's no worse than passing a bike being ridden on the side of a road. This is a bigger vehicle, if it can't keep up with the flow it's going to slow down traffic. If they want to start selling vehicles in Canada they should design something that fits within the parameters of our road laws.

[LightStarr]

I assume it would be fine for city driving, but as far as rural use goes the car would be useless.

[sandorski]

LightStarr wrote:

I assume it would be fine for city driving, but as far as rural use goes the car would be useless.

Pretty much, although variations of it could be used in Orchards or other such agricultural situations requiring light(ish) hauling.

[romanP]

dino_bobba_renno wrote:

The car only has a top 50 km/hr and most provinces and municipalities simply don't have any legislation regarding blended traffic.

Have you read the Highway Traffic Act? Bicycles are considered road vehicles, and must be ridden on the road by law. When was the last time you saw a bicycle go faster than 50km/h?

Quote:

Whether Zenn likes it or not that will take time as studies will have to be done, debated and turned into legislation.

What studies? It's probably safer to be driving any low-speed electric car than it is a bicycle. You've got a cage around you to protect you from the crash.

[Oceanwader]

RUEZ wrote:

If they want to start selling vehicles in Canada they should design something that fits within the parameters of our road laws.

Laws, just as rules, are made to guide people in conforming to certain standards. The assumptions underlying those standards do change over time and hence so do the standards and laws - as happened, for example, when we went from horse-and-buggy to the motorcar.

The green movement is all about re-examining our assumptions and values, and what those may lead us to do, including the laws we may construct.

[dino_bobba_renno]

romanP wrote:

dino_bobba_renno wrote:

The car only has a top 50 km/hr and most provinces and municipalities simply don't have any legislation regarding blended traffic.

Have you read the Highway Traffic Act? Bicycles are considered road vehicles, and must be ridden on the road by law. When was the last time you saw a bicycle go faster than 50km/h?

And what exactly do bikes and Zen Cars have in common? Are you saying that because you can ride a bike on the road that anyone should be able to pull any kind of vehicle onto the road. How about go carts? Maybe golf carts, they're electric. Grab a brain.

Besides, bikes weren't required to be on the road 20 years ago. Studies were done and found it was safer to have them on the roads, then the issue was debated and following that legislation was created to allow them to be there. It wasn't a case of some dim wit environmentalist standing up one day saying "Hey I've got a great idea, bikes don't pollute so lets ride them on the roads!".

romanP wrote:

Quote:

Whether Zenn likes it or not that will take time as studies will have to be done, debated and turned into legislation.

What studies? It's probably safer to be driving any low-speed electric car than it is a bicycle. You've got a cage around you to protect you from the crash.

Are they safer? Prove it.

Keep in mind it's not just about someone hitting you when your driving one. It's about the potential for you to do harm to others as well such as pedestrians. Are the brakes on this vehicle sufficient for the weight of the car? Does it stop efficiently on ice in the winter time? Are the batteries potentially toxic and there for require warning labels? Should they be required to carry the same amount of insurance as a normal car? Thats just to do with the car.

Now take that car to Calgary and drive from McKenzie Lake to up town Calgary. This car can only go 50 km/hr. Every road leading out of McKenzie has a speed limit of no less than 100 km/hr. What affect does that have on traffic. I can tell you first had I would be afraid to drive my pick up less than 90 for fear of being hit by the guy behind me on the Deerfoot.

"Well people won't be allowed to drive them on roads with higher speed limits" you say. Really? Says who? There are no laws to that effect so how do you stop some door knob from doing it? How do the people who are driving them know where they can and can not drive if it hasn't been defined?

These cars may be the next great thing but until they have passed safety and legislation which restricts what they can and can not do is created they are going to have to wait for the federal, provincial and municipal governments and regulatory bodies to catch up. Such is the case with any new technology. Anything less would be negligent.

[Streaker]

dino_bobba_renno wrote:

These cars may be the next great thing but until they have passed safety and legislation which restricts what they can and can not do is created they are going to have to wait for the federal, provincial and municipal governments and regulatory bodies to catch up. Such is the case with any new technology. Anything less would be negligent.

With this in mind, should the Mennonites of Ontario be barred from using their horse-drawn carriages on Ontario highways?

[dino_bobba_renno]

Streaker wrote:

dino_bobba_renno wrote:

These cars may be the next great thing but until they have passed safety and legislation which restricts what they can and can not do is created they are going to have to wait for the federal, provincial and municipal governments and regulatory bodies to catch up. Such is the case with any new technology. Anything less would be negligent.

With this in mind, should the Mennonites of Ontario be barred from using their horse-drawn carriages on Ontario highways?

I don't know about you guys down in Ontario do things but here in Alberta we don't classify a horse drawn carriage as a motor vehicle and I can honestly say to date I have never been required to take my horse for a safety inspection. If I were to take my horse on the road I would require a special permit to do so and I would have to abide by the rules with in that permit such as only being on the road during certain hours and on certain days and I would only be able to ride it on the specified roads.

Besides, how many horse drawn carriages do you see stuck in rush hour traffic? For that matter how many horse drawn carriages do you think may be on the roads at any given time? Horse drawn carriages for special religious groups are the exception rather than the rule.

Zenn cars have to potential to be as popular as the Smart Car. With that in mind once they are allowed to hit the roads you can expect to see a fair number of them interacting with traffic on a regular basis. That's hardly the case with the Mennonites unless of course Torontonians are way more serious about being environmentally friendly than any of us first thought.

[Streaker]

I just see a double-standard. Horse-drawn carriages are okay, farm tractors are okay, scooters are okay, bicycles ok etc...

But not a small electric car.

Go figure.