Fuellin' around at the auto show

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR

Wheels editor Mark Richardson takes a spin in an NmG electric vehicle at the Detroit auto show.

Mark Richardson

WHEELS EDITOR

Every year, the Wheels contributors who attend the press days of the Detroit auto show are asked to choose just one vehicle that they would most like to drive home to Toronto. The choices are as diverse as the writers, especially since practicality doesn't have to be an issue.

Turn the page to W32 and you'll see that this year is a little more focused – all but the practical Kathy Renwald chose sporty fire-breathers, albeit powered by many different sources. At Wheels, we like our driving to be fun.

But you don't have to go fast to have fun, and you don't need to gulp back fuel, either. Which is why, when the time came to choose my own vehicle to fantasize about driving home, I didn't hesitate to bag this strange yellow thing.

It's called an NmG and it's hand-built by Myers Motors in Akron, Ohio. It's based on the short-lived Corbin Sparrow three-wheeler and is powered entirely by electricity.

And unlike those dreamers on page W32, I actually got to drive the NmG, for several laps of the auto show's basement in Cobo Hall.

If it wasn't for Canada, the NmG wouldn't exist, says company owner Dana Myers.

He used to run a company that imported PCBs into the U.S. from Canada for treatment, but the Canadian government, under a directive from then-Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps, closed the border and took away his business.

Myers sued Canada, calling the closure an infringement of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and was awarded more than $6 million in settlement. With the money left over, he founded Myers Motors in 2004.

"I felt that electric vehicles were going to be the way of the future," he says. "I believe that even more strongly today."

The NmG is officially a motorcycle with a steering wheel, in that it has less than four wheels on the road, so drivers must have a motorcycle licence. In Canada, a helmet would probably be compulsory despite the protective frame, though this isn't clear because the NmG has not yet crossed the border to be assessed.

There's room only for the driver and a small amount of luggage behind, and the interior is spartan, especially considering the current $30,000 (U.S.) price tag.

Even at its top speed of 120 km/h, it would take a long time to reach Toronto because the range is just 50 km per charge, and it takes up to six hours to recharge the battery again at a regular 110V outlet (costing about 55 cents each time, Myers estimates).

But like I said, practicality doesn't have to be an issue. The little NmG may take a while to go the distance, but Myers says his company is in this for the long haul.

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