Hybrids and gas-electrics exempt from Drive Clean

Eric Lai

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Q: Do hybrids and alt-fuel (natural gas or propane) vehicles require Drive Clean testing?

A: Drive Clean program spokesperson Charles Ross replies:

Ontario's Drive Clean test requires vehicles to idle, which low-emission hybrids are not designed to do. Hybrids use the electric motor at low speeds and shut down fully, rather than idle, when stopped. Therefore, hybrid gas/electric vehicles are exempt from Drive Clean.

Vehicles powered by natural gas or propane require emissions tests and must meet on-road emissions standards for their make and year.

Eric Lai adds:

Most measured emissions that could result in a fail would be near zero when running on natural gas or propane, as opposed to gasoline, in a bi-fuel auto. So which fuel are these vehicles tested with?

Ross states bi-fuel vehicles are required to be tested with the fuel that was being used when driven into the Drive Clean facility.

Q: Do rotating boycotts against the major oil companies, a different one each day, work in lowering gas prices?

A: Faith Goodman, vice-president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute — Ontario Division, replies:

Domestic oil prices are the result of international market forces and taxes. Canada is a price-taker (not a price-maker).

Petro-Canada spokesperson Jon Hamilton adds:

Snopes.com investigates urban legends. They conclude that "gas out" protests instigated by chain emails (variations date back seven years) have not succeeded and might even raise prices temporarily. See: www.snopes.com/politics /gasoline/gasout.asp.

Only about half of all major-branded retail gas outlets are company-owned, so boycotts won't hurt suppliers, who still sell the same volume overall. Instead it's the small business owners that operate franchised outlets, and earn only a meagre mark-up, that take the hit.

Eric Lai adds:

These types of consumer "fight back" campaigns pop up periodically, usually spurred by gas price spikes. Do they work? One need only look at gas prices to gauge their effectiveness.

Their fundamental flaw as a protest tool, as I see it, is that whether consumers buy gas now or later, they ultimately end up buying from the very companies they're targeting.

The protest is largely symbolic since there's little, if any, overall impact to the oil companies' bottom line.

LAW SCHOOL

How much is that doggie in your lap?

If this happens when you're driving, the answer could be $85, or $120 in a designated community safety zone, plus three demerit points. A court fee and crime victims surcharge also apply.

Under section 162 of the provincial Highway Traffic Act, it's an offence to "drive while crowded" with persons or property in the front or driver's seat placed so as to interfere with the proper management and control of the motor vehicle.

Sorry animal lovers, but the law considers your beloved pet as "property" for legal purposes.

UNEASY RIDER

The U.C. Berkeley Wellness Letter (University of California) cites that, per kilometre driven, motorcyclists are 32 times more likely to die in vehicle collisions than those in cars.

Regardless of who's at fault, the biker, who isn't surrounded by a protective frame and airbags, like car or truck passengers, typically gets the worst of it in most collisions.

Email your non-mechanical questions to Eric Lai at wheels@thestar.ca.

Please include year, make, model and kilometres of autos cited, plus your name, address and telephone number.

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