Electric carmakers positioned for power
RICK MADONIK, TORONTO STAR
Sankar Das Gupta, CEO of Mississauga-based Electrovaya, sits in an electric vehicle powered by one of his company's batteries.
The electric car could be the next such innovation. In addition to ushering in a new propulsion system, it might also revolutionize how we make, buy and maintain our wheels.
The prospect of such massive change should be part of the debate over a bailout for Canada's struggling auto sector.
While governments must do their best to help the existing industry, they'd do well to also consider how the new technology could transform it.
The Detroit Three and the Japanese majors are rolling out hybrids and developing the next generation of mainly electric vehicles, such as GM's Volt. But hybrids will likely turn out to be a transition technology because, while they offer better mileage than conventional cars, they continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels. The Volt is a major advance, but it's a complex system that still needs gasoline power for trips of more than about 60 kilometres.
A lot of resources are being poured into eliminating on-board fossil fuels. In China (where 300 companies are involved), the United States, Korea, Japan, France and even Norway, hordes of engineers with massive budgets are racing to develop vehicles that run purely on batteries recharged through plug-in sockets.
They've produced models that travel 250 kilometres or more between charges and cruise at 100, and performance is improving steadily.
If that's where the industry is headed, Canada needs to acknowledge it and decide whether and how to support homegrown players.
"We have to find a niche, quickly, and move in that direction," says Al Cormier, head of the industry group Electric Mobility Canada. A government-led task force will soon unveil what he hopes will be "the right formula."
Canada's specialty might be the battery – the most critical and, for now, limiting component. Mississauga's Electrovaya Inc. is among the world leaders in devising new versions.
It has reached agreements to supply them to three large Chinese manufacturers as well as India's Tata Motors, creator of the super-cheap Nano, and the smaller Phoenix Motorcars in California.
These arrangements suggest that a new order of car makers could take the industry electric. Nissan and Renault promise all-electric offerings within four years. But the current dominant players are nimble, creative, aggressive upstarts and most want the same qualities in their partners.
The big "legacy" car makers could get into the game, but they're disadvantaged by bureaucratic structures and the burden of contracts, fixed costs and factories dedicated to conventional vehicles, says Electrovaya's project manager Gitanjali Das Gupta. With "great leadership ... they might be the right partner."
Dave Braden, a former Hamilton councillor who owns an ultra-energy-efficient home, is deeply involved in the industry and lays out other potential changes. Electric car makers might:
Contract virtually all production to independent companies instead of starting a manufacturing company from scratch;
Replace dealerships with Internet shopping and a single GTA location for test drive;.
Farm out maintenance and repairs to service chains such as Canadian Tire;.
Design cars so that, like aircraft, all parts are routinely replaced – often by owners – to extend the vehicle's life to 30 years or more.
"A lot of people are thinking the same way" as Braden, says Cormier. The industry need not, and likely won't, keep operating as it has for decades. "Everything is up for grabs."
Which simply means we need to look beyond the conventional bailout box to ensure Canadian firms and workers can turn disruption into opportunity.
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