Canadian feds moving to block NEV's from public roads (also: hilarious ZENN vid)
 

Recently there's been a bit of drama going on north of the 49th regarding the LSV/NEV vehicle class.

While the US permits these vehicles in 45 states, currenly only one Canadian province allows them, and the Feds are apparently now planning a move to REDEFINE the vehicle classification to ban them entirely from public roads:

ZENN has mounted a decent public relations campaign, and the EV groups I'm familiar with have been phoning and writing the government.

We'll see how it all turns out.

In the mean time, enjoy this hilarious take on the NEV/ZENN situation from a national news/political satire/comedy show (sort of Canadian Daily Show-ish)...

I thought I heard something recently of how zenn was going to be allowed to sell in canada after all?

The condensed story: the feds DID give them their certificate to sell the cars, and now they're talking about changing the rules to say the vehicles won't be allowed to operate on public roads.

That's classic politics right there. :mad:

I really don't understand why they don't let the ZENN to be sold in Canada. How is it that a car that runs off of electricity is SO different than one that runs off of gasoline?

Apparently ZENN insufficiently profits the politician's owners. Isn't it shocking the way they resist progress instead of leading the charge? :rolleyes:

*Envisions Canadian politicians with guns against their heads from the Oil and Big Auto industry*

Politician: "No way, you the consumer don't need electric vehicles. You need vehicles that make 'vroom' noises and complicated shop repairs. Just think how devastating electric cars would be for the Canadian economy!" :rolleyes:

I should e-mail the newly elected Premier and ask why these vehicles aren't able to be used in Saskatchewan.

Copy the transportation minister also. I already did both for Ontario.

But... the pressing issue now is what the feds are up to. If they go through with the plan to re-write the LSV definition, it won't matter what the provinces say about whether or not they can be registered, because people would only be able to drive them on private property or in controlled areas. Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon is the guy I'd bug (I did that too).

I'm surprised Quebec hasn't acted to permit the vehicles before the LSV definition changes. Quebec has much higher than average awareness of environmental issues (evidenced by implementing the country's first carbon tax), the ZENN manufacturing plant is in the province, they're generally more wordly and open to new ideas. They also don't have any major Big 3 manufacturing activity, so their politicians should be less influenced by that money (evidenced by the recent announcement of their plan to adopt Cali. emissions regs) - unlike Ontario. So, I say: go Quebec!

Yikes. I just realized that the ZENN cars are limited to only 25-mph!

Spending $12,000 on a car that seats 4, uses no gas, and charges in as little as 4 hours seems like a no brainer, but the 25-mph limit REALLY hampers the car's appeal to the general masses.

I wonder why the company didn't press the envelope further to make it comply to 'normal' car specifications, so they could go faster than an R/C car? :rolleyes:

I think it has to do with regulatory issues. If the top speed is 25 mph they don't have to meet all the DOT safety requirements and crash testing.

Which is just one more point to make you wonder why the feds are so up in arms against them. The truth is: they're not going to sell a lot of these.

However, nothing's stopping you from buying or making a conversion, based on a regular car (and bypassing the LSV regs and speed limitation). This company, for example, specializes in pickups, and will do a conversion for about the same price as a ZENN (you supply the donor truck).

But if I only need NEV performance, I don't want to be driving around in a big, heavy, inefficient (relatively speaking) converted pickup. Right tool for the right job!