Electric cars not allowed in Canada

Sign the petition for electric cars here.

Canada used to have two electric car manufacturers.  Dynasty, in Delta, British Columbia, and Zenn, based in Toronto, with a manufacturing facility in St. Jerome, Quebec.  Dynasty has closed its BC operations and is moving its manufacturing facilities overseas.  Zenn is considering following suit.  It’s no wonder.

We subsidize, at $1 billion annually, the manufacture of the biggest gas-guzzlers by profitable American corporations that repatriate their profits next door.  We subsidize big oil even more, at $1.4 billion annually.  For Canadian innovations that would dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions profile, we make it difficult to even get a foot in the door.

The internal combustion engine is fundamentally inefficient.  If all electricity came from coal plants operating at 30% efficiency, electric cars would still be no dirtier to operate than conventional cars.  Where electrical sources are emissions-free, each electric car can reduce vehicle emissions by a whopping 6 tonnes of CO2 every year.

The Zenn car is sold in the United States and has won awards in Europe.  Canada does not permit it on our public roads.  It was briefly permitted by Canada, but none of the provinces except BC were willing to license it.  Recently Canada has restricted it to private roads.  It is essentially unavailable here.