Canada says No to Electric Cars.

Reading The Economist this week, I read an article that makes me wonder what the heck our bureaucrats in Canada are thinking. With the cost of fuel going up by the second, Transport Canada doesn't want to give two electric automakers a break. Namely, ZENN Motor Company and Dynasty Electric Car which look very much like Smart Cars which are gasoline powered.

The article goes on saying that most of these cars are exported to the USA. Which is a damn shame, as the best way to promote electric cars is to simply allow them to be on the roads, and perhaps tax those heavy and large gas guzzling SUVs for the damage to our roads and environment.

It is true that the cars are made from lightweight metals and plastics. But not all electric cars so basic, take the Tesla for example, here we have a supercar that is electric and goes 0 to 60mph in 3.9 seconds! These cars are the future of our zero emission dream, lets not try kill them off, as we did with the GM EV1.

But the manufacturers allege political bias: Stephen Harper's conservative government has much support in oil-rich Alberta. Backed by thousands of would-be buyers, they are campaigning to reverse the agency's decision. It's a ludicrous regulatory situation. All you can point to is oil and the big guys and think there's a conspiracy somewhere, says Danny Epp of Dynasty.

Mr Epp reckons that his car should be allowed on urban streets with speed limits of around 50kph (30mph) or less. But Dynasty recently gave up the battle. In March it announced that it is being bought by a Pakistani firm, which will move production to Karachi and export to the United States from there.

ZENN that stands for zero emission, no noise promises to fight on. Ian Clifford, its boss, points out that there has not been a single death related to LSVs in the United States, where 44 states allow them and some 45,000 such cars are in use. And gas-guzzlers imperil public safety by polluting the air, he notes. But Mr Clifford is not expecting change soon. He claims that his campaign against Transport Canada has made him enemies. Two senior, entrenched bureaucrats have told me personally that if it is the last thing they do, they'll keep LSVs off the road in Canada, he says.