Frank Stronach: Why Canadians should embrace the electric vehicle revolution

You don’t have to be a fortuneteller to know that the era of the gas-powered car is coming to an end.

In late December, the federal government put forward new regulations requiring that 20 per cent of all passenger cars, SUVs and trucks sold in Canada will have to be electric by 2026. This will increase to 60 per cent by the end of the decade and, by 2035, every vehicle sold in Canada will be required to run on electricity rather than gas.

The announcement wasn’t that surprising, especially since some of the world’s leading carmakers and countries had already signed a pledge in 2021 to eliminate sales of new gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2040.

As someone who has worked in the automotive industry for over 60 years, I’ve not only been expecting the electric vehicle revolution, I’ve been at the forefront of trying to make it happen.

Back in the mid-1980s, when I was chairman and CEO of Magna International, I created a new operating division called Powerplex Technologies. It made significant breakthroughs in the manufacturing processes used to make the components required to produce sodium–sulphur batteries.

By 1990, Magna was assembling the first electric-powered van to be certified under North American highway safety legislation. But our major customers at the time — the Big Three automakers in Detroit — had no appetite to produce electric vehicles for the mass market. Gas was cheap, and North American carmakers were focused on building bigger cars with even bigger combustion engines.

The highlight of my efforts in seeking vehicles that ran on alternative sources of energy was overseeing the development of the prototype for one of the world’s first mass-produced electric cars — the Ford Focus Electric, which hit dealer showrooms in 2012.

Under my direction, a team of Magna engineers developed the electric vehicle in just under six months on a shoestring budget, which was an astonishing feat. I drove the prototype electric car around the Magna head office campus, reaching speeds of over 100 kilometres per hour.

When I got out of the car, I told the product development team that we were going to drive it to Detroit and let the executives at Ford take it for a spin. The rest is history.

Today, I’m working on the development of a new electric vehicle — one I believe has the potential to be a real game-changer in the automotive industry. It’s a zero-emission vehicle that seats one or two people, is lightweight, highly affordable and costs only $1 per day to charge. And it’s part of a rapidly growing new industry focused on micro-mobility transportation solutions.

These small electric vehicles (EVs) also have the potential to significantly reduce traffic congestion and cut the amount of time it takes for Canada’s urban commuters to get to work. But before the electric vehicle revolution takes off, we still have a lot of work to do.

Simply replacing large gas-powered sedans, SUVs and trucks with large electric vehicles won’t solve our traffic congestion problems. And we have to move much more aggressively when it comes to building the national infrastructure required to charge EVs. As it stands now, the North American power grid is incapable of powering tens of millions of large electric vehicles.

I’ll be the first to admit that EVs aren’t a magical remedy. One of their drawbacks is that producing electric batteries requires a lot of energy and also generates some greenhouse gas emissions. But companies like my own are doing some pioneering research into more eco-friendly battery production.

A lot of Canadians might be quite content with the status quo, but the rise of electric vehicles is inescapable.

We have to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions if we’re going to tackle climate change in a meaningful way — and transportation is one of the largest sources of emissions. But at the same time, we have a golden opportunity to make Canada’s communities healthier, cleaner and greener, while reducing our reliance on non-renewable resources.

The rapidly approaching shift to electric vehicles — especially micromobility EVs — could represent a big win for consumers and for governments. These vehicles could help unclog our highways, slash the amount of time it takes for individuals to travel to and from work, reduce air pollution and free up billions of dollars spent on roads and other transportation-related infrastructure.

It’s why Canadians should embrace the electric vehicle revolution.

National Post
fstronachpost@gmail.com

Frank Stronach is the founder of Magna International Inc., one of Canada’s largest global companies, and an inductee in the Automotive Hall of Fame.

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