It's quieter than sending an email, and almost like gliding if you're used to driving a clunker.
It's Mitsubishi's new i-MiEV full-electric vehicle, one of two introduced recently at the legislative building. They will be tested on Manitoba's roads and highways in the coming months.
Like other electric vehicles and some hybrids, the battery-powered car makes no noise when you turn the key or hit the "gas" pedal -- it just goes.
The two tiny white cars are the latest entry in the province's expanding plan to put 4,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2015, the start of what the province says will be a sea change in how we drive to work, to the cottage and to the kids' hockey practice.
"If you remember your Commodore computers several years ago, they are but mere toys today," Energy and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak said in explaining the difference.
The latest part of Manitoba's push to electrify streets and highways involves an evolving relationship with Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada. In December, the province inked a similar deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop a prototype electric bus with New Flyer Industries.
With the i-MiEV, Manitoba and Mitsubishi have agreed to test the car here in our winters and summers to learn what can be done to adapt the vehicle to our climate's extremes, Chomiak said.
"We'll gain valuable information about the batteries and the charging systems," said Koji Soga, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada.
Chomiak also got the wheels rolling on what the province calls its Electric Vehicle Road Map, a new policy aimed at not only getting more Manitobans to park their gas-guzzling vehicles, but to first test and then capitalize on local expertise to further develop electricvehicle technology.
Chomiak said one part of the plan is creating an advisory committee to tell government how it can further encourage the use of electric cars, such as incentives to purchase one. Electric cars aren't cheap -- the i-MiEV will cost about $30,000 when it comes on the market later this year.
With an electric vehicle or hybrid, the cost of fuel is considerably less.
"If you could compare the price of, say, a litre of gas, which is now at about $1.20 a litre, the equivalent price in Manitoba in electricity is six to 20 cents a litre," Chomiak said.
One of the complaints about electric and hybrid vehicle technology is keeping the car warm when winter driving.
Mitsubishi vice-president of sales and marketing Tomoki Yanagawa said the i-MiEV will have an internal electric heating system without draining the battery.
Dave Connell, chairman of the Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association, said there are several people driving electric vehicles year-round in Manitoba.
"We have four daily drivers, e-conversions, and all of them drive daily throughout the winter and in the summer. It's extremely practical today," Connell said.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
CAR FACTS
700,000 vehicles (all types) on road in Manitoba
40,000 to 50,00 new vehicles sold each year
More than 1,600 hybrid electric vehicles licensed since 2006
$2 billion to $3 billion leaves province each year through fuel purchases
For every 20-cent increase at the pump, about $500 million leaves province
Manitoba has more than 500,000 plug-in points at homes, businesses and parking lots
The cost of charging an electric vehicle varies with the vehicle type, but officials say it's nothing compared with what you pay at the pump.
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