Electric Light at the End of the Tunnel for ZENN Cars?
If you've missed it up until now, ZENN stands for "Zero Emissions, No Noise", a fitting name for this completely electric car designed for driving on streets where a 40km/h maximum speed wouldn't cause a problem - great, in other words, for many short city trips. Although the cars are being sold in the U.S. and overseas, the company has faced a number of roadblocks in their efforts to get the cars safety-approved here at home.
Both Quebec and B.C. have recently passed provincial legislation to allow the cars to be used on roads with lower speed limits. Ontario didn't seem to be making a lot of headway on this front, but now the Canadian Press is reporting that Transportation Minister Jim Bradley announced an independent safety study has been commissioned.
The article doesn't make it sound like he's in too much of a hurry, but at least the ball appears to be rolling ever-so-slowly forward. Of course safety should be of paramount concern, but why the Ontario government has taken so long getting to this stage is a mystery to me.
Maybe soon we'll see the occasional ZENN car sneaking quietly by on local streets - and seriously, judging from the test drive Rick Mercer did, these cars really are that quiet.
- Read the full Canadian Press article "Province studying electric vehicles" on thestar.com
- Visit YouTube to see Rick Mercer's ZENN Car test-drive from The Rick Mercer Report
- Check out the Toronto-based ZENN Motor Company's official website Zenncars.com
- Learn more about electric vehicles from About.com's Alternative Fuels Guides
UPDATE: In December 2008 word came that the study is complete and the Ministry is going ahead with the development of new safety regulations for low-speed electric vehicles. Read the post More News on Electric Cars in Ontario
Comments
I’m in Toronto, downtown in the same ward that ZENN motors has its head office and I’ve been following this story with interest too. I really think Ontario is being way too slow to allow these on the roads and to begin to seriously encourage an electric car industry in this province. Who really believes that great electric cars are going to come from the big car companies?
I’ve collected a lot on the ZENN on my blog:
http://causalitybrunch.blogspot.com/
I’m signing up for your newsletter! Hopefully you will have some good news about the ZENN soon!
I believe Zenn is in the process of lobbying the government to allow the Zenn on low speed roads.
Checkout my Zenn Car Blog. Also, if you find some information about the Zenn saga, leave a comment. http://www.zenncarblog.com