Electric cars could make driving cheaper and cleaner, say experts, but also could put some Albertans out of work.
A panel of experts will meet Tuesday in Edmonton for a public forum on electrifying transportation. It's part of an ongoing series of talks on emerging technologies organized by the Alberta Council of Technologies.
The electric car is back, says talk organizer and St. Albert resident Perry Kinkaide, but there's still a lot of people who aren't convinced that it will stick around for long.
"We want to have a sober assessment," he said.
Next week's panel will look at the obstacles for electric vehicles and what will happen to Alberta if they are overcome.
"Two-thirds of the oil in the United States is used to power automobile or vehicle transportation," Kinkaide notes, which makes cars a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Electric cars could take care of those emissions, but what would that do to the demand for Alberta oil?
It could mean a new auto industry in Alberta, he suggests, as oil companies shift from using oil as fuel to oil as feedstock for lightweight electric car parts.
"In the old days you needed to be near steel. In the new days, you may need to be where the oil is."
The road ahead
Next week's talk will feature a panel of experts from the electric vehicle, investment and transportation industry to suss out the potential effects of electric vehicles, Kinkaide says.
Axel Meisen, chair of foresight at Albert Innovates Technology Futures, will give the keynote address. "Right now, most transportation energy is provided by petroleum," he notes, but that will soon change. Climate change, peak oil, security concerns and the costs of oil imports will all cut into demand for oil as fuel during the next 10 to 30 years.
"Alberta should think of other uses for petroleum than for fuel," he says, such as carbon fibre. This light, strong material will be popular in electric cars, and could see use in bridges and other buildings.
Electric cars are already available in the U.S., says Al Cormier, the talk's facilitator and executive director of Electric Mobility Canada, a national industry group that promotes electric vehicles. More will hit the market in the years ahead, he adds. Motive Industries in Calgary is already working on one.
That will mean less pollution and expense for Albertans due to the efficiency of electric motors, Cormier says. "Even with coal [power], an electric motor will give you less emissions than a gasoline engine." Those motors will also cost less to maintain as they have fewer parts.
But electric vehicles could put some people out of business. "Assembling an electric vehicle probably takes just as long as assembling a regular vehicle," Cormier says, so he didn't expect any job losses there. Muffler and radiator technicians would be out of luck, though, as gas-fuelled engines disappear from roads.
We'll also need new energy sources to power these vehicles, Kinkaide says. "We need a new form of energy to get off coal and oil," he says, and solar and wind alone won't cut it. He personally is betting on fusion, which could displace oil as a cheap source of energy and heat.
Governments will need to change their building codes to give electric vehicles a place to charge, Cormier says, and should offer incentives to offset the initial high cost of the cars — Canada is the only G8 nation without an incentive program for electric vehicles, he notes.
The talk is this Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. at the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures building, 250 Karl Clark Rd. Visit www.abctech.ca for details.
