[Newsbot]

Title: Manitoba Hydro plugs into electric vehicles
Category: Business
Posted By: Curtman
Date: 2011-05-28 10:20:09
Canadian

[Curtman]

$1:

On Friday, they signed a partnership agreement with Nissan Canada to promote the use of electric vehicles. It is the latest in a series of agreements they've signed with car companies and others to advance electric vehicles.

At current hydro rates, people can drive the new electric cars about to hit the Canadian market for the equivalent cost of 15 cents a litre, Page said. "That's certainly going to make that transition a little easier for customers," he said.

The sticker price for electric cars is still out of reach for many people. The Nissan Leaf, a medium-size hatchback that seats five adults, will retail for $38,395 to $40,995.

This is pretty exciting..

[andyt]

Do they have the juice if people actually take them up on their offer? I know Quebec, a hydro superpower, doesn't if people used electric cars at the rate the govt is promoting. There just isn't enough electricity being generated in US/Canada to support significant electric car use.

And do they tell the Leaf buyers that if they want any kind of reasonable charging time at all, they'll have to intall an expensive charging station, as doing it at 110V will take 16 hours or more?

I don't think people have thought this thru.

[Curtman]

$1:

The Manitoba Crown corporation's best guess is that within 20 years, the electrical load from zero-emission battery-powered electric vehicles will be 200 megawatts.

That's the equivalent of the power that will be generated from Hydro's new Wuskwatim dam, set to come on stream next year.

It assumes that tens of thousands of customers will be driving electric vehicles (EVs) by then.

...

"For every 20-cent (per litre) increase at the pumps, half a billion dollars leaves this province," he said.

Manitoba is a great place to get this happening, that's probably why we're a test market for these things.

[andyt]

Great, love to see it. You think Manitobans will embrace it?

[Curtman]

Well I don't have $40,000 for one.. But I hope they do well, and the price comes down.

[raydan]

andyt andyt:

Do they have the juice if people actually take them up on their offer? I know Quebec, a hydro superpower, doesn't if people used electric cars at the rate the govt is promoting. There just isn't enough electricity being generated in US/Canada to support significant electric car use.

And do they tell the Leaf buyers that if they want any kind of reasonable charging time at all, they'll have to intall an expensive charging station, as doing it at 110V will take 16 hours or more?

I don't think people have thought this thru.

Must be why we have so many hydro projects in the works for Québec... mind you, it takes so long to construct and get one up and running.

[Proculation]

What are the electric cars ? *creek* *creek* *creek*

[andyt]

raydan raydan:

andyt andyt:

Do they have the juice if people actually take them up on their offer? I know Quebec, a hydro superpower, doesn't if people used electric cars at the rate the govt is promoting. There just isn't enough electricity being generated in US/Canada to support significant electric car use.

And do they tell the Leaf buyers that if they want any kind of reasonable charging time at all, they'll have to intall an expensive charging station, as doing it at 110V will take 16 hours or more?

I don't think people have thought this thru.

Must be why we have so many hydro projects in the works for Québec... mind you, it takes so long to construct and get one up and running.

For the US and Canada to have significant numbers of electric cars on the road they're going to have to way ramp up electricity production. The only feasible "clean" way to do that is nuclear. Coal fired sure isn't clean, and natural gas, might as well just run the cars on it directly.

[Guy_Fawkes]

I dont see it catching, its a novelty. The same kind of people who would spend 40,000 on a harley or a vespa will buy the leaf.

[herbie]

Put them on the road and sort it out later.
Or we can continue to flap our gums with excuses until the Chinese lock up the patents and the whole market. The Yanks aren't gonna do shit, half of them are outright hostile to anything but cutting the gas tax and falling another 40 years behind.

[RUEZ]

I was interested in the Nissan Leaf until I found out they are charging Canadians $5000 more than they are charging Americans. I don't do business with companies that do that.