The Hindu Business Line : Ontario on the road to go electric

Recently in Toronto The Province of Ontario, Canada, has unveiled a grandiose plan for electric vehicles. It aims to see one out of every 20 vehicles on its roads to be electrically powered by 2020.

It has begun in right earnest to achieve this goal. Recently, the Province announced a bold plan under which buyers of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles will receive rebates between $4,000 and $10,000 from July 1, 2010.

This could well make Ontario (population approximately 12.9 million), and especially the people of Toronto proud owners of cleaner, more efficient vehicles, and expand the electric vehicle market for manufacturers globally. At present, the Province has less than 100 electric cars which are lead acid battery powered.

A major beneficiary of this trendsetting decision would be Electrovaya, whose CEO and promoter is Mr Sankar Das Gupta of Indian origin and the company is a leader in Lithium-Ion batteries, which power electric vehicles.

Maya, the new brand

Electrovaya, which is based in Mississauga (on the outskirts of Toronto), recently unveiled its Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery powered ‘Maya 300’. The car is part of a new electric car share-and-rental programme in Baltimore in the United States.

‘Maya 300’ is a ‘City Car’ and is showing very encouraging results, Mr Das Gupta told a visiting media team at the factory facilities recently.

Maya Electric, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Electrovaya, has made the four-door car with some Chinese components. ExxonMobil is the marketing partner for the project. Priced around $35,000, the car can run up to 200 km per charge. “Our target is to produce the City Car at a cost below $25,000 with a run of over 200 km before charging,” he said.

Maya 300 is set for commercial launch in January 2010, Mr Das Gupta said.

Upbeat on outlook

Has the time for electric cars arrived? Asked about several attempts in the past on producing electric cars and their slow penetration, Mr Das Gupta sounded upbeat on the US President, Mr Barack Obama’s plans to have one million electric cars by 2015.

He said the US Department of Energy was providing huge funding to giant carmakers – GM, Nissan, Chrysler and Ford to come up with electric cars powered by Li Ion batteries.

Meanwhile, Electrovaya has also got funding from Ontario Government to help bring batteries to the market for the next generation of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The investment to the tune of $16.7 million would generate 240 jobs and support 50 existing positions.

The company’s patented battery technology lets cars drive further on a single charge than electric vehicles that use other batteries. Electrovaya has already signed several deals with automakers in Europe, Asia and North America. “We expect to see a demand of 200 cars a month from December 2009,” Mr Das Gupta added.

Expansion plans

As part of its expansion programme to meet the anticipated demands in the future, Electrovaya is investing $94.8 million. The company has a zero emission manufacturing facility and uses a breakthrough technology called nano-structured electrolyte for producing the batteries, Dr Gupta claimed.

Lithium carries the most amount of energy and is also available in ore form in Canada, the US, Australia, Africa, Tibet and China in adequate quantities. The present process of producing lithium using a solvent is not eco-friendly. Electrovaya has developed its new patented technology, which is eco-friendly, he added.

With the target to become a world leader in building and driving electric cars, Ontario is not just investing, but is also putting in place measures that encourage their use.

For example, it has decided to issue green vehicle licence plates that would allow drivers to: Use less-congested high occupancy vehicle (carpool) lanes, even if there is only one person in the vehicle; access to public charging facilities and parking at Ontario Government’s transit lots.

Ontario will also add 500 electric vehicles to the Ontario Public Service fleet soon.

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