Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada and Hydro-Québec Partner in Canada’s Largest Electric Vehicle Project
15 January 2010
Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada Inc. (MMSCAN) and Hydro-Québec will collaborate to put up to 50 all-electric i-MiEV passenger cars on the streets of the City of Boucherville, an independent municipality and a suburb of Montreal, in the largest Canadian project yet fielded to integrate, test, and evaluate all-electric vehicles on urban streets under real-world conditions.
Announced at the Montreal International Auto Show, the pilot program will expose fleet drivers from Boucherville, Hydro Québec, and other approved companies to the Mitsubishi i-MiEV all electric minicar, in both fall and winter urban conditions.
Hydro-Québec President and CEO Thierry Vandal said that the project is a vital element in the company’s commitment to environmental stewardship.Hydro-Québec is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by playing a key role in the electrification of transportation. This trial is designed to study the vehicles’ charging behaviour, driving experience as well as overall driver satisfaction. It will also allow Hydro-Québec to evaluate the challenges involved in integrating electric vehicles into its grid.
—Thierry Vandal
Hydro-Quebec will certainly set up high power charging stations in and around Boucherville.
A good cold weather (often below -30C) testing ground for BEVs.
Posted by: HarveyD | 15 January 2010 at 07:10 AM
Boucherville residents had to do with the smell of Montreal's six (down to one by this coming spring) refineries for decades and will gladly accept zero spell e-cars.
Quebec-Hydro can supply enough hydro electricity for 5,000,000+ e-cars.
Posted by: HarveyD | 15 January 2010 at 07:14 AM
There are already over a hundred EV owners in Canada, including 22 electric cars[plus more than a few E-bikes] in Quebec, and in most cases they converted them themselves.
See; http://www.evalbum.com/ and use the search function.
Posted by: ai_vin | 15 January 2010 at 08:50 AM
Powering EVs from hydroelectric is powering cars off of solar evaporation and gravity. This has a nice sustainable feel to it, unless you are in Venezuela, where the droughts have cut back on power production from the dams.
Posted by: SJC | 15 January 2010 at 11:02 AM
SJC:
We have the opposite problem with too much water as the north is getting much warmer with much more rain than 30 years ago.
Over equipment could be installed at most major dams (north of 50) due to more water than expected.
Posted by: HarveyD | 15 January 2010 at 12:44 PM
This is a good use of hydro electric power. In the northwest they use it to make aluminum. When Enron was gaming the power markets in 2000, it was more profitable for them to sell electric power than to make aluminum. That was one indication of an artificially distorted market.
Posted by: SJC | 16 January 2010 at 12:31 PM