Manitoba partners with Mitsubishi on electric car project

Just in time for Earth Day (April 22), the Provincial government has announced they have partnered with Mitsubishi to study the feasibility of all-electric vehicles in a full range of weather conditions.

Manitoba is launching an electric vehicle road map, which will help the province adopt electric and hybrid vehicles, and subsequently reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

"Manitoba is ideally positioned to take the first steps toward a fossil-free future," Innovation, Energy and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak said in a recent news release.

"The road map outlines the opportunity to reduce Manitoba’s dependency on imported fossil fuel and helps showcase the significant economic opportunities available to the province as it pioneers the development, testing and use of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles."

Manitoba is already well-positioned to adopt electric car technology, boasting more than 500,000 recharging outlets, which are used during the winter months to power block heaters.

To take the adoption of this technology one step further, Provincial officials signed a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi on Thursday, giving the company the go-ahead to use Manitoba as a “proving ground” to develop, test and market its new i-MiEV electric vehicle.

The province will also set up an advisory committee on electric transportation in hopes of identifying barriers to the accelerated introduction of electric vehicles in Manitoba. The committee will examine insurance considerations, electric grid impacts, electricity consumption and cold-weather performance, as well as business opportunities, regulatory changes and more.

"Manitobans will gain much as early champions of adopting electrically powered transportation," said Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie. "It will not only put gas savings in our pockets and reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions, but will also give us a head start in developing innovative, green, high_tech industries that produce everything from electric buses to batteries and the products that support them."