Montrealer Frank Espina has come up with a unique and clever solution to clear snow at his condo building in Saint-Henri — attach a plow to a Smart car.
Espina says he and his neighbours were searching for a solution after the snow removal company they hired let them down.
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He volunteered to come up with a cost-effective, eco-friendly plan.
“I went out and looked into the electric Smart car,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but I took a chance because I could use it as a utility to clean my snow and as a daily driver.”
Espina bought the electric car last year. He installed a custom-made receiver hitch to the front and ordered a snow plow from the U.S.
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The whole setup cost him around $2,500.
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“Does it do a perfect job? No,” he admitted.
“It’s not as efficient as the city plows, but it does a good enough job that it’ll push the snow and people can drive up the driveway and get out of the garage.”
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The car is actually his son’s personal vehicle — so Espina says don’t expect to see him plowing the city streets any time soon.
However, he does hope his cutting-edge idea will have a snowball effect.
“Hey, maybe car2go can slap on some snow plows on all their car2gos and the city will be cleaned in five minutes,” he laughed.
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