A Calgary manufacturing plant is out with an innovation it hopes will help drive savings for electric vehicle (EV) users.
Exro Technologies is celebrating the start of a production milestone, showcasing what it calls its “commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology in the electric vehicle industry and clean tech space.”
“We’re reshaping the way the world consumes energy,” Exro CEO Sue Ozdemir told a crowd Wednesday morning.
The company is doing that through a new inverter.
“When you think about an electric vehicle — so anything on land with wheels — there’s a brain inside,” she said. “We call that brain an inverter. What the inverter does is convert the energy from the battery to the motor to make the wheels turn.
“We’ve created a new brain for vehicles, a new ability to make energy consumption efficient.
“Energy efficiency in vehicles is what matters. So basically, you want that vehicle to go farther on your single charge and you do that through the brain.”
The innovation is produced in what Exro believes is Canada’s first automotive clean tech room. Ozdemir and her team acknowledged that may come as a surprise to many, largely thanks Alberta’s oil and gas reputation.
“Calgary isn’t normally recognized as a place for clean tech,” she said.
“But I can tell you Alberta can keep young talent here, if we just challenge the status quo a little bit.”
Exro has been challenging that status quo since 2019 in Calgary.
The building that started out as an empty, concrete shell now houses more than 100 employees, many of them former oil and gas employees. The company has retrained them in automotives and hopes to help others transition.
Right now, its new technology is geared toward the commercial sector, such as trucking and public transportation. But Ozdemir said the company hopes consumers will benefit down the road as well.
“We’re hopeful in the years to come every passenger vehicle will be better with Exro inside.”
EV ownership up
Ownership of electric vehicles has been steadily rising over the years in Alberta.
Nick Seregi bought his Tesla a year ago. He was all charged up when describing his experience with an EV to Global News.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Seregi said. “It’s pretty quick and very convenient for me.”
The one major inconvenience for Seregi and other EV owners is the fact their electric vehicle often doesn’t “go the distance” compared to other non-electric vehicles.
“It has a charge for about 450 (kilometres),” Seregi said. “That’s the only thing. The inconvenience of coming and charging the car all the time.”
When asked if he looked forward to a future with a faster and thus more cost-efficient energy consumption — produced right here at home — he was excited.
“All for it. Absolutely.”