40 — Sunday, June 2, 1991 ~ North Shore News

Qur common future...

TS

RONM

IN OUR

Electric vehicles may be
the wave of the future

ELECTRIC VEHICLES are
Betting a boost from Energy,
Mines and Resources Canada
(EMR).

EMR’s Canada Centre for
Mineral and Energy Techno-
logy (CANMET) is supporting
the development of new storage
batteries and fuel cells that
cause little or no environmental
pollution, and can be powered
from sustainable cnergy
sources.

Electric vehicles (EVs},
unlike gasoline-powered vehi-
cles, emit essentially no pollu-
tants. They are aifso con-
siderably more energy-efficient
than gasoline engines.

Long regarded as impractical
because of poor energy storage
capabilities and excess weight,
electric vehicles could be the
wave of the future, thanks to
the development of twa new

battery systems — lithium
aluminum-iron sulphide and
sodium-sulphur.

Both systems have more

energy per volume and weight,
are more reliable and give an
EV a range five times greater
than conventiona! lead-acid
batteries.

CANMET has supported the
development of an advanced
sodium-sulphur battery by

Powerpiex Technologies Inc. of

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The battery has a range of
150 to 250 kilometres between
charges. weighs only 255
kilograms and can propel a
four-seal passenger car along at

a cruising specd of 120
kilometres per hour.
The target cost for a

Powerplex van, which will be
on the market by the mid-90s,
is $25,000 — roughly $6,000
more than its pasoline-powered
counterpart,

CANMET is also involved in
a joint venture with Ballard
Power Systems of North Van-
couver fo develop and demon-
Strate the use of hydrogen-
powered fuel cells for vehicles.

Fuel cells produce electricity
by combining a chemical, such
as hydrogen, with oxygen. The
only byproducts of the process
are waiter and heat, so fuel cells
have no end-use emissions of
volatile organic compounds or
nitrogen oxides.

Unlike batteries, fuel cells
never need to be recharged,
because the chemical fuel is
constantly being replaced.

City driving tests indicate
that vehicles powered by fuel
cells can be three to four times
more efficient than those
powered by internal combus-
tion engines.

Although fuel cells are cur-

tally friendly
Hable to you

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‘turn oof

rently expensive, Ballard has
developed a solid polymer fuel
cell at a cost that could permit
wide-scale production.

B.C. Transit will begin
testing and demonstrating the
uses of the new cell by replac-
ing a diesel engine in one of its
buses with a 100-kilowatt fuel
cell in the fall of 1992,

Although EVs and fuel cell
vehicles probabiy won't be
mass produced until after the
the century, it is
estimated that there will be
some 5,000 EVs on the road in
Canada bs: 1995.

In cities plagued by air
pollution, the change could
come about a lor sooner. For
example, Los Angeles has al-
ready invited proposals for the
manufacture of 10,000 electric
autos and vans by the end of
1992,

In Zermart, Switzerland, in-
ternal combustion engines are
already banned; only. EVs and
bicycles share the quiet city
streets.

‘These are encouraging signs
and consistent with the goal of
developing cleaner,’ and en-
vironmentally sustainable
sources of energy,’’ says
CANMET’s Ailan Dolenko,
director of the Alternative
Energy Division.

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environment and put it in

SeaBus noting increase
in bicycle traffic

THE NUMBER of people taking
their bikes on the SeaBus since the
Vancouver Regional Transit
Commission changed its policy
regarding bicycles on the SeaBus
has increased dramatically.

A total of 2,031 bicycles were
carried on the SeaBus between
October 1990 and March 1991, a
231% increase over the 1989/90
year. .
The commission approved in-
creased hours for passengers with
bicycles in October 1990 in order
to expand the incentives for bike
riders. Cyclists can use the SeaBus
during all off-peak hours, and on
weekends and holidays.

Commuters
to leave car

IN CELEBRATION of. Environ-
ment Week, the Society  Pro-
moting Environmental Conserva-
tion (SPEC) announces. ‘Take
Anoiher Way Day’? to be held
June 6, :

In the time lea‘ing up to En-
vironment Week, SPEC has been
encouraging commuters to ride
their bike to work on June 6.

SPEC volunteers will be posi-
tioned at major intersections

distributing pamphlets offering the
cyclists 10 bike safety tips and
reasons why alternative modes of

The commission furthered the
incentives when it exempted bike
tiders from having to pay an ad-
ditional one-zone fare that was
charged for taking their bicycles
on the SeaBus route between
downtown Vancouver and = the
North Shore.

The fare exemption began on
Dec. 1, 1990.

This change in fare policy was
part of the transit commission’s
efforts to improve accessibility
and customer service. Allowing
people to carry their bicycles for
free will help to promote the ‘*Go
Green’' campaign.

encouraged
at home

transportation are desirable for
the City of Vancouver.

The ‘‘Take Another Way Day”’
is designed to increase awareness
of the damage to air quality in
Vancouver and the Lower
Mainland by current transporta-
tion habits.

SPEC is a non-profit en-
vironmental action and advocacy
organization. SPEC promotes the
conserver lifestyle through its in-
formation and resource centre.

For more information, call Ian
Hupponen at 736-7732.

CANADA'S GREEN PLAN

LE PLAN VERT
DU CANADA

IT’S TIME TO ACT

Getting involved _ is

protecting our environment and our resources,
more wisely. Anyone can make a difference. You
can participate at home, at work, at school and
at play, anywhere and at any time. Make Canadian
Environment Week June 2 to June 8, 1991 your
starting point to a better environment.

JUNE 2-8, 1991

the first step towards