Time for electric vehicle development to grow in Manitoba

Have you heard? There is a tsunami coming! Or as some say, a major disruption in transportation around the globe. Well, how about in Manitoba, or not? Hold that thought!

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EV) in the past five years is truly remarkable and predictions are that this will keep happening. The world wants cleaner transportation, less pollution, and attempts to reverse, or at least stall, climate change.

It didn’t long for American President Joe Biden to declare some directives to show where his government is heading. Cancelling the Keystone Pipeline project was a great disappointment and will have a negative impact on Alberta’s oil economy. Biden’s commitment to electrify the American government’s fleet of 600,000 vehicles and add 50,000 EV charging stations provides strong direction. Of course, the USA is trying to catch up to China and Europe.

In 2015 China had very few electric cars. Since then, they have made great strides to build and sell more EVs than any country in the world. China already has its own EV industry. Then Tesla built a gigafactory in Shanghai in 2019 that will produce 500,000 cars a year. Tesla is also building gigafactories in Texas and Germany. They are the dominant world leader.

Europe’s EV industry is also growing at warp speed. The push to clean energy has resulted in 11 countries banning all new gas-powered…