Electric cars come to Canada
June 9, 2010
By
Mary Del
Canadian consumers could soon have access to fully electric vehicles.
Nissan, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi and others reportedly have vehicles in the pipeline that are scheduled to enter the Canadian marketplace in 2012.
Nissan is poised to be the first major carmaker to introduce a purely electric consumer vehicle into the Canadian market, with its Leaf set to be in showrooms here by late 2011, said Mark McDade, director of marketing at Nissan Canada. Nissan already sells the Leaf in the United States.
Ford, meanwhile, said it plans to launch its Transit Connect battery-electric van and an electric version of the Focus sedan in roughly the same timeframe. Mitsubishi hopes to begin selling its zero-emission iMiev in Canada by late 2011 and Toyota intends to launch an all-electric commuter car by 2012.
Industry experts predict there will be eight to 12 fully electric vehicles on the market in Canada by 2012. Currently, only small companies like Tesla Motors sell zero-emission cars here.
None of the major automakers are ready to disclose what their electric vehicles will sell for in Canada, but in the United States Nissan has priced the Leaf at US$32,700, not including government subsidies.
