By 2030, 60% of all new cars, SUVs and trucks sold in Canada will be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Or, they will be if the federal Liberal government gets its way. The regulations were proposed in December, and if made official, car dealers should have a fully transformed fleet in a little over a decade.
It’s an aggressive target, especially considering that only 8.9% of registered vehicles in Canada were ZEVs in 2022. But it should prevent 430 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, moving the country closer to net-zero.
To reach those goals, the government will need a vast network of researchers, engineers and technicians, all with the flexibility and ambition to undertake this work. They’re going to need students.
Across the country, university students are researching all aspects of ZEVs, from improving battery life and strengthening the electrical grid the cars will rely on, to how best to incentivize Canadian drivers to get behind the wheels of their own ZEVs. There are the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria, producing new batteries with smelting by-products rather than relying on virgin metals. Two researchers at Dalhousie University have joined an exclusive partnership with the car manufacturer Tesla, working to improve the lifespan and performance of its batteries. And recently, Project Arrow, the first fully made-in-Canada electric car, made its debut at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto. The car prototype was designed by students at Carleton University and built at Ontario Tech University, utilizing students’ skills the whole way.
The federal targets “give everyone a deadline to start implementing their solutions,” says Nilou Keshmiri, project manager of the McMaster EcoCAR Challenge team. “Even if it’s slightly aggressive, it’s definitely possible. And it’s necessary.” Keshmiri is leading a team of 180 students and faculty advisors in a competition to modify and improve a fully electric Cadillac. McMaster is one of two Canadian universities participating in the four-year challenge, with benchmarks and goals every month to keep teams on track. The first year, Keshmiri says, the focus is on modelling and simulations, as the team decides how they’ll begin to modify the car in year two. “We’re trying to come up with new technologies or software optimization techniques that are not in common practice in industry as of now. And as we’re in school, we have more flexibility to try these things out,” she says.
Of course, there’s more to cutting emissions than just getting Canadians to buy ZEVs. Once all those cars are in garages across the country, how do we ensure our cities are ready for them? Omid Ardakanian’s team at the University of Alberta is figuring that out, looking into grid-friendly charging, also known as congestion control. If everyone plugs in their cars at the same time, it could overload the capacity of the transformers and power lines. Cities are looking to replace this infrastructure but will have to do it over time because of the immense cost. Ardakanian’s team is looking at ways the power grids can vary the rate of charging based on how many people are tapping into the grid at the same time.
“Some of these technologies already exist,” Ardakanian says. Variable-rate chargers are becoming more common. “We have a very small number of chargers today, and a lot of people are thinking about buying a charger and installing it in their garage, and they’ll have a choice. And if they know that [variable-rate charging] will be a thing, they could make an informed decision.”
Even if it’s slightly aggressive, it’s definitely possible. And it’s necessary.
- Nilou Keshmiri, project manager of the McMaster EcoCAR Challenge team
Ardakanian’s team is also looking at multi-directional charging. Right now, your ZEV draws power from a charger – but what if your car could also power your house or appliances? “During extreme weather events, natural disasters or just because there’s a contingency on the grid,” Ardakanian explains, “if you have your car with a charged battery, you can use your car.” It’s known as a virtual power plant, where there are decentralized, small power-storage systems in the form of car batteries all across the country. Tesla is experimenting with the idea, working to help consumers rethink how their cars can function. And the Dutch city of Utrecht has installed more than 800 bidirectional chargers that let EV drivers sell electricity back into the grid.
Bringing drivers on board is a crucial step, and one that university research is especially primed to help with, says Tim Burrows, a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Electric Vehicle Society. As the adoption curve of hybrid and electric vehicles ramps up exponentially, drivers will be looking to take their cars on longer trips, so they’ll need consistent and powerful charges on their cars. It’s long been an issue for car manufacturers, but Burrows posits that “for certain aspects of technological development, universities are in a unique position. They’re not necessarily funded for profit, and they have some luxury to do research that a private-industry researcher probably can’t afford to do,” he says. “We need both our learning institutions and private industry working on this challenge.”
Ardakanian agrees and says it comes down to timelines. “University-level research is very important, because we work on things that may not be immediately relevant to the industry – medium-term to long-term projects.” The projects are a risky cost for many smaller car companies and a drain on resources for many larger ones. But universities have both the time and a regularly refreshed pool of talent to tackle them.
If we do not have this research, all the cool things that could happen 10 years or 20 years from now, they won’t.
- Omid Ardakanian, University of Alberta assistant professor
To date, the federal government has pushed hundreds of millions of dollars to universities working on EV research. In the past five years, they say they’ve paid out $1 billion in total funding to build up Canada’s EV market, with some of that money going to research at post-secondary institutions. They’ve funded charging stations on campuses and supported research on things like ensuring that vehicle stability mechanisms (like anti-lock brakes and traction control) work within electric systems. However, in order to maintain a well of engineers and technicians, some say the federal government needs to step up its support.
Narayan Kar and Madeline McQueen, with the University of Windsor’s Centre for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy, have been calling for funding for university-level EV research and development that’s “proportional” with the government’s funding of ZEV manufacturing facilities.
“A federal investment to support a pan-Canadian, academia-industry research consortium will complement the government and industry investments on the manufacturing side, and set our country on the path to significant opportunities for EV innovation in the future,” Kar and McQueen wrote in The Hill Times. They add that without this funding, there will not be a large enough workforce for future projects, like the recently announced Stellantis EV research facility and LG battery plant in Windsor, which will need 3,000 skilled workers.
At the University of Alberta, Ardakanian’s own research is funded from a pool of about $8 million from the federal government, which he says is crucial.
“If we do not have this research, all the cool things that could happen 10 years or 20 years from now, they won’t.”
