Fortune Minerals : Cobalt News

St. Catharines Standard - March 17, 2022

computer engineering and director of the ElectricVehicle Research Centre at the University of Toronto. Electricvehicles, if bought new,

Freeman is one of the five per cent of Canadians that own electric vehicles. Currently, Canada sits slightly ahead of the United States with electric vehicle car sales, but is far behind Germany, the U.K. and China, according to experts. The government of Canada wants to change that - and fast. Its Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program has set an ambitious target to have all cars and passenger trucks be zero-emission by 2035, instead of a previous goal of 2040…The push comes from transportation accounting for 25 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, with a good chunk of that coming from cars. The continued rise in fuel costs might be the tipping point in Canada achieving its zero-emission goal - but is it possible?...Electric vehicles, if bought new, average $40,000. Trescases says that average needs to be below $30,000, without tax incentives, to make an EV competitive with regular cars. The cost of an at-home charging station is around $1,000, he adds, saying an amount closer to $250 is needed…According to the Norwegian Automobile Federation, colder weather can cut mileage by 20 per cent and cause recharging to take longer…In 2020, the clean energy think tank found that even if the upfront cost is higher, a Canadian driver can save between $1,000 to $2,000 a year on fuel and maintenance costs… "There is a lot of political will behind these timelines,"…Kyriazis said. "Government is backing it up with real measures by investing in charging stations and requiring automakers to sell more electric vehicles here."…Since 2015, the Canadian government has invested more than $1 billion to make EVs more affordable, and is building more charging stations…The battery is more mineral intensive, requiring more copper, lithium and cobalt. Mining those materials does have an environmental impact. "We need to ensure all mining operations meet the highest environmental standards," she added, which can be done by ramping up battery recycling to reduce the amount of minerals needed to be mined…"But when looking at carbon emissions on a life cycle basis, electric cars are much better. Even when incorporating emissions from mining the materials and manufacturing the batteries," Kyriazis said…Canada is "well-situated globally" with a large supply of the minerals needed to make the batteries, said Chris Doornbos, CEO and president of lithium company E3 Metals Corp…As the demand for electric vehicles grows around the world, Doornbos says, it's important for Canada to be a key player in the battery market.