Try to imagine the streets of downtown Toronto without the acrid haze of car exhaust fumes or the drone of motorized traffic. You might hear birds chirping, or the sound of the breeze against the cityscape. It would be almost, well, Zen-like.
A Toronto-based automaker has already entertained this utopian vision. The Zenn Motor Company is the proud manufacturer of the Zenn low-speed electric car, whose name is an acronym for Zero Emissions No Noise. The name is fitting considering the vehicle’s inherent environmental benefits, and the fact that—to quote Rick Mercer—“Zen is also the kind of meditation you have to use when dealing with a bureaucracy that refuses to support this made-in-Canada car.”
While the vehicle has been approved for on-road usage in the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia, 46 of the 50 U.S. states, and throughout Europe and Asia, Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley won’t approve the Zenn car in its home province due to safety concerns. This summer, it was announced that Ontario would embark on an independent study towards developing safety standards for low-speed vehicles (LSVs). However, the project’s vague timeline suggests that the likelihood of seeing Zenn cars on Toronto roads anytime soon isn’t looking so good, and no one seems to know why.
Designed to reach maximum speeds of 32 to 40 km/h, LSVs such as Zenn are certainly not highway vehicles—a salient point for long-distance commuters. In the U.S., these cars are specifically referred to as “Neighborhood Electric Vehicles” (NEVs), denoting their intended use (residential areas rather than busy urban ones). Some cities, such as the eco-obsessed Lincoln, California, have constructed separate NEV lanes for their speed-challenged electric cars. But in Ontario, these cars are confined to provincial park roadways and private estates.
According to Jim Bradley, the issue has largely to do with speed: Zenn cars fall short of meeting Transport Canada’s safety standards for conventional cars because LSVs are slower. Yet this is also true of motorized bicycles and mopeds, which are allowed on Ontario roads.
One could argue that the Zenn car’s appearance poses an additional danger—the vehicles can be mistaken for higher-speed conventional cars while on the road. This is easily solved by enforcing the use of “slow moving vehicle” flashing lights and LSV-specific decals—solutions that have proven successful in parts of the U.S. If Zenn’s low speed is the best excuse Bradley can come up with for keeping the clean little car at bay, perhaps this isn’t an issue of safety so much as fear of change.
According to the Zenn Motor Company’s product overview, the car costs about one penny per mile to operate, with a gasoline equivalency of about 245 miles per gallon. They typically sell for a reasonable $12,000 to $16,000. It’s too bad we won’t be able to drive them.
