MANITOBA TO PUT TOYOTA'S NEW PRIUS PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE TO THE TEST

July 13, 2010


Manitobans will be among the first in the world to actively test Toyota's new Prius plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV), Innovation, Energy and Mines Minister Dave Chomiak announced today, as the province took delivery of the new car, teaming up with Manitoba Hydro, the University of Manitoba and Toyota Canada to put it through its paces.

"Our climate, previous experience with plug-in hybrid technology and Manitoba's abundant hydro electricity made this province a fantastic choice for these trials," said Chomiak. "These trials will help position Manitoba to adopt this greenhouse gas-reducing technology early. Having electrically powered vehicles would make Manitoba more fuel self-sufficient. It could also create opportunities for Manitobans to develop related products and services as well as expertise in researching and developing components for electric vehicles."

"Toyota is grateful to have such important partners join us as we work together to gather invaluable real-world impressions and feedback," said Toyota Canada Inc. managing director Stephen Beatty. "We're not surprised since Manitoba has already shown great vision in planning for a more sustainable future for personal transportation."

"This project will help the province prepare for what a transition to electrically powered vehicles might mean for the grid," said Manitoba Hydro president and CEO Bob Brennan. "Manitoba has an existing plug-in infrastructure for block heaters and a population familiar with plugging vehicles in during cold weather. We also have a source of electricity to charge vehicles that is 98 per cent renewable from clean hydroelectricity, which is important if electric vehicles are to have the maximum impact in reducing harmful greenhouse-gas emissions."

The PHV test project will enable Manitoba and its partners to understand how electric vehicles work in the province's climate and assess the impact it will have on the electric grid, Chomiak noted. In this project, a Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicle will be shared by the province, Manitoba Hydro and the University of Manitoba for one year. The vehicle will be driven by various drivers under a variety of scenarios and data will be gathered by logging devices installed by Toyota. The partnership will provide the province and the manufacturer the opportunity to work directly with and learn from each other, providing a major auto manufacturer with a unique understanding of cold weather issues, the minister added.

The province has already gained significant experience over the past year with 10 PHVs that went through after-market conversion here in Manitoba. The results of the first year of those tests were also released today.

Hybrid vehicles that use gas combustion assisted by electricity are a common sight on Manitoba's roads. This PHV represents the next step in the technology and it operates primarily on electricity with gas combustion as a back up. The vehicle can be plugged in and charged at home at night and used to commute to work the next day.

The consumer version of the Prius PHV is expected to be available to the general public in 2012. More information about consumer test-drive events is available at www.facebook.com/ToyotaCanadaPriusPlugIn.

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By Larry Powell - 

If you enjoy this blog, please consider 

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Thanks! - Larry

                                                                                                      

ROBLIN, MB Jul 8 -2010

I began worrying the other day about my last story on this topic "Are Pesticide Regulators on the Take?".

Bee photo by l.p.

In it I raised some hard questions about the behaviour of those who are supposed to protect you, me and our environment from harmful pesticides in Canada.

A mounting body of evidence shows several such products are killing valuable pollinating insects like bees, essential to the production of many of our food crops.

Their populations are crashing alarmingly in many regions of the world, including Canada.


Yet our politicians and "regulators" party on, allowing bee-killing poisons to continue in heavy use, as if none of this was going on.


Still, I worried, had I been too harsh? Too provocative?


Then, the other day, I read something which made me wonder if I had been harsh enough!


According to The European Media Research Centre (EMRC), both the health and numbers of honey bees in Italy rebounded dramatically last year. It was the very first year the Italian government suspended the use of a particularly nasty family of pesticides (neonicotinoids), used to treat corn seed. In contrast, oceanic amounts continue to be used with reckless abandon in Canada ("the true North strong and free").


The EMRC describes itself as an independent, non-profit organization which provides journalistic content for many TV stations. It researched and published the story a-year-ago this summer. True to form, our "industry-friendly" media here in North America apparently saw fit not to report it widely, if at all, on this side of the ocean!


I then contacted both the President of the National Union of Beekeepers in Italy, Francesco Panella and Moreno Greatti of the Department of Plant Biology and Protection at the University of Udine, to verify the accuracy of the story. (Both were quoted in it.)


Panella confirmed that in Piedmont, his region of northern Italy, the bees developed "very well" in the spring of 2009 and this past spring, too. There, only "neonic-free" corn seed was planted.


Despite lawsuits from the chemical industry, the Italian government has prevailed and kept the suspension in place.


Pesticide container disposal 
site in western MB. PLT photo
And, Panella added, industry warnings that the suspension would result in drastically reduced yields, have not materialized.


He says there were modest losses to pests, but only in areas where mono cropping was common. In places where crop rotations were used, "there was no damage, and no need for chemicals!"

For his part, Prof. Greatti (r.)told me, "In North Italy, where the corn is the most important crop, the bees did not die in 2009, and the same thing happened this year (second year of ban)."

Corn itself will produce without pollinators. But, in research described by some as "pivotal," Prof. Greatti has shown that bees ingest the poison by sipping dew from the corn leaves or grasses along fields planted with the treated seed.


So, just how much longer can Ag Canada and Health Canada keep their heads buried in the sand, ignoring this mounting evidence?


Keep in mind, the Government of Manitoba also has the power to suspend the use of pesticides, if it had the political will. Obviously, it does not, choosing instead to act as an agent for rich and powerful corporations like Bayer Crop Sciences, the brains behind neonicotinoids.


How much longer are we prepared to let these government agencies act as handmaidens to the chemical industry instead of protecting the interest of we, the people like they are supposed to?

COMMENTS: "Great article. Thanks for bringing awareness. Yes chemicals are poisoning everything. We should go back to the old ways and half the population would not be so fat and so sick. Pollenation is the essence of agriculture and horticulture. By the way love the photo used. Rated up. Keep writing." mrspleats, Toronto, CA
===
"Thanks, Larry, keep up the good work. I used to have sprays on 2 sides of my 1& 1/2 acres, but now the pasture on the other 2 sides was converted to corn & soybeans, and I can't overwinter honeybees. They are too weak from sprays to make it through the winter. To me, 'chemical farmers' aren't farmers, they are killers."

=== Andrea Fox wrote on July 14, 2010, 12:39PM : "Larry, GREAT story, I am so glad to hear about Piedmont's success. Finally a positive story that there is hope against CCD! If anyone in the region published a paper on the 2009 season, perhaps we could share the data with our legislators--U.S. and Canada. Maybe that would help them better understand what we're facing." -Andrea