Photo: City of Kelowna
Low speed electric cars, those which travel between 30/kmh and 40/kmh may soon be allowed on some Kelowna streets. The Neighbourhood Zero Emission Vehicles (NZEV) are licensed by ICBC and have been allowed in several communities in the province including Vancouver, Penticton, Whistler, Port Coquitlam and many municipalities around Greater Victoria. Kelowna Council debated the issue at length Monday before asking staff to report back on strategies to reduce car dependency in the city, bring back a map identifying roads that the low speed vehicles would and would not potentially be allowed to run and also to look into a zoning bylaw change requiring plug-ins in all new commercial, industrial and multi-family developments.
Council expressed serious concern about the safety of the vehicle, described by Councillor Andre Blanleil as a glorified golf cart, and the safety of the passengers. "They are fiberglass, they have no airbags and very little steel in them. You don't have to hit too hard in these things to be killed," says Blanleil. "I don't think we should be jeopardizing people's families because we feel this is the way to go. These are not made safe enough to put on the road and get into an accident." A study by the Transportation Association of Canada which accompanied the report shows Kelowna is the most car dependent jurisdiction in Canada and has the third highest rate of injuries and fatalities per vehicle kilometre travelled in Canada. Blanleil says the NZEV will also slow down traffic and further irritate local motorists. "They will cause impatience and slow people down. I just think you are jeopardizing people's lives by even considering this. He says full size electric cars are right around the corner and while they are expensive, Blanleil says like all electronics, they will drop in price if people are patient.
Council was told the vehicles would not be permitted on any roadway with a speed limit over 50/kmh, including the two highways and would also not be permitted to cross the highways in certain areas. "We have preferred cycling routes that we recommend people use within our community, and we could have an NZEV route map in the community which says these are some roads we would suggest are perhaps better than others," says Councillor Angela Reid. "These could link people within urban centres and even linking one urban centre with another. I know long term we want to get people out of their cars and not just replacing cars with electric vehicles but I think it is part of the transition we'll be making."
Councillor Robert Hobson suggested perhaps allowing vehicles within specific developments. "I think of the new commercial centre in the Upper Mission that we just approved for example. You've got new village centre, you've got multi family owned houses, it's a fairly confined neighbourhood," says Hobson. Council agreed it will wait for staff to report back before considering the next step which would be crafting a bylaw allowing vehicles on the road.
1 comment:
So NZEVs are too unsafe, slow, irritating, and jeopardize people's lives, but electric scooters/ebikes that are already being driven on sidewalks, bicycle lanes, roads, wherever they please, at speeds slower than 50km/hr, are not ???
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