20 years of innovation

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EV sector leads the way towards sustainable transportation  

More effort needed to drive greener transport ambitions

anada has made progress over the past 20 years towards sustainable transportation systems but has a long way to go to match advancements elsewhere says Bissan Ghaddar, John M. Thompson chair in Engineering Leadership and Innovation, and associate professor, Management Science and Sustainability at Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario.

European countries, for example, have invested heavily in public transportation infrastructure, including efficient railways and well-connected networks of buses and trams, says Dr. Ghaddar.

“While Canada has embraced some trends such as shared mobility like Uber, which is driven by consumer demand, it still lags behind other first-world countries when it comes to smart, sustainable and accessible transportation,” says Dr. Ghaddar. “Based on what I’ve seen in Europe and some parts of the U.S., transportation is more personalized and reliable than in Canada. We lack innovative transportation modes such as micro-mobility, shared mobility, shared shuttles, autonomous shuttles. These are the ways to drive sustainability.”

Part of the reason for Canada’s lagging performance, she says, is related to the need for enhanced well-structured public policies and regulations to promote and advance sustainable transportation. But there’s also a need for private-sector innovation to develop business models that provide customers with incentives and better services to adopt more sustainable modes of transportation. The focus should not only be on technological advancements but also on changing societal behaviours and preferences toward more sustainable transportation options.

“In big cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, we have seen the innovative trend of shared mobility, micro-mobility such as e-bikes, car sharing and multimodal transportation where people use buses, metros and e-bikes in combination to reach their final destination,” says Dr. Ghaddar. “But that’s not happening in smaller suburban communities where many people still have no option other than to use single-occupancy cars to commute.”

And while electric vehicles (EVs) have an important role to play in helping Canada meet its Paris Agreement commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – given that GHG emissions for transportation are the second highest in the country after the oil and gas sector – sufficient recharging infrastructure and buyer incentives are restricting market growth, she adds.

The electrification of public transportation is also being pioneered in some parts of Canada, but not anywhere near the scale or pace of similar programs in other countries, says Dr. Ghaddar. On the positive side, Canada’s EV sector is undergoing a shift, and the huge new investments in EV battery plants in Ontario will play a crucial role in the country’s large-scale EV integration.

“While Canada’s population is spread across a large geographical area compared to Europe, cities in high-population regions like southern Ontario could be connected by high-speed rail, but that might not be happening within the next few years,” she says.

But that doesn’t mean innovation is not happening in spite of the obstacles. Good examples include last-mile delivery where demand due to growing online shopping provides the incentive for delivery companies to switch to sustainable transportation options such as autonomous and electric vehicles and even autonomous aircraft, such as the system being developed by a Canadian cargo airline startup company called Ribbit.

Earlier this year, Ribbit signed a $1.3-million contract with Transport Canada and Innovative Solutions Canada to begin testing self-flying aircraft in remote regions. The company has completed over 200 hours of hands-free flight on a two-seat airplane and is rapidly advancing operational testing in preparation for commercial service.

Dr. Ghaddar says Ribbit is a good example of Canadian innovation, but additional policies and financial support are necessary to ensure the success of such initiatives.

Innovation is also being pioneered by companies focused on recreational transportation such as Valcourt, Quebec-based BRP Recreational Products which unveiled two electric motorcycles and its first electric hydrofoil board last year. This month, the company’s first electric snowmobiles will be hitting the snow.

“We have great ambitions for the electrification of our products, and we want to become the reference in electric recreational vehicles,” says BRP president and CEO Jose Boisjoli. “We focus on design and the development of technologies that are consistently more efficient, cleaner and more environmentally friendly than before.”

In addition, commitments by large companies such as IKEA, Amazon, Walmart and UPS to have their fleets for last-mile delivery electrified within the next few years will also be a significant step towards sustainable transportation, says Dr. Ghaddar.

However, smaller transportation operators and crowdsourced options such as Uber and food delivery services that rely on individuals using their private vehicles are a big component of vehicles on the road, and many are not yet electric.

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