Corona, CA: Vantage EVs are ready to go–but are we ready to have them?

I guess I’ve always known that thanks to the profession I’m in, I’d have opportunities to be able to one day say things like “well, son—I was there when the first ever (insert car name here) rolled off the assembly line,” or “remember the 2015 (insert race name here)? Well I was in the winner’s circle of that race, interviewing (insert driver name here). Even got to taste a little champagne.”

But I’m not sure if I would have ever imagined catching a glimpse of what could very possibly be the first steps in an automotive revolution as we here at Carpages.ca did not too long ago.

And it wasn’t at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Wasn’t at Chrysler’s Brampton facility, or BMW Toronto; no, on a rainy day in late April, we found ourselves at a little garage-cum-car-distributor called Revolution Motor Group in Stouffville, ON, looking at what could very well be a solution to some serious problems that I feel many out there don’t even realize exist.

The tall, stubby little vehicle you see pictured at the top of this story is called the Vantage EVX1000 GreenVan. It’s a fully-electric vehicle, but from looking at it, you may never know it.

Chris Strong is the President of the Revolution Motor Group and if the Vantage vehicles are to begin making it into the mainstream, it will be thanks in no small part to him.

“(The car) is federally defined by transport Canada as a low-speed electric vehicle, restricted to a top speed of 40 km/h,” he said. “For use in a controlled environment.”

We’ve heard all of this before—new electric technologies, hybrid technologies, what the future of the automotive market holds for consumers and so forth but at this stage, that’s not really what Strong is aiming at. He’s not out to take on the Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf; no, that “controlled environment” focus is one that we see everyday when we drive, on our University campuses, or in our industrial or municipal parks. In fact, the vehicles Strong hopes the Vantage Electric models (there’s four as of right now; a two-door pickup, a crew-cab pickup, a panel van and a passenger van) replace are so commonplace that they blend into the fabric of our society like taxicabs and champagne-coloured sedans.

Strong (and Vantage’s) theory is that we should start replacing the smallest vehicles with the smallest engines out there, so small, in fact that they are often not restricted to emissions standards that other cars are. Vehicles like the John Deere Gator that carries tools and course marshals around your favourite links.

“We’re talking about the kinds of vehicles that are the worst emitters,” said Strong. “Most off-road utility vehicles don’t have to achieve EPA standards.”

And don’t even get him started on the millions of two-stroke petrol powered scooters that ferry people through crowded city streets the world over.

Strong says that each Vantage will save nine tonnes of CO2 over a fuel-powered equivalent from being pumped into the air. When you keep in mind that vehicles of this type are often destined for “fleets”—a set of vehicles owned by a single corporation or establishment—you could be looking at some very healthy savings.

Take, for instance, the case of the Toronto Zoo, an organization which ordered seven vehicles to replace not just aging John Deeres, but full-sized trucks with massive diesel engines—one of the vehicles that the zoo said goodbye to was a Ford F-350 formerly employed as a snow plow. That’s 63 tonnes of CO2 that won’t make it to our ozone. From one organization. Now, imagine what could happen if the metropolises of tomorrow adopted some Vantage trucks to service their parks. Or if the city of Manhattan replaced the fuel-powered scooters it uses for parking enforcement. Or if the Rogers Centre decided to go the Vantage route for its internal operations. No emissions means no problems indoors.

So what’s the problem, then? Why aren’t we seeing more of these in use? After all, Vantage vehicles have been produced in Corona, CA since 1998. But Canada had no access before Revolution started their quest to bring them north of the border in 2009.

Contrary to what some readers might think, it’s actually not entirely a money issue. A new John Deere Gator is advertised at $21,395 in US funds on their website; the Vantage EVX1000 GreenTruck, for example, starts at $22,000. But, for that you get a closed cockpit and an HVAC system—there’s even an auxiliary port if workers want to plug in their MP3 players. Even A/C is an option.

Cockpit is a simple affair; HVAC and AUX are standard, go ahead and spec the optional A/C if you want, just be ready for shorter battery life in the hot months

“Organizations are saying that they are spending in the high twenties and low thirties once their Gator has what we have,” said Strong.

Once you factor in that there is no fuel required and the (Ajax-sourced) batteries only have to be replaced every five years for $2,200, price is hardly an issue. The Toronto Zoo, for example, “reports that they are achieving a fleet average fuel economy less than half the EPA estimates for the vehicles,” according to Strong.

So that’s not it.

Mehanical issues? Do they have what it takes to do the dirty work of traditional fuel-powered vehicles?

Strong doesn’t try to suggest that they’re reinventing the wheel when it comes to body construction–because they simply don’t need to. Like all proper trucks on the market today, Vantage vehicles are a steel body over a traditional ladder frame, that can support up to 1,500 lbs. of load.

Power comes from a 9.6 kW motor that makes 35 HP and about 115 ft.-lbs. of torque; batteries, meanwhile, are of the absorbed glass mat lead acid variety, which are much more resistant to leakage than regular lead-acid types. And if you want more power, you can upgrade to a lithium-ion battery, but you’ll be paying a $7,000 premium.

So functionality shouldn’t be preventing people from going the Vantage way.

No, what’s really standing in the way—and this may come as a surprise to some, but not many—is our own government.

Front fascia is modern without being overly stylized

Strong and his business partners Peter Scully and Shawne Lowe report that cutting through the red tape since they started this crusade in 2008 has required the jaws of life.

“The problem is that the MTO treats (our product) as it’s a brand new product. But Canada has had legislation around the product since 2000,” said Strong.

Even then, the climb is has been a steep and slippery one.

“If you’re not a municipal, provincial or federal park system or a university/college, you simply cannot license it for the road.”

And in order to get it licensed for the road, it needs to be properly crash tested.

It’s a bit of a Catch-22, as there is no plans to start crash testing, which effectively means that Strong and Vantage are turning their backs on the consumer who wants an electric van as a daily driver. That way, they can concentrate on getting more GreenVans and GreenTrucks into the hands of fleet owners who normally operate those terribly inefficient vehicles mentioned earlier. “There’s no incentive to crash-test the vehicles. 90% of the market (in Canada) exists in the controlled environment setting,” said Strong.

Then there’s the issue of government incentives, which is a thorn in the side of Revolution. In the US, off-road utility vehicles like the Vantage can earn owners up to $12,300 dollars in cash incentives. But alas in Ontario, for example, very specific regulations mean that potential Vantage buyers do not qualify for the cash incentives (that can reach as high as $8,500) that buyers of low-emission vehicles like the Smart ForTwo have been earning for years. Why? Because the 9.5 kW batteries found in their vehicles are not powerful enough to be deemed usable on the highway. And even if they were, the lack of a proper crash-test regimen would render the whole process moot anyhow.

“The MTO doesn’t feel like our vehicles travel as far in a year (as those equipped for highway driving), so they don’t have as significant of an impact on the environment.” Loosely translated, the Vantage utility trucks and vans don’t pollute enough to warrant a government incentive, as far as the MTO is concerned.

Go figure.

What needs to happen, according to Strong, is that “we have to start asking ourselves: ‘What is it that we’re actually selling here and how is it intended for use?’” It’s as if allowing Revolution to continue operations without selling to John Q. Public would seperate him from the advantages presented by the Vantage vehicles. And we all know how governments loathe to endorse such a separation. That’s understandable, but Strong firmly believes that once the aforementioned Mr. Public sees what effects these electric cars have, he’ll start wanting to see more out there. Even if they aren’t in his own driveway.

Of course, this is a hard line because the tangibility of saving nine tonnes of CO2 is not easily seen by most.

And that’s where the final piece of the Vantage puzzle comes in—university motor pools.

“In 1990, a group of universities, including many from Canada, signed the Talloires Declaration in France,” recounts Strong. “Basically, what that document said is ‘as a body, universities are responsible for shaping the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and values of tomorrow’s policymakers.’”

Now, while this covers much larger aspects than which cars university groundskeepers pilot , the GreenTrucks and GreenVans pertain directly to an aspect that is always at the forefront of the world psyche: the environment.

In plain English, if the universities begin switching their Ford Escape and Ranger fleet vehicles for Vantages, it’s not just the administrators of various company fleets that will see the effect the vehicles can have.

If university admins begin responding, with the buoyancy of active student bodies to urge them forward, then right there we have a real connection with people that aren’t at the forefront of decision making when it comes to whether or not electric cars should get more recognition as a very real alternative to their fuel-burning counterparts. They will see the vehicles, educate themselves and others about the vehicles and the very real effect they have on campus life, and the momentum will ineveitably build.

The good news is that some universities, in Ontario at least, are already beginning to take notice and vote with their budget lines.

“There’s been lots of interest coming from universities, but there’s been roadblocks because of regulations,” said Scully. “We now have an open gate in Ontario to start pushing vehicles into universities.”

At the time of writing, the University of Western Ontario purchased two vehicles—one EVR1000 passenger van for the campus security,and one EVC1000 panel van for utility duties. Strong also said that talks with Brock and Wilfred Laurier have been positive.

When we consider that the zoo only just took delivery of their fleet in December of 2010, the fact that universities were so quick to follow suit is a good sign of building momentum, according to Strong.

“We believe that the market potential here could be…a few thousand vehicles a year,” he said. Ambitious? Maybe. But what are we if not creatures of ambition?

The bottom line in that it’s going to take figures like Strong and his team, starting at the (somewhat literally) grassroots level if any kind of move toward greener motoring is really going to take hold. Don’t get me wrong; Bespoke models like the aforementioned Volt and Leaf are very important to the green motoring landscape. But there are very few of these and they are expensive at the outset. If we can do as Strong urges and popularize electric vehicles in the most basic of applications, then some real progress will be made.

So how does it drive?

The folks at Revolution were kind enough to let us go for a spin in a EVP1000—as a licensed dealer (the only one in Canada), they can have the vehicle insured to be driven locally. Here are some of our impressions regarding both the way the car drives and how we see it working in future applications.

Dan Heyman

For starters, I love looking at the things. They remind me a little of the “Kei” vans and cars made popular in Japan thanks to their tiny dimensions and utility. And I think it’s great that just because the car is of the eclectic and electric variety, it doesn’t mean it has to look like a prop from some aborted live-action Jetsons movie.

The headlights are nice and big—some might even call them aggressively-angled—and the fog lights are a classy touch. The van pictured here features the optional alloy wheels that wouldn’t look out of place on any car you may see on the road today. The bottom line is the Vantage vehicles look normal, whic is good because I’m fairly certain the weird and wacky styling cues often associated with high techery like this are a turn off to many buyers.

Driving wise, well, let’s just say that you won’t be mistaking it for Lincoln Town Car limo or even a 1975 Mercury Cougar.

The Semi-oval leaf springs on the back, while easy to maintain, make for a bouncy ride for back seat passengers. And the coil-springs with struts up front aren’t going to win any handling accolades.

If you want power steering, you can forget it. After all, power steering pumps require power and that eats into battery life, which right now sits at a 65 km average per charge from a regular household outlet. But it hardly matters; the rack and front axle is so light you’ll hardly notice the lack of power steering anyway.

And come on, who are we kidding? These vehicles—with the exception of the passenger van, maybe—aren’t meant to keep riders in the comfort of kings. They are meant to get people and tools from point A to B quickly and cleanly. Cleanly is a given. Quickly, meanwhile, is no problem as they have one gear and speed actually gets piled on briskly—although I found that whether you floored it or eased the throttle in, there was no difference in acceleration. Just be ready for some whine from the rear-axle differential, which houses the only gears in the entire drivetrain.

As far as the other necessities for close-quarters driving goes, the Vantage has it covered; a great view out over the fairly horizontal (but very car-like) steering wheel through to the clear (if a little Power-Wheels like) gauges behind. And of course, the van is all windows so blind spots weren’t a problem (another must for the busy university campuses).

And I love the adaptability of the chassis; the brochure shows Vantage GreenTrucks with tilting beds, GreenVans with light-bars and emergency markings, garbage trucks—there’s even a mobile cafe. It appears that any applications an organization can come up with, well…there’s a Vantage for that.

Adam Allen

Electric vehicles have a lot to offer, although exciting driving dynamics isn’t one of them. Handling is deliberate, braking is so-so and acceleration will not raise any concerns about whiplash. Was I disappointed by that? Not in the slightest. Unless you are using a Tesla Roadster as your benchmark, you are missing the entire point about electric vehicles. The benefit they have to offer isn’t measured in 0-100 km/h times or handling G’s but rather the kind effect they have on our environment and how friendly they can be to a fleet manager’s bottom line.

Ever notice at how we look back at the way we were and shake our heads in amazement? I still cant’ believe my eyes when I see old footage of race car drivers on the world’s deadliest tracks without seatbelts or of people smoking in bars and restaurants. I’m sure that’s the way people will eventually start looking at short distance, high idle vehicles that prowl our hospitals, universities and other institutional spaces. Consider the job these vehicles have to do: ferrying people and and their stuff over short distances, at low speeds. When not in motion (especially during colder temps) these people movers are usually idling. For those needing a refresher on just how awful idling is, consider this: it wastes fuel, subjects an engine to undue wear and tear and of course, emits harmful emissions into the atmosphere. I don’t doubt for a second that we’ll look back at our use of internal combustion engines for these kinds of jobs and just shake our heads. Like anything else, improvements will begin to manifest themselves as the technology becomes embraced on a widespread basis. The power of perception is huge, and if enough people’s attitudes can be changed….you’ll start to see many more of these things on the road.