ZENN’s Canadian approval overblown
Scratching my head today as I look at the 5 per cent jump in the share price of ZENN Motors, the Toronto-based maker of low-speed electric vehicles. I guess the market is excited about the announcement today that ZENN vehicles have been cleared for sale in Canada by Transport Canada. Cleantech.com has the story here.
I’m perplexed because it’s like jumping a hurdle only to reach a wall. It’s like a wireless carrier being able to sell Apple’s iPhone in Canada but not have it operate on its network. The only province in Canada that currently lets low-speed electric vehicles on the roads is British Columbia. Ontario, a key market, continues to drag its feet. Meanwhile, ZENN has an enormous U.S. market to sell into — all those gated communities and urban dwellers represent a large chunk of potential purchasers. Even if Canadians could truly drive a ZENN car in Ontario, the market is somewhat limited compared to the United States.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to see these little cars zipping around the streets of Toronto. I’m angry at the Ontario government for not moving swiftly on this front. I also think ZENN’s LSVs play an educational role around the idea of plug-in cars — both for the public and for utilities that need to understand the impact on the electricity system. But come on, today’s announcement doesn’t justify the excitement. ZENN’s financial success will be proven in the U.S. market — Canada is a nice have that won’t have much of an impact on the larger picture.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
