• The EV North Newsletter
  • Posts
  • EV Canada Newsletter: DHL goes electric in Canada, Air Canada purchases electric aircraft and Lightyear 0 now holds the title of production vehicle with the lowest drag coefficient.

EV Canada Newsletter: DHL goes electric in Canada, Air Canada purchases electric aircraft and Lightyear 0 now holds the title of production vehicle with the lowest drag coefficient.

Weekly Recap Issue #32 - Tuesday, September 20th, 2022

Welcome to the 32nd edition of the EV Canada Newsletter! Thank you all for your continued support and helping grow this newsletter so that EV knowledge and passion can shared with Canadians. Hope you all have a great rest of your week!

Canada

Air Canada Announced $5-Million Investment in Heart Aerospace and places order for 30 units of a new electric aircraft by Heart Aerospace.

With advancements in battery technology shorter commercial flights are becoming possible and starting to make economical sense. There are more and more start up companies trying to develop electric planes and make them more accessible. Heart Aerospace is one of those startups.

Heart Aerospace is a Sweden-based startup and although, in 2021, they announced an ES-19 electric aircraft that could fly 19 passengers with approximately 400km of range, they are now announcing an ES-30.

The ES-30, is an electric airplane with a capacity of 30 passengers. It is driven by electric motors powered by batteries, which allows the airplane to operate with zero emissions and low noise.

The ES-30 will have a much shorter all-electric range of 125 miles (200 km), than the previously announced ES-19, but it will have a reserve-hybrid configuration, consisting of two turbo generators, to get the original 250 miles (400 km) range and the reserve energy requirements. Heart Aerospace still aims for its aircraft to be mostly battery-powered and expects the range to improve with battery technology. The new aircraft is now planned for commercial flights in 2028.

Along with announcing the ES-30, Heart Aerospace have also announced that both Air Canada and Saab have each invested $5-Million in the company. Air Canada have also placed an order to purchase 30 of the ES-30 aircraft.

Michael Rousseau, president and chief executive of Air Canada, commented on the announcement:

Air Canada is very pleased to partner with Heart Aerospace on the development of this revolutionary aircraft. We have been working hard with much success to reduce our footprint, but we know that meeting our net-zero emissions goals will require new technology such as the ES-30. We have every confidence that the team at Heart Aerospace has the expertise to deliver on the ES-30’s promise of a cleaner and greener aviation future.

Heart Aerospace has now confirmed that on top of United and Air Canada, Nordic airlines Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA), Icelandair, SAS, and New Zealand’s Sounds Air have all placed orders for its electric aircraft.

For more information on the ES-30, you can check out Heart Aerospaces website.

GMC HUMMER EV Pickup | "Reporting for Call of Duty" | GMC.

DHL is adding 110 EVs to support Canadian operations.

DHL has announced a $15-million investment to add 110 electric vehicles to its Canadian fleet over the next 12 months. The investment is not solely for the purchase of the EVs but also provide charging stations and other EV related infrastructure to support their operations.

The first 10 DHL EVs, to arrive by the end of 2022, will be seen on the route in Montreal as they are planned to be used for routes out of DHLs gateway at Trudeau International Airport.

The remaining vehicles be brought into DHLs operations by mid-2023 and will operate in Canada's largest cities such as Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. As EVs continue to progress and more infrastructure is implemented, I can expect that we will see a fully-electric DHL fleet operating throughout Canada in the years following the 2023 deployment. The EVs are set to have approximately 290km per charge with a 252 kWh battery. The reduction in CO2 emissions is estimated at 2,000 metric tons per year.

“We are determined to transition our operation into one that is net zero emissions and climate friendly. Our customers also expect environmentally responsible services, and we are here to deliver that as well,” said Andrew Williams, CEO for DHL Express Canada.

DHL has announced a series of initiatives as part of the company's commitment to reduce their CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050. Within Canada, DHL has implemented several technologies to reduce building-related emissions. DHL's gateway at Hamilton's John C. Munro International Airport is a LEED certified building and the company uses 100% renewable energy nationwide through Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in line with its goal of zero-emission construction.

“We have ambitious plans to invest on electric vehicles as part of our focus on sustainability. The introduction of these electric trucks into our country is a huge step forward toward achieving our clean transport goals. By using these electric vehicles, we will prevent 2,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere per year. And that’s only to start,” said Williams.

If you like this rundown/summary of what’s going on with EVs in Canada please share it with someone (or people) that you think might enjoy it as well!

PS: Don’t forget to add us to your safe senders list to avoid us landing in your junk folder.

Also, if you would like to contribute, have any feedback or comments please email me:

EV Around the World 🌏

Lightyear 0 is now the most aerodynamic production car in the world.

The Lightyear 0 is now the most aerodynamic production car in the world according to Lightyear after wind-tunnel tests have proved that a coefficient of drag (Cd) has been achieved by the solar powered EV. The wind tunnel tests were performed at FKFS wind tunnels in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Lightyear 0 is more aerodynamic than the Lucid Air, Tesla Model S and Mercedes-Benz EQS which all achieved a Cd of between 0.20 and 0.21. With that being said, Lightyear does not plan to produce high volumes of the Lightyear, they only plan to sell 150 units priced at approximately $260,000 each. However, the company did say that a high-volume production EV will follow at some point.

It is worth noting that although the Mercedes EQXX has achieved a Cd of just 0.17, it is not a production vehicle and is only created as a concept.

But does the drag coefficient really matter? If an EV has to use more energy to push air out of the way, then the stored energy in the battery will not last as long. As mentioned in this article, Tesla improved the Cd of the Tesla Model S improved by 0.08 and gained 80 kilometers of range.

Dacia Manifesto Revealed at the 2022 Paris Motor Show: AWD Electric Off-Roader With Plastic Body & Washable Interior.

BMW Dune Taxi: Features BMW M in Liwa, Abu Dhabi.

QuickEV

EV Tweet of the Week

If you have a suggestion for EV Tweet of the week, send it to me!