Accelerating Innovation and Training on Vehicle Electrification for Canada's Electric Vehicle Future

如果加拿大计划实现《巴黎协定》下的减排承诺，从传统的化石燃料汽车过渡到零排放汽车（ZEV）是必不可少的。问题是，2019年的数据显示加拿大没有取得真正的进展，全国各地的交通排放继续上升（ECCC 2021）。鉴于手头任务的艰巨，需要作出重大的额外努力（白色2021；环境与可持续发展常设委员会2021）。与此同时，加拿大面临着激烈的新兴竞争，这在很大程度上超出了我们的控制范围，包括限制国内企业和就业发展的潜力，例如，税收优惠将电动乘用车的主流制造业吸引到美国和远离加拿大（Markusoff 2021）。这些综合的压力强调了开发基于专业应用的新机会的必要性，加拿大企业至少可以在中期建立领导机会，加强相关培训并提高我们的劳动力技能。这个建议是围绕三个主题建立的，后面会更详细地描述，这三个主题都与RRC理工学院现有的新优势有关。第一个主题涉及研究面向利基的汽车电动转换，作为未来的国内商业市场，以及重新利用已经使用的电动汽车电池的方法。第二个主题涉及研究新的充电方法，使汽车具有成本效益，同时不要过度强调现有的电力基础设施。第三个主题涉及研究标准化转换包的初步实施，作为一种经济有效的手段，为学生提供了解和使用电动汽车的更广泛的培训和直接体验机会。这些都不涉及主流优先事项，也不受激烈竞争压力的影响，但它们是最初适用于地方/区域但可能对国家产生重要影响的面向小生境的机会。

A transition from conventional fossil-fuel vehicles to zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) is essential if Canada plans to achieve emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement. Problematically, data for 2019 shows Canada making no real progress, with transportation emissions continuing to rise across the country (ECCC 2021). Given the magnitude of the task at hand, significant additional efforts are required (White 2021; Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development 2021). At the same time, Canada faces intense emerging competition that is largely beyond our control, including the potential to constrain domestic businesses and job development, e.g., tax incentives luring mainstream manufacturing of electric passenger vehicles to the U.S. and away from Canada (Markusoff 2021). These combined pressures emphasize a need to develop novel opportunities based significantly on specialized applications, for which Canadian businesses can build leadership opportunities over at least the medium term, enhance relevant training and upskill our workforce. This proposal is built around three main themes described later in more detail, with all three relating to the existing novel strengths of RRC Polytech. The first theme involves research on niche-oriented vehicle electric conversions as future domestic business markets and ways to repurpose already used electric vehicle batteries. The second theme involves researching novel charging approaches to cost-efficient vehicles and not overstressing the existing electrical infrastructure. The third theme involves researching the initial implementation of standardized conversion packages as a cost-efficient means to implement broader training and direct experience opportunities for students to understand and work on electric vehicles. None of these involve mainstream priorities and are not subject to intense competitive pressures yet represent niche-oriented opportunities initially applicable on a local/regional basis but potentially with important national implications.