CBC.ca:
As governments encourage Canadians to reduce the automobile’s environmental footprint, Les Smith believes he’s already done his part.
He bought a Honda Acty.
A Honda what?
‘It looks like one of those big Hino trucks, only it’s been through the wash,’ says the Vancouver school board worker. ‘It’s very tiny.’
The diminutive pickup truck belongs to a class of Japanese vehicle know as kei jidosha - literally lightweight vehicle.
They must conform to strict size and power limits but in return get generous government tax breaks and special parking privileges in Japan’s auto-choked cities.
Sales of kei cars and trucks, as they’re called, have boomed, accounting for about a third of the total in a country where gasoline prices are only slightly higher than Canada’s but where conservation is fostered because Japan relies totally on imported oil.
Minicars, including models slightly larger than Japan’s kei class, make up about 35% of auto sales in Europe, where drivers pay the highest fuel prices in the world.
The challenge of putting comfort, space and driveability into a tiny package has often pushed designers and engineers in innovative directions. The 2007 Mitsubishi i was named Japan’s car of the year.
Environmentalists and transportation specialists believe minicars could be part of the solution to growing urban congestion and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ottawa and provincial governments are encouraging the purchase of gasoline-electric hybrids through tax credits. Vancouver offers 50% discounts for fuel-efficient vehicles parking on city-owned lots.
Federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon also announced this month it was expanding research into environmentally friendly vehicles through a new ecoTechnology program.
Program manager Patricia Procter says her $15 million, 4-year budget almost quadruples the money the previous Advanced Technology Vehicle program had available to evaluate promising automotive technologies such as battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles.
‘Our goal is to not only show the consumers what could be available but actually work and have some tangible results that we would share with the auto industry and the consumers about the benefits of introducing them into Canada,’ says Procter.
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