Ottawa Invests $ 5 Million to Build Fully Canadian Zero Emission Concept Car

The federal government will invest $ 5 million in Project Arrow, an initiative of the Association of Automotive Parts Manufacturers whose goal is to create the country’s first zero-emission Canadian vehicle and showcase national technologies to automakers around the world.

The project was inspired by Ottawa’s goal of achieving a net-zero emissions world by 2050, set out in the speech from the throne two years ago, and was named by the APMA in honor of the Avro Arrow, who aborted the hallmark of prowess. of Canadian aviation, canceled in 1959.

It won’t be a fighter jet, the idea is to build a reasonably priced electric SUV, but Project Arrow sponsors hope to assemble a concept car, along with a “digital twin” version, by the end of next year. Then, with demo versions in hand, they could market Canadian supplier innovations to automakers around the world looking for cutting-edge electric vehicle components, or a complete car.

Federal money for Project Arrow will come from FedDev Ontario, and the government will announce it at an event in Woodbridge, Ontario, on Wednesday morning amid expectations that elections will soon be called.

With no domestic automakers in Canada but plenty of parts suppliers, Project Arrow is a blatant effort to defend the country’s businesses and technology, from traditional auto parts and interiors to battery and artificial intelligence manufacturers, the president said. from APMA, Flavio Volpe, who calls it “an incubator wrapped in an accelerator wrapped in the Canadian flag.”

Many of the companies competing to participate in the project are competitors, he said, but the hope is that “collective collaboration will attract more attention than they could do on their own.”

“It’s really satisfying to see the federal government on this project,” Volpe said, noting that the final budget will end at around $ 30 million to build the concept car and the digital version, along with a virtual version that will be used for marketing. The companies involved, which will benefit from the potential sale of their technologies, are also contributing to the cost.

The APMA settled on a design from a team of Carleton University students last year and issued a request for proposals in January, seeking suppliers to participate in the concept car.

Volpe said about 425 companies responded, about a third from those in GTA, another third from the rest of Ontario and the rest from across the country. Only about 10 to 20 percent of those companies could build the physical prototype, he said, but others could be included in the digital and virtual versions, which could highlight multiple different battery technologies, for example.

Southwest Ontario is already a formidable hub for car manufacturing, but Volpe said the project will also draw on the expertise of companies in the IT sector in that area, artificial intelligence startups in Toronto, machine learning businesses. in Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver, and battery manufacturers in Quebec. and Ontario.

Ontario auto industry stalwarts are already confirmed for inclusion in the concept car; It listed Mississauga-based interior component maker Woodbridge, Guelph-based Linamar Corp., known for engine and transmission technology, and Vaughan-based Martinrea International Inc., which makes car bodies and batteries.

The pandemic has highlighted how disruptive supply chain disruptions can be, said Mike Moffatt, professor of business, economics and public policy at Ivey Business School. He said Project Arrow could be a “really tangible” way to show global automakers that they can get everything they need in one place.

On top of that, it offers smaller companies a unique marketing opportunity that they might not otherwise have, he said, just as automakers are moving from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

It is also a crucial time for Ottawa and the province to decide whether and how they want to support Ontario’s auto sector, Moffatt said, noting that both levels of government have invested in the industry in recent years. “It could be the one thing that Trudeau and Ford have agreed on … They see this as an important space.”

Volpe said the Ontario government has also supported Project Arrow, including through some matching funds from the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network, a program of the Ontario Innovation Center. “Probably in the end, the province could receive up to $ 2 million,” he said, adding that the Quebec government has also offered support.

The prototype will be built at the Ontario University of Technology in Oshawa, Volpe said, while the digital and virtual versions will be held at the WindsorEssex virtual reality CAVE.