New law allows small EV's in Alberta?

[jag]

Unbeknownst to me AB changed it's EV rules this summer:

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/docType45/Production/MopedPowerBikes.pdf

New as of July 1, 2009
A vehicle can be registered and insured as a moped if:
· Electric motor or propelled by a 50cc engine
· Top speed of 70 km/h
· No weight restriction
· Minimum seat height of 650 mm
· Includes limited speed motorcycles

Expressively, there is no restriction on number of wheels or weight, so it seems to me that a 4 wheel car would qualify as long as the seat is at 65cm above ground.

I had thought a lightweight car (composite or wood strip body like in home built small boats or aircraft) with 2 or 4 wheel drive from 9C hubs would be a nice project. What do you think? Any examples of really lightweight fully enclosed home builts?

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

check the definitions section near the beginning of the statute.
can't recall specifically for a moped but definitely under the old act, motorcycles had to be two or three wheels so i doubt it would have changed.
also somewhere in the motorcylce section a 3-wheeler can't have a steering-box, otherwise it's considered a car.
might wanna look into that if it's changed which also would be extraordinary if it did.

bicycles otoh or power-bicycles (<1hp) which are classed as bicycles can have one to 5 or more wheels.
sorry to say, but the legislators have carefully sifted thru all the possible loopholes with a fine tooth comb.
history is repeating itself so they've been thru this b4 & already know which hole the mice are gonna run to.

 

[spinningmagnets]

jag, enclosed bicycles are often called Velomobiles. Because of some fairly common laws in the US, most are 3-wheeled (some 2-wheeled, but almost no 4-wheelers). Once you start looking for them on the web, there are a lot of them...

Though technically in most places bicycles can legally enter traffic, you must display the ability to achieve at least 10-mph below the posted limit or you can be cited for obstructing traffic. So, for a 35-mph road, you must travel at a minimum of 25-mph, and 30 would be better. If you had 4 wheels (or a gasoline chainsaw kit on more than 2-wheels), you might be hassled in many places.

2-wheelers (even with a one-wheel "bob" trailer) are thin and can run on bike trails, split traffic, and ride on sidewalks when roads are clogged, but Velo's have a use in some places...

If you want to build a 4-wheeler, the Velo sites would have lots of homemade building tips for the body and frames.

 

[jag]

check the definitions section near the beginning of the statute.
can't recall specifically for a moped but definitely under the old act, motorcycles had to be two or three wheels so i doubt it would have changed.
also somewhere in the motorcylce section a 3-wheeler can't have a steering-box, otherwise it's considered a car.
might wanna look into that if it's changed which also would be extraordinary if it did.

bicycles otoh or power-bicycles (<1hp) which are classed as bicycles can have one to 5 or more wheels.
sorry to say, but the legislators have carefully sifted thru all the possible loopholes with a fine tooth comb.
history is repeating itself so they've been thru this b4 & already know which hole the mice are gonna run to.

Yes, motorbikes cannot have more than 3 wheels, but mopeds and power bikes can. The 1hp limit for the moped is no longer mentioned. It says either 50cc gas engine or electric, but with no power limit.

What seems like a substantial change is that a moped can now go 70km/h and the 55kg weight limitation has been removed. So a small 4 wheel EV on the face of it would qualify as for moped registration. I agree with you that there might be other hurdles. I don't know about the steering box thing. On the face of it, nothing seems to prevent somebody to convert a huge SUV to electric with speed <70km/h and register it as a moped. This is probably not what the lawmakers intended...

It also seems like the law allows one to register something like a US NEV (Like the Ford Think). This was previously not possible in Canada. Or build a similar EV oneself and register it. Did the lawmakers intend that? If it is an unintended consequence they might try to put red tape up until the law is rewritten.

So, the new Alberta law looks promising when looking at the 2 page release from the government, but there may be hurdles I don't know about.

Martin