Clic electric car-share program launched in Laval

Sainte-Dorothée is one of three Laval districts that have been chosen to take part in a car-sharing pilot project involving one of the world’s first mass-marketed all-electric consumer vehicles – the Chevrolet Volt.

Teams of drivers
Officials from the Quebec transport ministry, the Agence Métropolitaine de Transport, the City of Laval, Hydro Quebec and GM Canada were on hand on June 29 at the Cartier Metro station in Pont Viau for the launch of the AMT’s new Clic service. It will make the electrified GM cars available to teams of Laval drivers.
The AMT is purchasing 10 of the cars – one of which will be stationed at the commuter rail station in Sainte-Dorothée. Teams of four users per car will be allowed to drive the Volt, for a fee paid on top of what they’re already disbursing for a monthly AMT rail pass.

Dual energy sources
Since the cars are 100 per cent electric, they will have to be recharged regularly, either from a 120 V source that is standard in most homes, or from one of the 240 V plugs that the AMT is setting up at its Sainte-Dorothée station, and at the Montmorency and Cartier public transit terminals, where there will be seven other Chevrolet Volts.
The arrival of electric cars in Laval offers further evidence of a policy the Quebec government is gradually implementing. It encourages the electrification of trains, buses and other forms of public transit, creating a greater reliance on energy generated by the province’s largest electricity producer, the state-owned Hydro Quebec.

Economic synergies
The Liberal government sees economic gains being achieved through such synergistic practices. “This is a project that fits in exactly with what the government of Quebec announced recently,” Quebec Transport Minister Sam Hamad said in a short speech during the service’s unveiling.
According to Hamad, the government’s plan is that by 2030, 95 per cent of transits made by citizens in Quebec’s public transport system would be fueled by electric energy. Noting the environmental advantages that the electric cars stand to bring about, Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt said he wanted to “salute this example of cooperation, concertation and coordination between several partners, which will allow us to take on the challenge on our territory posed by greenhouse gases.”