> THE AJAC ECORUN IS A RUSH FOR A DRIVER’S DRIVER

The EcoRun, an annual comparison exercise in fuel economy between passenger automobiles ranging from all-electric to internal-combustion, went this year from Ottawa to Quebec City with some side trips in between. Nineteen automotive writers, all members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, plus a smattering of communications people from the participating manufacturers, were involved. There were 19 cars, which were traded around so that each reporter had a different one for every stint. There was no outright winner among the cars. The point of the exercise is not to declare one car better than another but to have journalists drive them efficiently and economically so that their “scores” can be compared to the fuel numbers assigned by Transport Canada to every new car sold in Canada. To see how the cars did, I invite you to go to AJAC.ca/Eco-Run. All the info is right there. Now, the cars I drove in the eight stints — four each day — were the Mazda CX5, the Chevrolet Bolt, the Chevrolet Cruz Diesel, the Nissan Versa Note Xtronic, the Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid; the Nissan Pathfinder, the Subaru Forester and the Mercedes-Benz GLE 550e. They were all great, and I mean all, but the one I had the most fun in was the Bolt. I drove it from Hawkesbury, Ont., to St-Jovite in the Quebec Laurentians, and the roads were mostly up and down and twisty, which meant my inner Stirling Moss was at work much of the time. I had no range anxiety in the allelectric car because I had enough juice stored for 300-plus kilometres, and I only had to go about 75, so I was zipping right along. In fact, I was following a Miata and decided, for research purposes, to pull right up behind it and see if the driver was interested in doing a little dicing. He throttled up to escape me but I stayed right with him until discretion got to be the better part of valour and I eased off, remembering that I was a responsible journalist conducting a scientific experiment and that I also didn’t own the car. But I could have beaten him if we’d gotten right into it. Just sayin’. Now, what started out as a side bet between participants on the first EcoRun has become legitimized, and a “coveted” Green Jersey is awarded to the journalist who records the best fuel economy numbers over the two days. The winner this year was Wade Ozeroff from Edmonton. Last year, it was the Star’s very own Jim Kenzie. Now, I finished sixth and I have no idea how. I didn’t deliberately set out to finish last (of 19), but that was really kind of my idea. I was a car racer, and I’m proud of my lead foot. I told you in previous paragraphs about nearly getting into a race with the driver of a Miata. And while cruising along Quebec Hwy. 40 between Trois-Rivieres and Deschambault, I was going just a teeny bit above the speed limit when I went flying past four or five of my fellow writers who all had the cruise control on at 96 kilometres/hour, and I thought to myself that none of them — none — had ever driven as slowly in their entire lives. You can see how all the journalists did, too, if you’re interested. The stats are at the same address — AJAC.ca/Eco-Run. One last thing. I have to tip my hat to the sponsors. You can’t do something like this without support. Meo Electric is a Canadian company focused on the commercialization of the latest and best electric vehicle (EV) charging technologies. AddÉnergie is the Canadian leader in smart charging solutions for electric vehicles. The company develops, manufactures and operates charging solutions for all market segments such as the public sector, private employers, fleets, residential and multi-residential. The FLO network (part of AddÉnergie) is one of the most — if not the most — important charging station networks in Canada, having more than 2,500 stations connected and managed remotely. (In other words, if you’re running out of juice, FLO directs you to the nearest station.) Michelin Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Fuels Association need no real introduction. Oh, and special thanks to the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres for the presentation about their work with hydrogen fuel cells. The automotive world is changing. You’d better hold on, because it’s going to be quite a ride.