Cars bought today will be around for awhile

But by the year 2050, there will be significant change: Ottawa

Welcome to the first of two special sections in which Toronto Star Wheels experts select the top 5 cars or light trucks in 10 categories.

This week, we are focusing on full-size premium cars, full-size cars, small cars, sports-performance cars and premium sports-performance cars. Next week, we will look at small, full-size and full-size premium SUV/CUVs, light trucks and electric-hybrid vehicles.

Now, rarely a week goes by these days without one manufacturer or another announcing yet another technological advance involving electricity. Some of the most storied brands on the planet talk about electrification as if the fossil-fuelpowered internal-combustion engine is almost as good as dead.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, electric cars and hybrids are being promoted as if they’re growing by leaps and bounds, but the great breakthrough that many people have predicted hasn’t happened yet and likely won’t — in any great numbers, anyway — for some time.

Which means you can safely go to a dealer and buy any of the vehicles being featured in this section today and be confident that you’re making as wise a decision as you always have and know that your new car won’t be obsolete in a few years — if then.

I say this with confidence as the result of a fascinating interview I had earlier this year with Paula Vieira, director of the energy sector of Natural Resources Canada, who suggested that while electricity is coming and will be the “fuel” of the future, gas and oil and diesel will still be around for years to come.

The director had come out of her office near Parliament Hill in Ottawa to participate in the opening of the 2017 Eco-Run, in which members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada drove a variety of automobiles around Ontario and Quebec for several days to determine which were the most fuel-efficient.

In fact, Vieira had waved a green flag to start the competition. Naturally, I had to ask her about her job.

A graduate of Ottawa’s Carleton University, Vieira is passionate about transportation, alternative fuels and all the changes that are coming — eventually. Her father was an auto body technician and she grew up around cars, so she knows of what she speaks. In short, she’s excited about her job.

“We are at a pivotal time right now,” she said. “We have taken over 100 years to get to where we are (a transportation and fuel-delivery network that allows anybody to go literally anywhere in the country by road). The changes now are not going to take 100 years; they are going to be rapid (by comparison) and they are going to be exciting. It’s a wonderful time to be working on this file.”

Vieira was quick to point out that although a lot of attention is being paid to the electrification of transportation, her department’s focus is more wide-ranging. Because of climate-change commitments made by the federal government, there are many options available to meeting all of the targets.

“Electrification is absolutely one of them,” she said. “But so is hydrogen, so are biofuels. Greater octane levels can create greater efficiencies in internalcombustion engines. Our OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have invested billions of dollars in advances in internal-combustion engines. Those will continue and will continue to be an important part of the future.”

“So just because we have strategies the government is working on with industry doesn’t mean that we aren’t also doing the very same in terms of our work with OEMs on internal combustion engines and our work on biofuels to ensure that we have cleaner fuel blends available for those engines.”

She said that in the short term, there won’t be drastic change. But heading toward 2050, “I think you will see significant changes,” she said.

“Now, will that mean by 2050, we’re only going to see one kind of vehicle on the road? Absolutely not. There’s still going to be a wide array of vehicles but the proportions of which — how much is electric, how much is hydrogen, how much is internal combustion — will certainly be different from what we see today.”

While she wouldn’t put exact dates on any of the interim changes she says are coming, she did say this: “All I can say for sure is that by 2050, transportation will look very different.”