Driving into the Future series starts next week

The second season of Postmedia's Driving into the Future series of panels, which starts on Nov. 17 on Driving.ca, will have Driving's senior writer David Booth and columnist Lorraine Sommerfeld lead industry experts through some of the toughest and most impactful questions of the burgeoning clean-energy era. Tickets for the online series are free and are available by registering online at Driving.ca.

Nov. 17 — New car preview: It's important that we also address the elephant in the room for car shopping — a shortage of product. For all the glitz and promise of automakers' new product lines, shortages of microchips and other components have caused a worldwide shortage of cars. Helping get to the bottom of this most unique 2022 is David Booth, senior writer for Driving, Andrew Mccredie, senior editor at Postmedia and Driving's resident electric vehicle expert, George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association, and Daniel Ross, senior automotive analyst with Canadian Black Book. Nov. 24 — How can Canada become a leader in battery manufacturing?:

The transition to the electrification of our automobiles is picking up speed, and many countries have pledged to ban the sale of internal combustion engines by 2035. How does our auto parts industry — one of the biggest employers in Canada — become a part of the global shift to electric cars? How do we entice battery manufacturing plants to our shores? Are our advantages in resources and clean energy enough to attract the huge investments needed? And does the government understand that the time to act is now? Dec. 1 — Is hydrogen the fuel of the future?: Hydrogen has staged something of a comeback, with many countries — Canada is one — investing in a future hydrogen economy. More importantly, numerous manufacturers have doubled down on hydrogen. This roundtable discussion will look at the differences between battery-powered EVS and fuel-cell vehicles, and what the future of a hydrogen-refuelling infrastructure will look like. Dec. 8 — How will gas pricing affect

the future of mobility?: It seems inevitable that oil will soon hit $100 a barrel. Some analysts say that US$150 or even US$200 could be possible in the near future. What will that do to the price of gasoline? How will such huge price increases affect the auto industry? How will the 75 per cent of Canadians who bought a truck or SUV in the past few years react to $200 fill-ups?