Yesterday, government officials in Quebec passed an ordinance to allow neighborhood electric vehicles on the streets. Well, ok, not on just any street.

The NEVs are only allowed on roads with a speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour or less. They must have a triangular sign attached to the rear showing that it is a slow-moving vehicle. And they must not be driven on roads with a slope of 15 per cent (8.5 degrees) or higher.

For anyone familiar with NEVs, however, these regulations are pretty standard. They are commensurate with the performance capabilities of the vehicle.

This is great news for ZENN Motors Co., one of the major manufacturers of NEVs, considering that they are based in Canada. Finally, more Canadians can enjoy the pleasant bliss of a leisurely-paced electric vehicle for all their in-town needs.

Back in December when I interviewed Jory Squib, who created the incredibly small Moonbeam, he discussed his idea of safety in the small car as the mosquito theory. Mosquitoes are not very well armored (compared to, say, a big old beetle), but they evade swatting hands (sometimes) by being agile. Jory said he felt the same way in his Moonbeam, but admitted there are limits to what he can do – a front-end collision would do him in, he said. This is vastly different from the big car, battering ram safety mentality that a lot of people have and helps sell a lot of SUVs.

So now we turn our attention back to Electric Cars are for Girls, where Lynne looks into an email she got from a NEV driver out on California. Joe was driving his ZENN when the car was struck by a Sequoia, but luckily Joe and his girlfriend both escaped with only light bruises. Thanks to some physics described by the local high school teacher, the why is explained over at the site.

[Source: Electric Cars are for Girls]