The call has gone out at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year for suppliers to help build an all Canadian EV. The futuristic car in question is the winning design for a competition set by Canada's Automobile Parts Manufacturers' Association to design a national EV concept. It was created by Carleton University's School of Industrial Design in Ottawa, Ontario, and is set to be built this year.

Currently, the electric crossover is dubbed Project Arrow, and in true CES style, AI is being used to assess likely suppliers and narrow down the search.

"We challenged design schools across the country to conceptualize the vehicle design and the response was excellent," said Colin Dhillon, chief technical officer at the APMA. "To see young minds step up and work through the Covid-19 pandemic was inspiring. Their design ideas would make any global OEM design studio proud."

The competition drew nine submissions, and three made it to the final round before Carleton University's School of Industrial Design's project was chosen. This completes the first of four project phases planned to lead up to the vehicle being built in 2022.

Canada is keen on honoring its pledge to "clean air" vehicles, but its substantial automotive sector is dominated by global brands, and the country doesn't have a homegrown car. Currently, the Canadian and Ontario governments are trying to tempt Ford into upgrading its facility to start producing electric vehicles in Ontario. Ford has promised it will build five electric models in Canada, but we don't which ones yet. It will most likely be Lincoln models based on the Mustang Mach-E, which is currently built in Mexico.

Surprisingly, Canada was home to one of the first electric vehicles back in 1893. Hopefully, as electric vehicles rise, projects like this will lead to Canada bringing the world a new automaker and going full circle. We're fans of this design and look forward to seeing it come to life. Project Arrow won't make it into production, but it will be displayed at car shows.