Oro-Medonte, Ontario — Young automotive technology whizzes will want to set their sights on the Oro-Medonte area for future careers. Oro Station, Georgian College’s new automotive technology hub currently under construction in Oro Medonte, Ontario, has the potential to bring waves of technological innovation to the region and the overall Canadian automotive landscape.
The Oro Station Automotive Innovation Park will be located across from the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport. To be built in several phases over the next six to eight years, Oro Station will be a hub for research and alternative fuel testing, providing a venue for the automotive sector to get up to speed with the changing times, says George College.
As stated on the Oro Station website, it is “the ultimate Canadian destination for the racers and the restorers, the innovators and the educators, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. It’s a place where they all come together to form a unique community dedicated to all things automotive.”
Pat Troy, founder of Windsor-based Troy EV Consulting is involved in the development of commercial and custom electric vehicles and will have a presence at the new hub. He said his company intends to develop hardware for consumers to convert their cars into EVs—another area of work that could be researched at Oro Station.
“I see the market for that at Oro Station being greater than here in Windsor,” said Troy.
Motorsports will also be a big part of Oro Station, which will also house a motorsport club and a 4.1-kilometre track for racing and testing alike. Combine that with the hub’s electric focus and Oro Station presents an attractive opportunity for Formula E (FE) to bring its operations to Canada; think F1 racing, but with EVs.
“I was somewhat cynical, myself, at first, but it continues to see massive growth industry as the infrastructure grows,” said FE racing fan Keith Smout, who is also the chief commercial officer with DS-Techeetah Formula-E (FE), a racing team that has won the FE world title twice. “The electric revolution is changing people’s mindsets about what’s happening on a day-to-day basis.”
Smout sees Oro Station as “a real growth opportunity for the area.”
