|
New Report - BC grid could support 2.5m plug-in vehicles
|
| The Province, Nov 4, 2009 - B.C. has enough underused capacity in its electrical grid to support almost 2.5 million plug-in vehicles, a new report says. If recharging took place in off-peak-demand periods, the grid would have enough juice to replace nearly every registered gas-powered vehicle in B.C., the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions said Tuesday. The Pacific Institute is a collaboration of four research-intensive universities in B.C. (more ...)
|
|
UBC engineering students to retool Beetle with electric motor
|
| Vancouver Sun, Oct 25, 2009 -
A two-month-old EV club consisting of undergraduate engineering students has garnered nearly $10,000 in grants to pursue a plan to drive an electric car along the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler during the Olympics — with a four-hour charge along the way — and then eventually around the world. (more ...)
|
|
FVT Still in Contention for $10 Million X-Prize
|
| Oct 2009 - The made-in-BC eVaro from FVT is now a qualified contender for the X-Prize. They just passed a rigorous review of their Business Plan and initial Technical Specifications.
The next stage is a technical review to take place Spring of 2010. Click the link to see all the teams. See also
Globe and Mail article (more ...)
|
|
Alert Bay Commits to Carbon Neutrality With Purchase of Electric Truck
|
| By Village of ALERT BAY - In 2008 the Village of Alert Bay made a commitment to the pursuit of carbon neutrality by signing the BC Climate Action Charter (the Charter). One of the ways in which the Village has pursued this goal is by purchasing a plug-in electric truck to replace an existing gas powered pick-up truck.
Alert Bay purchased their NZEV, Might-E Truck, from Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd. of Errington, BC. The custom-built Alert Bay Might-E Truck is a small dump truck with a 1500 lb capacity that meets the Federal Government requirements for a Neighbourhood Zero Emission Vehicle (NZEV). The Might-E Truck is designed to be a low maintenance cost vehicle, but one that outperforms combustion vehicles both financially and mechanically. (more ...)
|
|
240SX EV Emerges
|
| Oct 21, 2009 - VEVA's Gerry Martselos has finished his long-time-coming 240SX conversion with 11-inch DC motor, 1000+ amp controller and 144 volts of Hawker Odyssey AGMs. Click on the link for the photo gallery. (more ...)
|
|
Are we Ready For Electric Vehicles?
|
| An article by Ark Tsisserev, Chief Electrical Inspector for the City of Vancouver starts out: "After a well known fiasco of the 90s, electric vehicles are making a rapid and confident comeback. They are here to stay and change our lives. Are we ready for them?" (Go to page 38 on the link for the full article) (more ...)
|
|
Nissan EV Coming to B.C.
|
| Vancouver Sun, Oct 6, 2009 - Nissan is choosing British Columbia as the Canadian launch site for its new all-electric car. Renault-Nissan, along with the B.C. government, the City of Vancouver and BC Hydro, announced on Tuesday that the Nissan LEAF will make its Canadian debut in Vancouver in 2011. It's the second time this year that a leading international auto manufacturer has chosen B.C. for the launch of a production-grade electric car. (more ...)
|
|
COV News Release - Renault-Nissan Alliance Signs Zero-Emission Partnership in Vancouver
|
 October 6, 2009 - The Renault-Nissan Alliance, the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver and BC Hydro announced today a partnership that will see British Columbia become the initial launch point for Nissan's Canadian zero-emission transportation program. British Columbia is scheduled to be the first Canadian province to receive theNissan LEAF, Nissan's first all-electric real-world car,in 2011, in advance of global distribution in 2012. (more ...)
|
|
Electric Auto Sports Converts an 04 Prius to Plug-In
|
| Oct 7, 2009 - EAS in Vancouver has successfully completed their first Gen II Pruis to Plug-In Electric with 20 km range using lithium power. A switch in the dash reverts back to factory operation at anytime. It took two skilled people 13 hours to do and the ordeal would have made a good reality show episode! Only time will tell how this conversion works out but it's now possible to buy the car used and have the kit installed, all for under $20k. (more ...)
|
|
Future-Proofing Garages for Electric Cars
|
| With the City of Vancouver already requiring the roughed in wiring to accomodate electric car charging in all new single and multi-unit garages, here's an article to get you started on your push to install charging in your existing garage. (more ...)
|
|
|
Come to the Monthly VEVA Meeting
|
Next meeting is tentatively December 16, 2009 - 7:30pm at BCIT Electrical building SE1 cafeteria (map).
Agenda: TBA
November meeting recap:
Ali Charara, Engineering Manager for Advanced Lithium, gave a 30 min presentation on Li-Ion BMS design with a few slides.
His presentation was more of an overview of the industry and how it evolved than any specifics of pack design. He gave insights into the tradeoffs facing engineers with respect to reliability, packing density, cooling and cell/block level management. There were many questions afterwards.
|
|
2010 EV Wall Calendar
|
 The 2010 Edition EV Wall Calendar is available with 12 brand new EVs featured. This full-colour Cerlox-bound calendar is digitally printed on coated 32-pound paper and displays 17" tall. Each month with a VEVA meeting features a reminder watermark and statutory holidays are indicated in red. They will be available at a mere $12, and no tax will be collected. Click here to order your calendar!
|
|
Events Calendar
|
|
Community EVents we plan to attend ...
|
-
Wed Nov 18 (7:30-9:30pm)
November VEVA Meeting
Location: Burnaby, BCIT Bldg SE-1 Cafeteria
Tentatively, Thomas Greither will bring his Commuter Cars Tango which is now having Lithium batteries installed. He hopes to import it to Canada as a kit car. He also owns an amphibious vehicle he may talk about and show videos of its construction.
-
Mon Sep 13 to Wed Sep 15 '10 (All day)
Electric Mobility Canada PHEV10 Conference
Location: Vancouver Sponsor: EMC (Electric Mobility Canada)
[Link]
Contact: Don Chandler
at 604-224-1136
EMC is an oganization which promotes electric transportation across Canada. Its members are individuals, groups and companies which have a stake in an electric transportation future. VEVA is a member of this national organization. The PHEV10 event in downtown Vancouver will begin with a Welcoming Reception on Monday September 13 and conclude with an Awards Dinner on Wednesday September 15. The Trade Show will be a one day event on most of Wednesday. Technical tours will be offered the morning of Thursday September 14.
|
|
Other Event Links ...
|
|
|
LIVE NEWS  via EVWORLD.COM
|
Flux Power Introduces New Lithium Battery and Charger
20 Nov 2009
New Flux Power 12-450v charger can be run as a single unit in a variable output mode up to 3.3kW or stacked to provide more than 50kW of charging power. more ...
Argonne Lab Awarded $8.8M for Battery Research Facilities
20 Nov 2009
Funds will be used to build or remodel three battery research-and-development facilities on its DuPage County campus. more ...
NetGain Introduces New Liquid-Cooled Controller for Electric Cars
20 Nov 2009
New controller for series wound DC motors has CANbus, super-silent operation, 1400+ torque producing amps, high-voltage capabilities, and expandability, more ...
|
MP3 Podcasts via EVWORLD.COM
|
|
|
|
EV FAQt
|
|
Almost 1/4 of Alberta is oil sands. But it takes 3 barrels of water and two tons of the sands to make one barrel of oil. It takes 1/4 of the potential energy of the barrel of oil in precious natural gas reserves to extract that polluting barrel! Huh?
|
|
A 1912 Production Electric Car
|
|
Shown above is VEVA's 1912 Detroit Electric.
This car was owned by Mrs. Florence French of Victoria, BC from 1912
till the 1950s. It was driven regularly until the mid-1950s.
Electric cars were popular with the ladies due to the ease of starting,
quietness and smoke-free cleanliness. The original Nickel-Iron batteries
were replaced in the late 1990s because the cases were deteriorated - but
they still worked fine!
View a photo of the Detroit at home in the
Stave Falls BC Hydro powerhouse museum, also built in 1912! It's near Mission, BC at
31338 Dewdney Trunk Road. Call ahead at 604-462-1222 for hours.
|
|
A 2007 Production Electric Car
|
|
|
The Tesla Electric Car is now in production out of England.
Designed in Silicon Valley by Lotus engineers, and backed by big names
hailing from the likes of PayPal, Google and eBay,
this performance car does 0-60 in 4 seconds with a flat torque curve
from zero to over 10,000 rpm and cruises on the freeway for 200 miles on a charge.
It uses technologies such as lithium-ion and carbon fiber.
The Signature production run of 100 was sold out in a matter of weeks
and crash testing has been completed. California Governor Arnold Swarzenegger
has ordered one since he was offered a ride in one.
The price is $98,000 US which is considered reasonable in light of
the performance class it's in.
|
Detailed pictures here.
Jay Leno Reviews the Tesla
ABC News Report
Tesla Whitepaper
|
|
|
Download a Bumper Sticker!
|
|
|
Nissan Leaf North American Tour
|
 The Nissan LEAF zero-emission, all-electric car will make its North American debut in Los Angeles on Nov. 13 and continue touring in the places as varied as District of Columbia, and Vancouver, Canada, over the next few months. The five-passenger, five-door, gasoline-free car will make appearances in 21 cities:
Los Angeles: Nov. 13-17, 2009
:
Seattle: Dec. 8-12
Vancouver, Canada: Dec. 14-15
Portland, Ore.: Dec. 17-23
:
New York City: Feb. 9-14
|
|
EV Range Records
|
| October 2009 - a Tesla Roadster travels 313 miles on a single charge. Press Release. This was not a record though. In 1996 a full-sized NiMH powered Solectria Sunrise sedan travelled 375 miles. See Story
|
|
CMU's Open Source EV Project
|
| Carnegie Mellon University has a realistic project that uses supercaps with lead acid batteries. The supercaps not only provide power for acceleration but more importantly increases the actual energy of the batteries to suppress the Peukert effect which all chemistries have but lead has much more of. CMU is also sharing its commute data and the resultant supercap-battery algorithm that will come of it using a community model (more ...)
|
|
Colorado Offering $42,000 Tax Break to Tesla Buyers
|
| It sounds too good to be true, but here it is: You can buy a 2009 Tesla Roadster, with a list price of $109,900, and pay just $67,800 for it. At least, you can if you live in Colorado and buy it before December 31. That's when a special Colorado tax credit, designed to encourage the purchase of low-emission cars, is due to end. (more ...)
|
|
Green Bumper Cars
|
| Oct 22, 2009 - A Tesla Roadster was totalled in Denmark today. A Prius didn't see the Tesla stopped behind a Touareg and pushed it under the SUV. The Tesla driver walked away with minor bruises. This wouldn't happen if we all drove real cars instead of living rooms. (more ...)
|
|
News from Japan - Oct 2009
|
| A number of Japanese automobile manufacturers sent electric models to markets this past summer in significant quantities. (more ...)
|
|
Electricity Per Mile Ratings - SAE
|
| “Electricity per mile” will be the shorthand of choice for the fuel efficiency of electric cars, if the Society of Automotive Engineers has its way. The proposal could bring automakers’ recent sky-high claims — 230 MPG for GM’s Chevy Volt, 367 MPG for the Nissan LEAF — down to earth. (more ...)
|
|
IBM to Design Batteries with Energy Storage to Rival Gasoline
|
| The project is progressing with its goal of boosting the range of rechargeable batteries for all-electric cars to 500 miles. (more ...)
|
|
Plugged in
|
| Globe & Mail, Sep 3, 2009 - A story about how quirky Vancouver's plug-friendly politicians got on the map at Mitsubishi and Nissan. (more ...)
|
|
Electric car boost as leading developer plans tens of thousands of vehicles a year
|
| Guardian Online Aug 19, 2009 - The electric car industry received a boost yesterday after a leading developer of low-emission vehicles said it would produce of tens of thousands vehicles a year from 2011. Better Place, which will run the scheme with Renault, plans to market them initially in Denmark and Israel. (more ...)
|
|
