§ Feb 15 meeting is about Sparky the Electric Catamaran!
§ Saturday 11am Drop-In, Calhouns Cafe, W Broadway
§ $5000 off your new EV in BC! More charge stations coming. See news story below.
What Are Consumer Options for Electric Cars? 26 Jan 2012 Now that NHTSA has stated the Volt is safe and presents no additional fire risk, is should help relieve doubts about it and other electric cars, writes IB Times. more ...
(more live news below)
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead
..:: Local EV News ::..
..:: Featured ::..
..:: World EV News ::..
Cross-Canada VW Bug BMS Goes Open Source
Dec 31, 2014 - The BMS that managed a 53 kWH battery pack of Thundersky 160AH cells to send Ricky Gu and his history-making 72 VW Bug 6400 km from Vancouver to Halifax in 14 days of driving (500 km a day) has been released as open source. The stackable BMS modules each have a Linear Tech LTC6802 managing up to 12 cells. The stacked BMS modules are in turn managed by an Arduino (AVR-based) microcontroller. (more ...)
BC Government Announces Support Program For Electric Vehicles
Nov 5, 2011 - Victoria, BC - Ask and it shall be given. VEVA has lobbied the Provincial Government for several years to support EVs. Today our wishes have been granted. The BC Government announced today up to $5000 rebates for new EV purchases. $500 rebates for charging stations, and an infrastructure program. VEVA News Release, Government News Release, Eligible Vehicles (1MB pdf). (more ...)
In Memoriam - Ross Granger
Sep 12, 2011 - Ross Granger, one of the pioneer members of VEVA passed away on September 12, 2011. He will be missed by all. Ross was always active in VEVA and enjoyed his part in promoting electric vehicles to everyone. He was one of those doers in life and an early adopter. Along with another early member, George Kathler, he converted a 1979 Dodge Omni to electric using a forklift motor. The conversion was not very fast due to low voltage, but cost only about $500. Ross helped countless times with the REV! show and the care of the 1912 Detroit Electric but became less active as his health declined. He was one of the first owners of a Toyota Prius, ordering it before they were in the showrooms. He was a good friend of George, and visited him regularly after George's stroke, bringing VEVA news and calendars. Ross also kept the members informed as to George's state of health. Ross was a likeable and easy going fellow and got along with everyone. VEVA was a big part of his retirement years and he eagerly read every VEVA newsletter, ordered every VEVA calendar and attended every REV show he could. VEVA is indebted to Ross for all of his contributions. (by Haakon MacCallum, Dave Koehn and Lawrence Harris). Photo above shows Ross examining a Miata EV prototype at REV!2009. Service will be held Monday, Sept 19, 11 am at All Saints Anglican Church, 7405 Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby.
City of Vancouver Announces 15 EasyPark Charging Stations
Jun 21, 2011 - If you have an EV you can both park and charge for the lowly sum of $1 an hour in one of several EasyPark lots in and around downtown Vancouver. The $140,000 pilot project partners the City of Vancouver with EasyPark and BC Hydro. It paves the way for the day when more of us will park and charge instead of paying for increasingly expensive gas and parking. (more ...)
Discovery Channel Canada X-Prize Feature
Dec 12, 2010 - Tune into Discovery Channel Thursday January 6, 2011 at 8pm eastern, 9pm pacific to see the feature on the locally produced eVaro featured in this poster. The car was strongly favoured by auto writers to be a finalist for the $10 million Automotive X-Prize. See the car as well as special guest Rick Woodbury with his Tango on display at the January 4th FREE pre-screening at the new Maple Ridge ACT Threatre. Contact mike at futurevehicletechnologies dot com for tickets - and they are going fast!
First Plug-In Electric Car Across Canada - Pacific to Atlantic
Aug 22, 2010 - September 6, 2010 - Dartmouth-Halifax Ferry Terminal. Congratulations to the UBC E-Beetle team on being first with an electric plug-in car to go the 6500 kms from Vancouver to Halifax in the record time of 16 days! They took a scheduled day off in Toronto and then two days were spent in Quebec City waiting for hurricane Earl to pass in Nova Scotia. CBC was there in Vancouver, Regina and Halifax to document history being made. A vial of Pacific Ocean water was poured into the Atlantic in honour of Terry Fox. The performance of the car has exceeded expectations, climbing both the Coquihalla Highway to Kelowna and Rogers Pass without issues. Average distance was 650 km per day with one stopover charge. E-Beetle made it to the front page in Wired. There was no gas used and no follow vehicle. Vancity Story, UBC Story, Home Page(more ...)
Canada Considers Quadricycle Class
May 12, 2010 - The Department of Transport is evaluating if there is a need to amend its regulations by introducing requirements that would allow the importation and distribution of a new type of vehicle for on-road use that is similar in size and design to a four wheeled all-terrain vehicle, herein referred to as a “motor quadricycle”.See the federal document here. See the story for the quadricycle in the photo ... (more ...)
Branson Launches Civic Carbon Challenge
Feb 17, 2010 - Sir Richard Branson held a Carbon War Room during the 2010 Olympics with civic representatives from cities including Copenhagen, London, Portland, Atlanta and Chicago as well as financiers and industry leaders with an aim to remove carbon from 10 top performing cities over a 30-month period. “Vancouver has actually walked the talk — or [in] this city should I say cycle the talk — reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels while the population has grown 30 per cent,” Branson said. (more ...)
Pulling the Copper
Nov 19, 2009 - VEVA asked the city of Vancouver to develop regulations to mandate residential infrastructure for electric vehicle charging. The city responded positively and we now have thousands of homes wired for emerging electric vehicles. This is the story of what we went through to achieve this. We hope that others can learn from our experience and enable the infrastructure needed by emerging EVs. Build It and They Will Come. (more ...)
VEVA declares 2012 Year of the Electric Car
Vancouver, BC. The Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association has declared 2012 the “Year of the Electric Car” for British Columbians. It’s been five years since commercial automakers announced their plans for mass production of all-electric vehicles; essential charging infrastructure and first commercial deliveries have now followed. (more ...)
Come to the Monthly VEVA Meeting
The next official meeting is Wed Feb 15 at the BCIT Electrical building SE1 cafeteria at 7:30pm (map).AGENDA: Dave Elderton will make waves (sic) when he talks about his speedy GBS Lithium Battery powered electric catamaran project. Check out the VEVA EV-TV link above to see it in action!
In the queue
Ricky Gu will present his share-alike openBMS design which can manage any size lithium pack On Jan 18, speaker Alec Tseng from BC Hydro announced that an $11 million grant from the provincial government will be used to plan and create an EV charging infrastructure in BC over the next couple of years. On Dec 21, Justin Lemire-Elmore shared some seven years of experience with hub motors for ebikes. Here's the hour-long video of the presentation.
February VEVA Meeting
Location: Burnaby, BCIT Bldg SE-1 Plaza & Cafeteria
Sponsor: VEVA
TBA
Tue Apr 3 to Sun Apr 8 '12 (T-F 12-10, Sa 10-10, Su 10-6)
Vancouver International Auto Show
Location: Vancouver, BC Place
Sponsor: New Car Dealers Association of BC
[Link]
VEVA may or may not have a presence at this year's Auto Show but seeing as 2012 is Year of the Electric Car, several dealers will be proudly showing plug-in electric cars that YOU CAN BUY as well as some planned models for 2013 and 2014.
What Are Consumer Options for Electric Cars? 26 Jan 2012 Now that NHTSA has stated the Volt is safe and presents no additional fire risk, is should help relieve doubts about it and other electric cars, writes IB Times. more ...
How Battery Swapping Could Spell End of Oil 26 Jan 2012 ABC News sees potential of Better Place's battery exchange model to reducing dependence on petroleum. more ...
Coming: Vehicle Fuel Cell Revolution 26 Jan 2012 Jessica King Holden sees fuel cells eventually solving the problems of battery-powered electric cars. more ...
MP3 Podcasts via EVWORLD.COM
EV FAQt
The most obvious way to make an electric drive vehicle that is LESS efficient than a gas car is to replace the batteries with -- a HYDROGEN FUEL CELL!
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.
The Tesla Roadster battery electric car is now in production with chassis by Lotus of England.
Designed and built in the Toyota factory in Silicon Valley by Tesla Motors,
and backed by big names hailing from the likes of PayPal, Google and eBay,
this performance car does 0-60 in 3.7 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 advanced technologies in lithium-ion and carbon fiber.
With over 1,800 free charging stations across the US, it is now possible
to buy one in California and drive to the Atlantic coast at no cost for fuel.
The Signature production run of 100 was sold out in a matter of weeks
and since 2008 there are well over 1,000 reliable cars on the road around the world.
There will be at least another 2,000 units produced before the supply of Lotus-built
chassis are exhausted. The Tesla Model S Sedan will have become the production focus
of the company before this happens.
Jan 4, 2012 - Hydro-Québec has announced that 10 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs were delivered this morning to Boucherville businesses selected for the third and final phase of the largest electric vehicle (EV) trial in Canada. The project, which was launched in 2010, will continue until the end of 2013. (more ...)
Building EV Charging Infrastructure from the Perspective of the IBEW
Oct 7, 2011 - Shown is a joint effort between the NECA-IBEW team, Portland State University and Portland Gas and Electric. (more ...)
NHTSA begins writing electric car noise standards
Jul 11, 2011 - With more and more quiet hybrids and electric cars hitting the streets, pedestrians, of all people, apparently want them to Make Some Noise!So the government announced yesterday the first step toward creating regulations that will require hybrids and electric cars to emit some sound under certain conditions to be sure that inattentive or sight-impaired pedestrians can hear them coming. (more ...)
Jaguar C-X75 Hybrid has 50 km All-Electric Range
May 8, 2011 - Jaguar will build a production version of the C-X75 hybrid concept vehicle it introduced at the Paris Motor Show in 2010. Expect to pay almost a million pounds however. (more ...)
Detroit Auto Show Features EVs
Jan 13, 2011 - Here's a 62-slide EV presentation from the Jan 2011 Detroit Auto Show. (more ...)
Canada Post to Take Delivery of Ford Electric Vehicles
Oct 27, 2010 - Azure Dynamics and Ford Canada, announced today that they will deliver one of the first Transit Connect Electric commercial vans to Canada Post by the end of this year and has committed to the purchase of nine more by end of 2011. The new van’s electric drive performance attributes are well suited to fleets like Canada Post that have duty cycles characterized by predictable routes with frequent stop and go driving and high idle time. (more ...)
Another perspective on the Volt
Aug 19, 2010 - EW cars are of greater significance, not only for their maker, but also for the industry itself, as General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt and its European version, the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera. Indeed, GM claims it will be "revolutionary". That is why The Economist, which does not normally do road tests, was keen to take up the offer from GM to drive a pre-production Ampera on normal roads in the Thames Valley earlier this week. (more ...)
First electric Smarts arrive in America
Jun 22, 2010 - wheels.ca - The Smart car company will soon be bringing a semi-production series electric car to the North American market. A small number of battery-powered electric-drive Smart Fortwos will hit the beach in late 2010 — 45 for Canada, 250 for the U.S., out of a total world production run of 1,500. (more ...)
via EVWORLD.COM
