After reading about a Victorian(?) politician who became part of a company called Better Place which is seeking to develop marketable electric cars and most importantly electric car "re-fuelling" stations, I checked out their website www.betterplace.com and signed the petition to show market support for the idea.
I sent that link to a bunch of people and one mentioned the AEVA (Australian Electric Vehicle Association) www.aeva.asn.au
It's great to see how many people have made the effort to convert a car themselves (also check out worldwide conversions www.evalbum.com )
The Garnaut report apparently says that electric vehicles are not significantly more energy/carbon efficient than petrol vehicles. However, this is based on the power coming from coal fired power stations via the national grid. As soon as you get it from renewable source (your own roof top solar/wind, or via suppliers such as Jackgreen 100%, then it's all clean driving.
So, I'm heading down the path of doing a conversion. Information and even parts are quite readily available but the hardest thing is deciding what vehicle to convert!
Options
1) Small, old, cheap car that will be cheap to buy and run (but will have a pretty ordinary interior, possible other mechanical failings and doesn't do anything to promote/sell electric as an attractive option)
2) Small, newer car that's cheap to run and is in reasonable condition (but again doesn't really promote electric as an option to the current market)
3) Light commercial vehicle, newish, more acceptable to current market (but more costly to convert)
I'm favouring 3 as my best chance to help change the world in some comfort and style but I'll need to first set my wants and needs in specifications and project parameters.
*Minimum travel per charge
*Charge time
*Conversion cost including:
-vehicle
-motor
-battery pack
-controllers
-vehicle mods
*Vehicle surplus capacity#
* Vehicle body style
# - Electric conversions can weigh more than the engine etc that they replace, so smaller cars with less spare GVM (gross vehicle mass) capacity can result in the car going over the legal GVM (such as www.mightyboyev.com ). So a bigger car, while needing more power, can actually be a better choice to be able to carry more than just the passengers.
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I just finished a wonderful new book called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now by author Jeff Wilson. It is without a doubt the best book out there. We seriously need to get on with utilizing alternative energy. The high cost of oil this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The trickle down effects will be felt for years to come. The cost of fuel affects the price of every consumer product. Oil is finite it will run out one day in the not too distant future. We are using oil globally at the rate of 2 X faster than new oil is being discovered. We have so much available to us in the way of natural energy, wind , solar, wave plus the modern technologies of hybrid etc. What America seems to lack is a plan. This book even outlines a plan, a legislative agenda. It is fascinating and brings the act of weaning America off oil into perspective. www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
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