Precept EV Blog

Revenge Of The Electric Car A Big Deal | EarthTechling

2011-11-01T08:52:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately I had to miss the premiere of Revenge of the Electric Car in Toronto last month.

No word on the ROTEC site on when it will be coming around again either leaves me considering organizing a viewing of my own with fellow EV enthusiasts in the Hamilton, ON area. Anyone have Chelsey Sexton's cell number?

Walking the green carpet into the theatre sounds rather cool too. If you have interest in seeing ROTEC before it hits DVD or online mass distribution sometime next year drop me a line and I will add your name to my contact list.

Revenge Of The Electric Car A Big Deal | EarthTechling

2011-11-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

Revenge Of The Electric Car A Big Deal | EarthTechling:

'via Blog this'

Green Fleet Expo comes to Hamilton

2011-06-12T13:55:00.015-04:00

2011 Hamilton, Ontario

The Courtyard by Marriott and the Warplane Heritage Museum, co-hosted the 6th Annual Green Fleet Expo (GFX) in Hamilton June 2-3, 2011. With over 300 delegates this year, attendance was up over GFX V, which was hosted at Centennial College in Toronto last June. The GFX is organized by the City of Hamilton, City of Toronto, Fleet Challenge Ontario and The Ministry of Transportation. The GFX is the premier show for fleet managers interested in greening their fleets in Ontario with delegates from all across Canada in attendance.

From left to right: Carol Layton, Deputy Minister of Transportation, Neil Sentance, Assistant Deputy Minister Ontario Public Service Green Office, Mike Goodale, Assistant Deputy Minister Ministry of Transportation, Jon Norman, Director, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, Ron Campbell, Director Ministry of Environment

Informative presentations, expert panels and plenty of networking took place at the Courtyard Marriott on day one while product displays and a Ride and Drive with some of the latest electric vehicles, hybrids, and PHEVs were featured on day two amongst one of the finest collections of restored military aircraft in the nation at the humbling confines of the massive Warplane Heritage Museum.

On display at the Warplane Heritage Museum was an assorment of electric passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks like Canada Post's electric E-Star delivery truck

From Left: Chris Hill, City of Hamilton, Steve Clark of Canada Post and Mark McGrew Navistar

For electric vehicle industry advocates and enthusiasts of electrified transportation, it is crucial to see government and corporate fleets, as the essential pilot projects for the launching of new green vehicle technologies. For fleet management, it is all about "TCO" (total cost of ownership) and environmental responsibility which is why City and Corporate Fleet managers are the most critical part of accelerating the adoption of PHEVs, BEVs and other emerging technologies like hydrogen fuel cell.

Tips from Fleet Manager Pros - Generating Green Fleet Buy-in

Extend oil change intervals where possible from 5,000 kms to 10-12,000 kms
For procurement use the LA4 Standard for comparing the range and performance of passenger light-duty EVs
Set goals of converting 10%+ fleet vehicles to hybrid, plug-in hybrid or EV by next budget period
Don't let staff use drive thrus to eliminate idling (lower GHGs)
In BC join EC3 Fleet
Subscribe to the Fleet Challenge Ontario newsletter
Set performance based conservation benchmarks

i.e. reduce diesel usage by up to 9,000 lts through ground-based solar

On Thursday morning, the GFX kicked off with presentations on advanced fuel saving technology for heavy-duty vehicles from Rolf Lockwood of Today's Trucking, followed by Al Cormier from Elecctric Mobility Canada speaking on the task of implementing Canada's Electric Vehicle Technology Road Map. These presentations lead up to an exchange of best practices for lowering operating costs for City and Corporate fleets through the selection of the lowest GHG emitting vehicles available.

A number of City Fleet Managers and City fleet staff were present to share their Green Fleet success stories including: Bill Barr from the City of Guelph, Yvan Lupien the City of Ottawa, the City of Hamilton's Chris Hill, and Doug Smith of the City of Vancouver. City of Toronto's Gerry Pietschmann was present however he did present.

Leading city Fleet Managers from across Canada: Doug Smith of the City of Vancouver, Bill Barr from City of Guelph, Yvan Lupien from the City of Ottawa and Chris Hill City of Hamilton

During Cormier's EMC presentation, delegates learned that 60% of energy in Canada comes from renewable sources while in the US, only 20% of energy comes from renewables. He further noted that Canada is in good company amongst other eco-energy leader likes Norway and Germany. Cormier also made the prediction that battery leasing will be increasingly crucial to the adoption of EVs in Canada and that battery pricing will fall to $300-$400/kW/hr in one to two years.

Al Cormier - CEO of Electric Mobility Canada

For more on why fleets are the key to the new green transportation technology equation see the early adoptor background on the EMC website.

After the morning break, Tom Odell of Toronto Hydro discussed their electric vehicle test program called SmartExperience. Before getting to the heart of the current technology, Odell led in with a brief reminder for delegates that in the mid 1800's there was no less than three competing transportation technologies: ICE, electric and the often forgotten--steam power!

Tom Odell of Toronto Hydro speaking on SmartExperience

Odell explained that Toronto Hydro has 45 SmartCar electrics coming to Canada for the hydro smart program. The retrofitted SmartCars will be available on a four year lease for $545/mo and 15 of the vehicles will be awarded as a part of their ambassador program. If that sounds expensive, think about the fact that there are no added fuel costs to pile on. The purpose of the program is to acquire data from the CrossChasm equipped vehicles so that the charging load impact on the grid can be better understood. CrossChasm is a Waterloo, ON based start-up specializing in powertrain design, vehicle simulation, control systems and fleet validation for hybrids and full battery electric vehicles.

From By Odell's calculations, these SmartCar electrics will operate at one-fifth the cost of their ICE counterparts. Toronto Hydro further estimates that the City of Toronto can accomodate 125,000 electric cars or approximately 10% of all vehicles in the City based on current energy supply utilizing smart charging and smartgrid technologies to permit charging in off peak hours.

Deputy Minister of Transportation Carol Layton addressing the issue of re-introducing provincial incentives for electric motorcycles. In 2009, street electric motorcycles were eligible for an 8% PST refund amounting to over $1,000 in savings but in spring 2010 under a shuffled provincial ministry the refund was rescinded.

Available in the Ride and Drive, was the Mitsubishi iMiEV with a newly announced Canadian MSRP of $35,998 or $2,397 less than the longer range Nissan Leaf which also announced Canadian pricing last month ($38,398). Mitsubishi's new EV Fleet Manager David Murphy was onsite and clearly pumped about the fleet opportunities for the iMiEV. With 18 years experience in the automotive fleet business, Murphy knows the ropes. As I had a chance to sit with Murphy and talk shop on the iMiEV roll-out in Canada, he explained that consumers should begin to see the Mitsubishi 135 km all-electric iMiEV beginning November 2011.

I got to drive the iMiEV at last year's GFX at Centennial College and was very impressed with the simplicity of the vehicle and the spirited acceleration. It was a little strange however, driving a right hand drive vehicle for the first time. The iMiEVs in Canada last year were right hand drive Japanese models, so getting used to the signal controls was odd indeed.

Rolf Lockwood from Today's Trucking takes a questions from Roger Smith of Fleet Challenge Ontario

Although I did not get to attend the Ride and Drive on Friday at GFX VI by all accounts the event was a success and I look forward to attending again next year.

You thought the Nissan Leaf Polar Bear ad was clever? Think again!

2011-05-31T10:37:00.010-04:00

I could hardly stop laughing after watching this ad for the third time. The ad team must have had a hey day making this one.

The laptop petrol filling station. Notice the sign above, "No Smoking, Flammable vapours"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sCCJFkEbE&feature=player_embedded#at=18

Let's hope the next ad they come out with is not featuring "everything nuclear powered". Remember the post-9/11 in bad taste ads and movies that were scrapped or not released until years later?

Plug-in Hybrid Chevy Tahoe charges up in Burlington, ON?

2011-05-31T09:56:00.007-04:00

A plug-in hybrid Chevy Tahoe?

Sorry folks this is just a teaser. The above vehicle that LOOKS like it is being charged, is my 08 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid parked at the Pioneer Gas Station at the corner of Mainway and Appleby Line in Burlington, ON. Unfortunately, nobody is making Tahoe Hybrid conversion kits to PHEV yet. If you hear of any companies that roll out such a kit please let me know. I have been searching high and low now for two years.

BTW I have 165,000 kms on this vehicle without a single problem. I get about 830 kms to a tank. I chose it because I have the 'Brady Bunch' fam, so it is both the most responsible and practical vehicle for me.

The Eaton level 1 charging station featured in the photo is one of the first ever EV charging stations in Canada. It was installed as a part of a pilot project called GridSmartCity^TMwhich was developed in conjunction with Burlington Hydro, Pioneer Gas, Rapid Electric Vehicle Technologies Inc., of Vancouver, BC and other stakeholders.

Funny thing is, there is no signage at this EV charging station to educate passersby on what this strange looking device is used for. Having closely evaluated a number of EV charging stations from a breadth of companies on a past mission to become an EV charging station sales rep, I can say that this particular unit is unique. On the back side of the station there is the familliar looking electrical metering device like on the side of your home with the round glass cover telling me this is a one of a kind prototype station. Eaton Corp has an office just up the street from this Pioneer Station on Mainway also which I have visited, so I know they have newer generation stations on the way that look a little more styled up for prime time. Have a look at the GE Wattstation or the Aerovironment Fleet Stattion and you will see what I mean.

"I had to add this photo to the blog! A a bunch of politicians and biz leaders hugging a EV charging station. The first thing that came to mind was, can you imagine the same happenging back in 1888 in Wiesloch, Germany where the first petrol filling station was installed? Who would have wanted to hug a stinky gas pump? I am sure they did anyways."

The GridSmartCity^TM program is Burlington Hydro's efforts to transform today's electricity system into the smart grid of tomorrow. For more information on the GridSmartCity^TM program visit www.gridsmartcity.com.

The only EV charging station in Canada listed on a Goggle search is Qualicum Beach, BC

Factoid

"The first "drive-in" filling station, Gulf Refining Co.opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh in 1913.^[8] Prior to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store, or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks. On its first day, the station sold 30 gallons of gasoline at 27 cents per gallon." -- Wikipedia

Having toured around Ontario always keeping my eyes open for EV charging stations, I can tell you that there are a few stations installed out there, but not many, and clearly, nobody has tapped into the notion of getting them listed on Google Maps. A quick search for electric vehicle charging stations in Canada reveals 1 lousy station! In the US, almost 2,000. The truth of the matter is, Better Place alone has already installed 15 in the GTA and of course the Eaton/Burlington Hydro/Pioneer one in Burlington brings the total to at least 16 in Ontario.

No EV charging stations on Google Maps in Golden Horseshoe! The only EV related reference of all the bogus red search dots is me--Precept EV in lowly Stoney Creek, ON

Here is a short video of my first experience with a DC fast charging station at the Olympic Village in Vancouver.

I am building a list now of the known addresses for charge points so if you know of any other EV charging stations around the country please send me the physical address along with a photo and I will add it to Google Maps.

Is your glass half Tesla?

2011-05-28T12:20:00.002-04:00

Having spent over 20 years in the electric vehicle industry including a stint with Zero

Motorcycles as Canadian Director of Sales and Marketing and Board Member with

Electric Mobily Canada, I am not one to let a good EV thing pass. Do you agree that

EVs and sustainbility are a good thing? Not all the news is good, but it does depend

a lot on if your glass is half empty or half full.

Cynics might say I am crazy for continuing to kick the EV and sustainability can as

there is just too much apathy out there and reason to choose an easier path towards

making a difference in this world. Today, I admit, when reading a post on Tesla stock

dropping $4.54, or 15% to $25.55, I felt a little bummed out.

But wait! Reading on, I discovered that the cause for the stock drop was a general

sentiment that the Tesla team might be in over their heads because all the other auto

OEMs have embraced EVs stronger than expected and they just might run over Elon

Musk and his dreams of becoming the IT wunderkin gone auto exec that helped turn

the tide on saving the planet.

So worst case at this very preliminary juncture in the North American EV rollout, is

that Tesla's gorgeous hi-performance Roadster and Model S may or may not survive

at least according to some analysts and become the uber sexy EV brand that

dominates the streets in ten years. We may just have to continue to listen to the

naysayers and critics snicker at the round of "quirky looking EV nerd-mobiles" that are

coming to market a little longer.

Range anxiety: an overcharged story

2011-05-28T12:14:00.001-04:00

by Stephen Bieda on 01/03/11

I concur with the projection of the nation's leading EV advocacy group Electric
Mobility Canada, that 2.5% of vehicles on the road in Canada by 2018 will be
electric. That seems to be a reasonable target and in line with the original
Ontario government mandate of 1 in 20 by 2020 (5%).

What I have issue with, is so many EV cynics citing range anxiety as the
Achilles heel of BEVs like the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi iMiEV. Back
in November, I was in Toronto at an EV industry conference participating
in a EV infrastructure round table break out session with a host of EV stake-
holders when the tiring range anxiety question was raised once again.

I maintain whether you own a battery electric vehicle (BEV), a hybrid, a
PHEV, a gas or a diesel vehicle, the issue of how far you can go before running
out of stored energy is always present and somewhere in the back of your
mind. The range anxiety issue is so overblown because cynics need something
to talk about and the fear of the unknown can always be relied on to strike a
chord with the public.

The real difference between a Nissan Leaf and its ICE platform brethren
the Nissan Versa, is the Leaf gets up to 160 km on a charge and the Versa up
to 620 km on a tank. So what! Most everyone by now has heard the much
quoted figure for the daily average commute is 64 kms round trip. How often
does anyone just hop in their car and drive aimlessly and not pay attention to
their instrumentation? How likely is it that while you are driving your car that
you will have sudden memory loss forgetting that you car can only go X kms
before it requires more juice? If anything, those with a EV will be less likely
than ICE auto drivers to run out on the side of the road because they have the
benefit of advanced iPod interface instrumentation and a heightened sense
of what their vehicles capabilities are or are not. Range anxiety is a red herring
folks!

We would all love to be able to mindlessly drive forever without charging up
but a fully electrified wireless highway network is still decades away.

Better Place launches EV Resource Centre in Canada at Evergreen Brick Works

2011-05-28T12:08:00.003-04:00

For Paolo Alto, CA based Better Place, the world is at the brink of a quantum-shift in transporation and at their LEED Platinium certified Evergreen Brick Works offices, Better Place has already begun to make their mark following the March 11, 2011 grand opening of their demonstration facility and Canadian office.

Better Place is supported by the Ontario Government and has partnered with two of Ontario's largest municipally-owned electric utilities, PowerStream Inc. and Veridian Connections Inc., as well as the City of Toronto. The last piece to this miraculous social engineering puzzle is the national charity Evergreen. Better Place's mission at the Evergreen Brick Works, to put it succinctly, is to deploy an EV charging network, promote EV education, and lay groundwork for EVs in Canada's most populous province.

Having spent 20 years working with electric vehicles myself including a recent stint with Santa Cruz California's electric motorcycle company Zero Motorcycles, I know how hard it is for visionaries like Martin Rovers of Better Place to penetrate the minds of 'piston-heads'. I like to say, the internal combustion diehards kowtow to the lords of the oil sands in fossil fuel addicted Canada.

I was once a 'piston-head' myself, oblivious to the power and eco-possibilities of electrification until purchasing a Club Car electric golf cart back in 1990. We used the golf cart at my family dealership for use as a serene utility vehicle alternative for around the family farm. For many, technological advancements are hard pills to swallow requiring capital expenditures and fundamental shifts in thinking but for Better Place, it is really a matter of economic sense and environmental stewardship.

Martin Rovers, the Canadian-based Global Development Officer for Better Place, bares an impressive resume with a MSc in Physics from McMaster University, an MBA from the University of Toronto's Rottman School of Business and a career that began with the prestigious Boston Consulting Group (BCG). BCG has even followed Rovers' lead by also setting up shop at the mind expanding Evergreen Brick Works location a formerly abandoned 120 year old brick factory revitalized into a centre for nature, culture and community as boldly indicated on the main lobby wall.

The Evergreen Brick Works is more broadly a centre for socio-economic innovation featuring nature walks, educational facilities for children, a farmer's market, a skating rink and some really hip urban graffiti art that graces the walls of the former industrial brick kiln factory. Amongst all this, there are many other companies involved in the green scene to act as economic engines at the Brick Works but I will let you delve into that on your own.

Having served on the Board with Electric Mobilty Canada (EMC), I myself have had the pleasure of meeting Rovers' a couple of times now and it is evident he is a man that lets his actions do the talking. Not one to jump in front of the camera unless required, as I discovered at my May 5, 2011 personal tour of the Better Place facility, I found Martin shooting the photos and me playing with the cool EV gadgetry at the Better Place interpretation centre. The fifth office floor of the Better Place Bayview Ave campus is just off the Don Valley Parkway in a neatly tucked away piece of the roughly 16 hectares (40 ares) of property. The campus is sheltered from the hustle and bustle of downtown, but convenient to get to. Once on site you can hardly believe you are in the heart of the city.

Upon arrival at the demonstration facility, I was asked by Rovers to engage with a touch screen interactive guest book and then sit down for an introductory video in the theatre room. The promotional piece showcases the incredible vision of Better Place founder Shai Agassi a man which has been recognized around the world and spoke at TED Talks, just to give you an idea of his level of pull. Pleasingly, the video featured Toronto specific content illustrating the 15 locations across southern Ontario that Better Place has already installed level II 40 amp charge stations in, including; Barrie, Vaughan, Bowmanville and Toronto.

EV converts admittedly will be disappointed by such stats since the US already has charging stations numbering in the thousands scattered about the country. This is by no means a dig against Rovers or Better Place in Canada, considering that there has been only limited support from the Province of Ontario and nothing Federally in Canada.

What eco-preneur Agassi has brought to the table in his Better Place model is nothing short of game changing because it addresses three fundamental hurdles that have plagued the acceptance of EVs. What Better Place has done is firstly removed the cost of a battery from the purchase price of the vehicle equation and re-distributed the capital cost of the battery into a monthly fee for use of the stored energy and recharging. This model has been juxtaposed to the nonsensical idea of buying a lifetime supply of gasoline at the time of purchasing your car. Imagine how much your car would cost if a lifetime of fuel cost was piled on at the time of initial purchase? What this new pricing model has effectively done is, make the electric vehicle cheaper to purchase than a gas car. You don't buy all the stored energy needed to propel the vehicle at the time of purchase, just the car itself. Yes you read correctly, this makes the EV cheaper to purchase than a gas car!

Secondly, what BP has done through the genius of their five minute battery switching station process, is remove the range anxiety issue from the equation for motorists. The BP switching station is somewhat similar to driving your car into a car wash where the battery is swapped out through a robotic assembly line type process with a fully recharged battery. Taking about the same time as a gas refill or a car wash, the switching system allows a driver to extend their range and get to where they want to go without the 30 minute to 8 hour wait normally associated with battery recharging depending on the level two or three charging technology used. Thirdly, with the surge in fuel prices versus electricity and the implementation of the Better Place fee for recharge, the daily operational costs of the EV has been made equal or lower to that of driving a gasoline car.

The switching station technology does not however eliminate the need for home-based charging. Since 90% of driving will be done by Canadians in the Southern Ontario area at least within the 160 km range limits of EVs such as a Nissan Leaf, the bulk of the recharging will take place at home overnight. The intent of the battery switching is for extended drives outside of a region, maybe to the cottage for the weekend for example.

The Better Place battery switching technology however is only available in Israel, Tokyo and in Northern Europe at this point, do in large part to lack of government support and North American auto manufacturers not buying into to the battery standardization and switching process as of yet. Rovers' is hopeful that the Better Place facility at the Evergreen Brick Works will one day be a battery switching station hub, but he is not able to indicate a timeline on the completion of such critical pieces to the puzzle at this early juncture.

Getting these 15 charging stations installed was not without a lot of heavy lifting as Rovers explains, due to the present lack of Canadian Standards Association (CSA) blanket safety coverage for charging stations in Canada. To get the 15 charging stations safety approved that are installed across the GTA now, involved more costly and time consuming 'one off' approvals. As the electric vehicle industry advocacy group Electric Mobilty Canada (EMC) explains in their "Driving the Rapid Adoption of Electric Vehicles" white paper, a $2 million investment is needed from the Federal government to permit the CSA to proceed with safety inspections and broadly certify the charging hardware.

Quick Charges

So far approximately 500 people have toured the new Better Place digs. Most of these being dignitaries, the media and EV greenies taking in the experience.

One of the lesser known reasons why folks escape the city to rural areas is because of noise and confusion of urban spaces caused by ICE transportation. With EVs there is none of the noise.
Presently there are 2 million hybrid cars on the roads and 500 million gas cars.
Better Place Toronto Consumer Research
www.evergreen.ca

Having myself been at the cutting edge of new EV technology product roll outs, I asked Martin Rovers to describe his experience in trudging forward against the tide of climate change denying government and head office demands for deliverables, metrics and ROI. His response was characteristically understated, but his smile spoke volumes. I took that to mean that being an eco-preneur and EV activist means you need thick skin, the patience of Jobe and a long-term vision of the future to guide your way to the promised land.