KAGAWONG—To say that those in attendance were enthusiastic to hear guest speaker Devin Arthur make his presentation concerning electric vehicles at the Green Living Expo last Friday evening would be an understatement.
“I’m just wondering what the heck has taken us so long to get to this point in talking about this (electric vehicles),” stated Ed Burt at a presentation made by Mr. Arthur, of the Greater Sudbury Electric Vehicle Association (GSEVA), in Kagawong. “I took a ride in an electric car 20 years ago that was actually made 100 years ago.”
“Global warming is one if not the biggest issue facing us,” said Mr. Burt. “I talked to a guy from Ford about electric vehicles 20 years ago, and he said it would only take a few more years and they (electric vehicles would be everywhere). What has taken so long? Some of our problems could have been solved by now.”
Mr. Arthur said, “it all comes back to money. Oil companies make trillions of dollars every year, and car companies don’t really want to sell them.” He told how he had to travel to North Bay to buy his Volt electric car. “The problem is the car companies don’t know how to capture the after service.
They can watch an electric car go out the door and never have it come back because they are so reliable.”
As the founder of GSEVA, Mr. Arthur told the packed Billings Park Centre, “the main focus of our organization is educating and informing people about electric vehicles.”
On charging electric vehicles, “there are a lot of misconceptions,” said Mr. Arthur. “The best thing about electric cars is that you can charge them at home so you always leave with a full tank.” He also pointed out there are government incentives, so a savings of up to $1,000 on the cost of purchasing and installing a level 2 home charger. And there are several charging options available.
“Level 2 chargers can be charged in four hours, with the level one charger taking 10 hours,” said Mr. Arthur. And the plug-in hybrid charger provides an electric range of 50-100 kilometres and over 500 kilometres more with the built in gas range extender for long trips. For the battery electric charger, full electric vehicles vary in range from 150 kilometres to over 400 kilometre range.
In Ontario, you can save up to $14,000 on the purchase price of a qualifying electric vehicle, the gathering was told.
“Consumers are used to gas stations at every corner,” said Mr. Arthur. “Charging stations are less visible.”
However, he said, in Europe soon all electric stations will be part of gas stations. “We’re trying to emphasize to business that this push is coming here.”
Jan McQuay said, “Manitoulin relies on lots of tourists visiting the Island. I think if more charging stations were created it would attract more people from southern Ontario here. My idea is that municipalities should get involved and have charging stations set up maybe at information stations.”
Prior to Mr. Arthur’s presentation Friday evening, the Park Centre was filled with hungry patrons who enjoyed the Mac N Brew dinner Friday evening. The delicious macaroni and cheese dinner (definitely a huge step up from the kind you get out of a box) included salad and rolls, along with dessert.
Billings councillor Barb Erskine introduced Mr. Arthur, and noted the Green Living Expo was sponsored by the Billings Recreation Committee and Go Green Committee.
On Saturday, the day’s activities included the Show and Shine in the parking lot where owners of electric and hybrid vehicles were on hand to discuss their vehicles. This was followed by Smash Talks TED-style talks (with speakers every 15 minutes talking about their organizations-groups local projects and practical ideas including for example community gardening, Manitoulin Streams, green apps, community energy planning and much much more. As well the Park Centre was full of vendor information booths and exhibits.
