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​ECAM proudly supported ACF Community Chisholm's EV community information event Electrify Your Wheels!​
The energy for your transport is changing at the same time as the energy for your home. It's fun, and greener too! Over 150 people turned out on (a slightly damp) April Sunday to find out why electric vehicles?

Transport is a major source of pollution so shifting to electric vehicles is a key step on our journey to net-zero emissions. Manufacturers internationally are moving rapidly to EV's and people who drive them, love them. Electric vehicles are Australia's transport future. 

Electric cars are good for your wallet - check out these myth busters at the EV Council. You can find other useful information there or at Australian Electric Vehicle Association​, or this page from thedriven.io links a range of useful information if you're thinking about buying an electric car.
Our speaking program included
Ross De Rango, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at the Electric Vehicle Council, ​speaking on the Wider Perspective of EV’s in Australia.​
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​Rick Molloy from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association speaking on drawing on his personal experience and community of EV owners to speak on what it is like to be an EV owner.

Ross and Rick were joined by Miho Kagawa, sustainability officer from Whitehorse Council, and Daniel Berry, sustainability officer from Monash Council  in a Question and Answer session on buying and using an electric vehicle for personal and business use and building local transport security and sustainability.

After the speaking program, the action moved out into the car park where electric car owners by their EVs in the carpark chatted about their experiences buying (sometimes making), driving, charging and living with these fun cars, 

E-Stralian and Electric Bikes Superstore were available to talk about and 
test ride electric bikes.

​Monash and Whitehorse council were available with to talk about Council initiatives on EV’s and infrastructure, including Monash's  commercial electric vehicle. 
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Electric vehicles are fun too! 
Outside the hall, electric car owners will be standing by their EVs in the carpark ready for a chat about their experiences driving these fun cars, E-Stralian and Electric Bikes Superstore (electric bike businesses) available for test rides on electric bikes on the oval path. Monash and Whitehorse council will be available to talk about Council initiatives on EV’s and infrastructure, including Monash's  commercial electric vehicle. Coffee and snacks will be available too.

Meanwhile while you're online: Watch a Tesla set a lap record at Nurburgring - that noise is tire squeal and the tiniest amount of engine whine! Want a car to tow - what about a Boeing 787? How about sideways drifting in a snow rally course on an ice lake in the Arctic Circle? What about taking off in an EV- what's it like Flying Pipistrel's Electric Airplane? Your ferry ride? Just for fun - Coal Miners Driving Teslas! 

These folks show you can make an EV out of nearly anything, check out these examples such as ​MGs and Porches, or 1965 Ford Cortina Mk1 “bwjunkie”, 1973 LandRover Series 3 Lightweight, a 2002 Holden Ute, 1966 Ford GT40 replica, 1974 Toyota Corolla, Ed Rannberg Electric Land Speed Racer, or 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle.

But it is not just about the fun stuff, it is also about the tractors and rubbish trucks that make our industries work.  If you look around you will find the electrification of vehicles is well underway around us.
In a future, maybe not so far away....Test drive of a petrol car
This satirical article was written in 2015 with an opposite perspective on "EV myths" - here's a taster

​Having heard so much good about petrol cars, we decided to test drive one. They are said to combine cheap price with long range and fast charging. A winning formula on paper – but how are they in real life?

Automakers do not sell the cars themselves, only through independent car repair shops as middlemen...

So we sat in the car and pressed the START button. The car’s gasoline engine coughed to life and started to operate. One could hear the engine’s sound and the car’s whole body vibrated ... 

The petrol engine consists of literally hundreds of moving parts that must have tolerance of hundredths of a millimeter to function...

We put in a gear and drove away with a jerk. The jerk came not from any extreme acceleration, but gasoline engines apparently cannot be driven as smoothly as electric motors... as we learned quickly- very important that each time select a suitable gear otherwise the engine will either stop or get seriously damaged!

We asked if the constant sound of the engine ... could be turned off. But it couldn’t

We approached a traffic light. Releasing the accelerator pedal resulted in no significant braking, we had to use the brake pedal very much to slow down the car. We were surprised to hear the brakes are completely mechanical! The only thing they generate is heat – braking gives no regeneration of gasoline back into the tank! Sounds like a huge waste...

When we came to a stop the engine continued to run and the car vibrate – even though the car was standing still! The engine continued to burn gasoline without moving the car forward. Can it really be true? 

The car claimed that it still had half a tank left, but we wanted to try the famous super-fast charging of petrol cars!
The filling nozzle is very similar to a charging connector, but it is not electrons that come out of it but gasoline. Gasoline is a highly carcinogenic, smelly and flammable liquid derived from plants and animals extinct since millions of years ago.

We put the nozzle to the car, but nothing happened. The seller then explained that we must pay to fuel! 
Sure we filled the tank full in two minutes, but it did cost us an unbelievable €30! A full charge would thus cost us double that – a whopping €60! ...it is not possible to refuel gasoline cars at home, and there are no free gas stations. 

With this in mind we ended up in a traffic jam and was horrified that the gasoline engine continued to burn these expensive gasoline drops even when the car was standing still or moving very little. With gasoline vehicles it is easy to run into cost anxiety – the feeling that the car literally burns up your money!
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  • Home
    • Safe Climate Now
    • Big themes
    • Physics of energy transition
    • Get off gas
  • Who we are
    • Committee
    • Membership and Meetings
    • Contact Us
  • Current Events
    • Previous Events
    • Electrify Your Wheels
  • Energy Transition at Home
    • Your personal change strategy
    • One home transition story
    • Prioritising home changes
    • Electrify your transport
    • An ICE drive
    • Recycling Information
  • Mobiliizing green finance
    • 1000 year planning
    • Leveraging superannuation
    • Help to change your home