Highlights from the 2016 Victoria Day Parade

The Victoria Day Parade and the VEVC Lisa Locke, VEVC Editor It was a perfect day, not too hot and not too rainy, but just right for a parade into downtown Victoria, BC to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday.  The Victoria EV Club had 6 electric cars and one of them was towing a camping trailer!  See above, a shiny new…

Bay of Fundy to get tidal power turbine next month

Story contributed by Marc Semail, VEVC Cape Sharp Tidal has announced that the first of two turbines will be installed in June. Andrew Vaughan, The Canadian Press PICTOU, N.S. — The first of two towering turbines designed by Cape Sharp Tidal to harness the immense power of the Bay of Fundy will be installed next month off the coast of…

A German Gigafactory?

Story contributed by Marc Semail, VEVC Daimler Tripling Size of Its Plant for Lithium-Ion Vehicle Batteries, Will Also Sell Home Backup Power   March 1, 2016 , Clifford Atiyeh | Photography by Robert Kerian Electricity is the sexy way to propel a car these days. Within the past 12 months, even before the Volkswagen scandal, all the major German automakers have…

First Solar Carport & our President’s Comment

BMW launches first solar carport charging facility in South Africa PLUS Comment from our VEVC President — see below.   Johannesburg, 21 May 2016 German automaker BMW has launched its first solar carport charging facility in the country. It now makes it possible for electric and plug-in hybrid models to charge completely using green energy. German automaker BMW has launched…

Electra Meccanica: Vancouver-based EV company to debut single-seater this summer

Story contributed by Marc Semail, VEVC Vancouver’s Electra Meccanica’s new all-electric 3-wheeler Fred Lambert, electrek.co Electra Meccanica is the electric division of the formerly Italian (now based in Vancouver, BC, Canada) automaker InterMeccanica and best known for its trademark Roadsters. The electric division has been working on its next generation single-seater three-wheeler EV, the SOLO, for a while now and it aims…

10,400 km Tesla Cross Country Road Trip 2016

Sooke, BC, Canada to Williamsburg, Virginia Lisa Locke, VEVC Editor, May 19, 2016 These past two weeks my family and I drove our all-electric Tesla Model S from Victoria, BC, Canada to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend the Tesla Road Trip 2016 (@TeslaRoadTrip) event. The 10,400 km trip included 11 days of travel and 3 days at the event in Virginia. On…

360 Video – Bill Gates in a Tesla Model X

360 Interactive Video – Tesla Model X with Bill Gates Bill Lambert, Electrek, May 17, 2016 It looks like billionaire Bill Gates is now driving a Tesla Model X.  The 360 interactive video gives an interesting look at the Model X – I suggest looking up at the panoramic windshield which is particularly cool with the 360° video. You can…

Germany Surpasses 100% Renewable Power

Germany Surpasses 100% Renewable Power for Brief Time Jessica Shankleman, Bloomberg May 16, 2016 Clean renewable power supplied almost all of Germany’s power demand for the first time on Sunday, marking a milestone for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Energiewende” policy to boost renewables while phasing out nuclear and fossil fuels. Solar and wind power peaked at 2 p.m. local time on…

1,000 electric car charging stations coming to Montreal by 2020

1,000 electric car charging stations coming to Montreal by 2020 Story contributed by Marc Semail, VEVC Written by Jason Magder, Montreal Gazette May 11, 2016   The city will pay roughly $10 million to install a network of 1,000 charging stations by 2020 that will be accessible to all car-sharing companies and anyone who possesses an electric vehicle. The goal…