Veemo – electrical tricycle

Submitted by Marc Semail, VEVC Forum Monitor Published by Tamara Baluja, CBC News, Mar 29, 2016 What happens when you cross a car and a bike? That’s sort of what a Veemo is — a new electric-assist, solar-powered enclosed tricycle that might hit the streets of Vancouver as early as September. ‘It’s a very modern take on a velomobile,’ says founder of…

Jay Leno’s Tesla Chronicles

Submitted by Marc Semail, VEVC Forum Monitor   Very few of us can buy a car by way of an apology. Even fewer still can buy a Tesla Model S to make up for our goof. Then again, as our connections and our pocketbooks go, none of us are Jay Leno. Here, we have Leno telling the story of his…

Review of the Ford Focus Electric

by Martin Webb, VEVC Reviewer The Ford Focus EV was introduced in late 2011, but was limited to fleet sales. In 2012, the Focus EV became available to limited markets throughout the US, starting with California and New York. Limited Supply Getting to see one up close and personal is not such a simple task, even though it is not…

Tesla makes offer to acquire SolarCity

  PV Tech: Tesla Makes Offer to Acquire SolarCity Video: Elon Musk Conference Call Q&A Charged EVs: Tesla offers to buy SolarCity Tesla makes offer to acquire SolarCity By John Parnell, Jun 22, 2016 9:10 AM, PVTech   Tesla has made an offer to acquire SolarCity. The company announced overnight that it had made a stock swap offer at a ratio that would give…

Norway Exceeds 100,000 Electric Cars

Norway 4th Country To Hit 100,000 Electric Car Sales May 13th, 2016 by James Ayre Clean Technica There have now been more than 100,000 plug-in electric vehicles registered in the Northern European country of Norway, the world’s leader in EV sales per capita. Considering that Norway is home to 5 million people, 100,000 represents quite an achievement [2 %] — and…

Ontario government to electrify vehicle fleet

Last week, Ontario government announced its Five-Year Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) 2016-2020. In this CCAP, there are various Action areas such as : transportation, building and homes, land-use planning, industry and business, collaboration with indigenous communities, research and development, government and agriculture, forest & land. Ontario government to electrify its vehicle fleet Eric Carrière, June 13, 2016, Time to Electrify More details…

Elon Musk debunks scare stories about a shortage of lithium

Elon Musk debunks scare stories about a shortage of lithium June 17, 2016 by Charles Morris, Charged EVs   Elon Musk and JB Straubel covered a lot of ground in a nearly-three-hour performance at Tesla’s 2016 annual shareholder meeting (video below). They recapped the history of the company, explained why Supercharging will not be free for Model 3 buyers, and discussed…

California EV Chargers: $9 million in grants

California will issue nearly $9 million in grants for the installation of electric-car DC fast-charging stations along the state’s highways. This will create a charging network to link up the country’s most populous state with the West Coast Electric Highway already developed by Oregon and Washington. CA issues $9 million in grants for electric-car fast charger installations Stephen Edelstein Green…

Germany emissions free by 2030

Germany: All new cars emissions free by 2030 Fred Lambert, Electrek, June 14, 2016 It looks like Germany is about to become the first major country to set an official deadline for a ban on gas-powered cars. India recently confirmed that it is evaluating a scheme for all its fleet to be electric by 2030 and both the Dutch government and the Norwegian government are…

Using a Heat Pump Hot Water Tank

Marc Semail, VEVC Forum Monitor Using a heat pump to heat water for your home are an alternative to other methods like solar hot water systems. Both reduce the energy costs of heating hot water, but heat pumps may be slightly more efficient. Solar Hot Water Solar hot water systems were encouraged by the former Solar Colwood program. Heating water takes…