[clug] Canberra electric vehicles group - first contact

[Andrew Loughhead]

On ABC radio last week a somewhat relevant Late Light Live interview: 
"Electric Avenue: Has the electric car revolution arrived?" 
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2010/2873530.htm, 
including some mention of Blade Electric Vehicles in Victoria, 
http://bev.com.au/ and http://www.earthgarden.com.au/electriccar.html, 
and of a forthcoming doco called "The Revenge of the Electric Car".

A long way from the diy the thread started with, but I can more easily 
imagine owning a BEV Electron. $35k for a factory supported ex-fleet one.

steve jenkin wrote:
> How's this all going???
> 
> This week on the New Inventors:
> The 'slingshot' - 3kW, but switch limited to Road Legal 200W
> <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2868444.htm>
> 
> And this is electric too.  Ben Gulak's 'Uno'
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_(dicycle)>
> <http://bpgulak.com/>
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXO4Ki8qsvk>
> 
> 
> Paul Wayper wrote on 2/02/10 1:58 PM:
> 
>>  I don't think this is as true as you'd think. I had a quick look on  
>>  ebay, and a used gokart is $2000+, for which you can get an ok car.  
>>  Sure, the kart has a motor you can strip off and sell, but I think  
>>  you're still talking about a lot of money for a development platform. 
>>   [1] 
>>  The initial idea was to go with a relatively standard road racing 
>> frame that was fully CAMS certified so that there was a degree of 
>> conformity to the racing. If you standardise the chassis, then the 
>> important points become the drive train and (to a lesser extent) the 
>> driver. In the future it might be opened up so the chassis design was 
>> modifiable but in the short term that opens up too many problems, not 
>> the least being getting CAMS certification for each group's chassis. 
>> CAMS certification was seen as desirable to have it as an event that 
>> would get wide-spread traction with both CAMS (they have an 
>> Alternative Energy racing subgroup) and the wider motor racing 
>> community. 
>>  
>>  The general objective was to open the eyes of the general public and 
>> show them that electric cars could be fast, fun and a collaborative 
>> process. Racing is one way of doing that; having electric cars on the 
>> roads is another; having EV meetups like last years (with the Tesla in 
>> attendance, which set a new hill climb record apparently) and is a 
>> third; and so on. 
>>  
>>  Go-karts are fun, relatively simple, and most professional racing 
>> drivers graduate from the high-end go-kart circuit. I see it more 
>> likely that the smaller groups will get involved in electric go-carts, 
>> but having the higher end there to appeal to more serious enthusiasts 
>> and groups (I fully see the Canberra EV group getting together and 
>> building one) is a good avenue for more serious racing fans. I also 
>> think it would improve the credibility of electric vehicles as capable 
>> of high-end racing. 
>>  
>>  Have fun, 
>>  
>>  Paul 
>>    
>>  
>> Links: 
>> ------ 
>> [1] http://www.canberraev.org/ 
>>  
> 
>