EV Fest Today - A Packed House!

EV Fest, Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival, Came through today with Flying colors: http://www.evfest.ca/ !! We had the Tesla Roadster Sport, provided by a local owner - David, who was nice enough to take me for a short ride, between arriving, and my guiding him to his parking place for the show, and what better place to do that from than the Passenger Seat of a Tesla Roadster Sport!

We had the Toronto Electric Project EVE, also called 'A2B' - the Little Yellow Car that continued to draw crowds all day! The Toyota Canada Prius PHEV was there, and the UOIT eVue also! Up Front we had Unlimited Mobility - an Electric Scooter and Mobility Products Company. And that was just in the drive in service area!

In the Shop, we had 'Prius Alley' down the left side, 8 Toyota's 7 Prius and a Hybrid Camry.  The Prius' were converted to PlugIn Hybrids either with the Hymotion Pack or the Enginer Pack, topped off by the Porsche 944SM! Counting down from the Porsche, was 2 by Erik,  followed by Emile, Jack Chen, Mony, Lee Davies, Allan Hays, and Pat's Scarborough Toyota Hymotion Demo Prius.

Dividing up the left and right, down the middle was EP Riders display!

Down the right side, we had Ron groves with the Eco Driver Presentation, followed by Derek Wilson with the Eco Alternative Energy Display. Then John Farmer's Ford Ranger EV, JP Fernbach's Skoda EV, My Electricfly, Aaron Cake's Insight Hybrid, Ken Roach's Escort EV, Jan Szott's Electric Sports Car Chassis & Hybrid Horseless Carriage, and lastly - Bruce Westlake's Ford Escape PHEV from Michigan!
Members of the Press came, (at least two, but I think there were three, all together!), and over 500 people registered in for the show! I guess the Burger count might be most accurate, but there were 300 Burgers and 200 Hot Dogs provided and enjoyed by Attendees! (Guests, Volunteers, and Exhibitors alike!)

Getting Ready for the show, I learned a bit how to do a group text with my cell phone (It's not realy a smart phone and I'm not realy a smart guy - trying to hack out a message with multiple presses to get a single letter, but in the end, in got results!)

Keep an eye out for Stories in the press from Peter Gorrie, and Monte Gisborne!

Enjoy!
(Updated October 20, 2010, 5:30 P.M., with corrected information. R.W.)

3 Days Left to EV Fest! Are you registered yet?

Hey you all Electric Vehicle (EV) Fans, are you coming to EV Fest? Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival? Just three Days Left!

More Electric Vehicle's registered for Exhibit than were at the last Toronto Auto Show, ranging from High School Student Conversions to Million Dollar Plus EV Prototypes, and - the Xof1 Solar Car!

Meanwhile, tell everyone about our free "EV Fest", Toronto's Premier Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Fall Festival, on Sunday, October 17th at Toyota-On-the-Park, 1077 Leslie St @ Eglinton in Toronto. You'll see all kinds of Hybrids, Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicles, both from major manufacturers as well as conversions and hobbyists.


Please register the whole family for free tickets on the EV Fest website (www.EVFest.ca) and drop by for a free BBQ and say "Hi" on Sunday.

And remember to bring your registration confirmation, as it may be used for some special activities access. [TBA]

(Detroit) Autoshow Goes Electric!

The Detroit (North America International Auto Show, or NAIAS) for 2010 went very big on Electric!

They set out an area - Electric Avenue - just for Electric Vehicles, and most major OEM's also had a growth of Hybrids, and/or Electrics and PHEV's, or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

Take Mercedes, for Instance - They were showcasing two new hybrids to come, and focusing on the fact that they use the new Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries, and don't take up space in the Trunk area for Batteries!

Toyota was showing previews and cutaway of their pending PHEV Prius, but were not strong on when it would be released yet, sharing concerns about battery reliability, and pack size. Inspite of that - they also showed a small all electric concept that was cute, but a bit strange - definitely concept - not near production, from my guess!

However - all these concerns have not stopped China's BYD from showing both Hybrids, and Full Electric Vehicles at the show!

The Show was occupied by almost 1/3rd of it's space with Electric Vehicles, and maybe about 4 OEM's showing new Hybrids. It also offered opportunities for Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Makers to take passengers for rides downstairs and show off their wares. I took the opportunity to ride shotgun in the Tango, myself!

I had the opportunity to look at some new Lithium Polymer choices, and Dow Kokam is now the owner of Kokam America, which had a booth downstairs near the ride zone.

My current thought is to consider the possability of using Lithium Batteries in the very same pace as would have been accupied by the original 40 Litre, or 10.6 Gallon Gas Tank on the 1989 Pontiac firefly! (More on this soon!)

If you never got to see the show - one of the best areas was the Electric Avenue - dominated by the Progressive Automotive X-Prize for Automotive Performance - the search for a (group of) 100 mpg Vehicles that can be produced in volume - creating a winner of the $10 Million Dollar Prize, and the number of displayed contenstants on the wall mural, along with some of them in person at the show!

Let's See How Toronto's Feb. 12 - 21st: "2010 Canadian International AutoShow" does in comparison!