Saturday, September 18, 2010

Canberra Electric Vehicle Festival

There is a display of electric bicycles, motorbikes, cars and trucks at the Canberra Electric Vehicle Festival today until 4pm, on the laws across from Old Parliament House. What interested me most was not the Tesla electric car, but the Fuso FE Eco-Hybrid 4 x 2 truck. This Mitsubishi vehicle is similar to the Toyota Hino Hybrid truck. However, the Fuso is using lithium batteries, rather than the hydride ones used by Toyota. This size truck is used commonly by councils. It would also be useful for emergency command centre vehicles, with the lithium battery and generator being able to supply power.

Also on display is a 1917 vintage Detroit Electric car. Several Mitsubishi iMIEVs are on display (I have driven the iMiEV and it is very practical). There were numerous electrical bicycles and electric bicycle conversion kits for sale (I wonder when someone will build a true electric bicycle, which replaces the gears with a generator).

The ACT Light Rail group had a display. Also I met Patrick Stein, from SONA promoting Home Sustainability Assessments.

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