In Bogotá, Women Are Driving a Better Bus System
March 29, 2024
When Paola Perez shifts into gear and puts her foot down on the accelerator, the lime-green bus zips forward with an almost-silent whoooosh. Neat rows of dozens of identical vehicles are visible on either side through its large rectangular windshield.
“This is a very beautiful place to work,” says Perez, as she steers the bus through the pleasingly symmetrical universe of white lines, smooth gray asphalt and angular metal platforms that house nearly 200 electric charging stations. “It’s new, it’s clean and it all works.”
City of Regina buying up to 53 Nova Bus electric buses
Jan 31, 2024 – Electric Autonomy
The City of Regina is moving to electrify its transit fleet after signing a five-year contract with Nova Bus to acquire up to 53 battery-electric buses for Regina Transit.
“These will be the first battery-electric buses in Regina Transit’s fleet,” said Brad Bells, director of Transit and Fleet with the City of Regina, in a press statement. “The addition of these electric buses will support the City of Regina’s goal of becoming a 100 per cent renewable city by 2050.”
‘Our transportation needs are connecting our communities’: Muskoka’s rail service vital
An update on the Northlander train
By Julian Orlando Chaves, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter MuskokaRegion.com
Monday, July 24, 2023
The Northlander train project connecting Muskoka to the north and south continues to move forward.
Tony Seba talks about the rapid switch to EVs
“The market share of electric vehicles will hit 50 per cent in China this year”
Listen to the Driven podcast interview.
Toyota under fire for anti-climate lobbying as protestors storm VW annual meeting
May 11, 2023
The world’s two largest automakers have been accused of climate wrecking policies by protestors and their own shareholders, and have been urged to accelerate their transition away from fossil fuel vehicles and to provide more transparency around anti-EV lobbying. – More
Canadian Infrastructure Bank and FLO to install 2,000 fast chargers
The $500 million initiative, which will approximately double the number of chargers across Canada by 2027, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by stimulating the private sector’s rollout of large-scale charging infrastructure and hydrogen refuelling stations, promoting private investments, and fostering economic opportunities.
Details in Electric Autonomy Canada here.
The Tales of an EV Rookie
In November 2021, I ordered a 100% electric Kia Niro Electric Vehicle, hoping to start driving it in the spring. The dealer said it would take 4-6 months to arrive, but it came in February 2022, so I had to ask for it to be equipped with snow tires, and I learned my first lessons about using an EV under winter conditions. At this writing in April 2023, I’ve had it for more than a year, and driven it for about 23000 km.
It’s been great fun to drive. When I want to get up to highway speed quickly, the noiseless pick-up pins the driver to the back of the seat. There are no pauses for gear changes because there is no transmission; just zoooom. Steering is stable.
| 2023 Canadian International Auto Show February 17 – 26, 2023 |
 |
| What a comeback for the Canadian International AutoShow! It was an absolute pleasure to be part of a record-breaking year after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, and to witness the utmost enthusiasm for electric vehicles from both automakers and visitors alike. By the end of the event, 350,214 visitors had stopped in to check out the show – the third-highest total ever! |
 |  |  |
| We teamed up with the Canadian International AutoShow to offer attendees the electric vehicle education experience of a lifetime, with 13 EV models from various manufacturers available to test drive at the event’s first-ever indoor EV Test Drive Track. At the track, our EV ambassadors were available to help visitors with all their EV questions and facilitate an astounding 5,873 test drives! |
We May Not Actually Need All That Lithium
Read any article about the clean energy revolution, and chances are you’ll run into some staggering numbers about how demand for lithium, cobalt, nickel, and other minerals and metals is projected to rise over the next few decades.
But the future isn’t set in stone. The U.S. may need up to 90% less of these materials if it simply prioritizes things like public transit, urban walkability, and smaller cars, according to groundbreaking new research from the Climate and Community Project and University of California, Davis.
Langs Bus Lines’ electric buses hitting London streets as school returns
Jan 9, 2023 – CBC News
Families heading back to school this morning may notice something new on London roads — electric school buses.
Langs Bus Lines, which has about 400 diesel school buses, is slowly starting the process of converting about half its fleet to electric, said company vice-president Kevin Langs, with a handful of the no-emission vehicles hitting the streets today.
“We were involved in a pilot project in 2017 and that was our first experience with electric buses. Our focus is that ultimately, over the next five years, we’re looking to replace 200 buses to electric. We’re just at the very beginning stages,” Langs said.
Already, drivers say the electric buses are fun to drive, quiet, and kids get a kick out of the new machines that they know are helping the environment, he added.
Canada Post unveils plan to convert half its 14,000 last-mile vehicle fleet to zero-emission by 2030, the rest by 2040
The Crown corporation’s CEO was on hand in Ottawa today to unveil Canada Post’s fleet electrification plan, part of a $1-billion effort to reach net zero emissions across the entire organization by 2050
Georgian Bay Forever chooses electric — for its boat
Did you know that operating a 20hp 2-stroke engine for one hour makes 11,000 m3 of water undrinkable? And a 5hp 4-stroke produces 38 times more hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions than a small car?
The not-for-profit group Georgian Bay Forever, whose mandate is to support public education and scientific research to protect Georgian Bay, has purchased an electric outboard motor (made by Torqueedo) for its summer utility boat. The electric motor is noise-free and offers emission-free drives.
Boating could be so much less painful — the pain starts with noise from the internal combustion engine (ICE) chugging and revving and breaking the serenity of listening to nature around you or making it impossible to hear your friends; there’s the fumes and unfiltered exhaust pollution emissions from gas and oil during boat rides and fill-ups; and then there is the maintenance and winterizing of ICEs which can involve taking hoods off, draining oil, installing new oil filters, filling the crankcase, changing gear oil, stabilizing fuel, flushing with antifreeze, fogging cylinders, greasing tubes, spraying various things against corrosion, and more. Ugh. Now imagine an experience where all of that goes away. A quiet emission-free ride where you can truly enjoy a boat ride on Georgian Bay without poisoning it, and where you can go from zero to full throttle instantaneously. Boating made simply more enjoyable.
Read the article, from the Georgian Bay Forever newsletter.
Below: the Torqueedo electric outboard motor unboxing video, produced by Georgian Bay Forever Zero Emission Propulsion Project. 2m:53s
How Much Does It Really Cost to Charge That Electric Vehicle?
Mar 02, 2017Updated Mar 01, 2022 – Evan Williams – AutoTrader .ca
With more EVs on the road in 2022 than in 2017, along with big changes in the cost of energy, we’ve updated this guide for 2022 with new vehicles and updated power and fuel rates.
Just about every article or news piece about an electric car that we do – and there is a lot of EV news lately – gets a comment thread filled with people debating the price of charging an EV. “Hydro rates are so high,” “maybe when electricity is cheaper,” “who can afford to drive one when I can use cheaper gas,” and best of all “filling a tank with fuel is half the price of plugging in a car.”
July 24, 2022 – On a recent trip to Toronto we gave our Chevy Bolt a boost at one of the new Flo Fast Chargers at The Cookstown Outlet Mall. – 60% to 80% or energy used to drive 86km. 20 minutes $7.97 (5x the cost of charging at home) – Convenient and even at that price, cheaper than gas for a comparable ICE vehicle. – Len
Canada may have hit its long-awaited electric vehicle turning point
April 4, 2022 – CBC News – Don Pittis
Electric car advocates are waiting to see spending details in this week’s federal budget, but for the first time, pro-EV business leaders and economists are expressing new optimism that Canada’s move away from internal combustion vehicles may have reached a turning point.
Top 10 Electric Car Myths, Busted
October 22, 2020 – Auto Trader – By Sami Haj-Assaad
Electric vehicles (EVs) have seen vast improvements over the years, mitigating many of the concerns shoppers have had about them in the process. Worries about range, reliability, charging infrastructure, and even production have been addressed in some way, with few reasons remaining to keep an EV off your consideration list. Still not convinced? We’re here to help debunk some myths around these all-electric rides.
OnDemand Webinar: Dreaming About Owning That Electric Vehicle?
Climate Action: Electric Vehicles 101 is an on demand webinar with Kenneth Bokor of the Caledon Electric Vehicle Society, presented last October by the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve. Excellent and informative then; even more relevant now in these times of soaring gas prices. 1h:26m.
If you doubt that transformative change can happen quickly, take a look at 5th Ave in New York City, courtesy of Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Tony Seba, from his webinar on disruptive technologies.
Canada Infrastructure Bank to fund 4,000 electric school buses in Quebec
November 24, 2021 – Mehanaz Yakub – Electric Autonomy
The investment is a long-term loan that is meant to help bus operators cover the vehicles’ higher upfront costs and charging infrastructure expense and help accelerate the shift to electric school buses in the province.
“It’s a loan that’s based on the expected savings that the buses are going to generate over their life,” explains Charles Todd, managing director of investments at CIB, in an interview with Electric Autonomy Canada.
TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) standard
The TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) Standard outlines a comprehensive framework comprising TOD principles, objectives, and metrics that define complete and inclusive urban environments for everyone.
The Eight Principles of TOD are WALK, CYCLE, CONNECT, TRANSIT, MIX, DENSIFY, COMPACT, and SHIFT. They illustrate the relationship between transport and land use. These principles form the Framework for the TOD Standard, a universal tool that can be used to evaluate and plan neighborhoods. In the TOD Standard, each principle is further defined with performance objectives and metrics to explain what it means to achieve these principles and how to do so.
Lion Electric receives order for 1,000 electric school buses in Canada
OCTOBER 27 – JOSHUA S. HILL – the DRIVEN
Canadian-based manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles Lion Electric Company has received an order for 1,000 electric school buses, which will replace diesel buses from early next year.
The order from Student Transportation of Canada, which is going to access the government’s Zero Emission Transit Fund, would make it the largest operator of zero-emission school buses in North America.
One-in-four new car sales in Europe are plug in electric vehicles
Sept 24, 2021 – The Driven – Sophie Vorrath
The data, published monthly in the European Electric Car Report by Schmidt Autotmotive Research shows that the 18 market West European region saw combined BEV/PHEV volumes reach 152,000 units in August, or 24.2 per cent of the total new passenger car market in that month – that’s one in four new cars, for those playing at home.
I Feel Like a Celebrity When I Ride My Electric Cargo Bike
By Katherine Martinko Fact checked by Haley Maston
Sept 7, 2021 – Treehugger
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/ebike-70f23faf772048a2a5ddb31d87da5ec4.jpeg)
I feel like a celebrity when I ride my electric cargo bike around my small, rural, touristy town in southwestern Ontario, Canada. People gape at intersections, roll down car windows, give thumbs up, and wave enthusiastically with big grins on their faces. – more
Vehicle-to-Building/Grid Integration
Aug 3, 2021 – Ontario Clean Air Alliance submission to the IESO
Prepared by Kent Elson
Overview
- EV batteries with bi-directional chargers are cheaper than gas plants for peak power
- EVs are an enormous opportunity to lower electricity rates & carbon emissions
- By 2030, EVs will have more than twice the capacity of Ontario’s gas plants
- When all cars are electric, their gross discharge capacity (GW) will be more than 6 times Ontario’s total peak demand
- Technical barriers to bi-directional charging have largely disappeared (with more bidirectional-capable cars and chargers and million+ mile batteries)
- This is urgent – it is cheaper to incentivize bi-directional charging now before
millions of “dumb” and “one-directional” chargers are purchased
Nova Scotia to get first electric ferry in $3.3-million electrified transport and net-zero passenger terminal initiative
June 22, 2021 – As part of the Rapid Transit Strategy, Halifax will also be electrifying part of their current bus fleet with a long term goal of electrifying over 200 buses by 2028. Both initiatives are responses to meeting the province’s 2030 emissions targets.
City of Brampton orders electric fire truck, in Ontario first
June 21, 2021 – The City of Brampton announced on Wednesday that it will become the first municipality in Ontario to deploy an electric fire truck. In a unanimous decision, city council approved the decision to purchase a Rosenbauer RT to replace a front-line pumper.
Sudbury buys four Tesla Model 3s for non-emergency EMS calls
April 22, 2021 – Electric Autonomy
The City of Sudbury is incorporating fully electric vehicles into its community paramedic fleet, building on its leadership in municipal vehicle electrification. by Emma Jarratt
Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities
By Christian Brand, originally published by The Conversation March 30, 2021
Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
Why My Next Vehicle Will Be Electric
By Stephen Leahy @StephenLeahy – Below2c.org -March 6, 2021
EVs are far less complex, with just 20 parts in their drive train compared to 2,000 parts in gasoline-powered car. They don’t have multi-speed transmissions, radiators, fuel injectors, gas tanks, valve trains, exhaust systems, etc.
Family celebrates 200,000km milestone in Nissan Leaf – and no petrol bills
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 – BRIDIE SCHMIDT, the DRIVEN
This is pretty much a Nissan ad, but it is a great story – Len
“I realised I really wanted to make that transition to electric,” he says. “We were the first one registered in the state of Florida and it’s been such a great car we kept it with us for the last 10 years.
Canada: Lion Electric Receives Order For 60 Electric School Buses
By: Mark Kane
The electrification of school buses accelerates.
Lion Electric announced the largest single order for all-electric LionC school buses, placed by Autobus Groupe Séguin from Laval, Quebec, Canada.
In total, 60 Lion C will be delivered over five years (through 2026), including the first 10 this year.
If you wonder what LionC electric buses look like, here is a fresh presentation from California, where the Twin Rivers Unified School District has recently received an additional 10 LionC (for a total of 40 electric school buses).
A New Year, a New Transportation Service For Muskoka!
The Rural and Community Connection transportation service connects communities east and west across the District, while also providing passengers connections to other transportation services within and beyond Muskoka.
Starting on Tuesday, January 19th, 2021, the service will operate on two routes. The connections between the Tuesday route, the Thursday route, the Corridor 11 Bus, and connections made to the Simcoe County LINX., a schedule and more on the District of Muskoka web site.
German EV Market Reaches Escape Velocity — Record 27% Share In December
January 8th, 2021 by Dr. Maximilian Holland – Germany, Europe’s largest auto market and the 4th largest in the world, achieved 26.6% plugin electric vehicle share in December. This is a stunning ascent from the 4.0% share seen in December 2019… 2020’s plugin vehicle sales grew over 2019 by a huge 263% to 394,632 units.
Driving a rental electric vehicle in New Zealand:
NOVEMBER 26, 2020 – ANDREW ANDERSON
I didn’t really want to go ‘over there’ for a family reunion last February but my son Greg more or less ordered me to. saying “it’s better than coming over for a funeral. And I’ll meet you in Christchurch with a hire car. The hire car’s all electric,” he said.
“Age of the Jetsons”:
Australian company unveils what it claims to be the world’s first electric air ambulance–
Michael Mazengarb – 25 November 2020 – the Driven
The Northeastern Ontario Rail Network (NEORN)
A timely transfer of Ontario Northland will be step one for Doug Ford, but he’s still short of fulfilling his campaign promise to Northerners. The Premier ran on a pledge to bring back the Northlander train and increase service, and we’re still waiting to see it coming down the tracks”.
A car-less dream for all of Muskoka.
By Gordon Laxer
My first memory of Muskoka was steering the Sagamo, the largest and grandest steamer on Ontario’s minor lakes. It was 1948 and I was four years old.
District’s Community Transportation Plan –
The goal of the CTP is to develop accessible, affordable, sustainable transportation solutions for both urban and rural residents.
October 30, 2020 update: New Bus, New Look, New Schedule for Corridor 11 Service. More information at www.muskoka.on.ca/corridor11.
A new era in maritime travel: Electric boats –
Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls has launched North America’s first all-electric, zero-emissions tour boats. Earlier this month, the Maid of the Mist launched two electric catamarans into the gorge, the first of their kind in North America. The hulking double-deckers run on dual banks of lithium-ion batteries. – The Washington Post – OCTOBER 29, 2020
What Is the Carbon Footprint of Transportation?
– The statistician and engineer W. Edwards Deming once said “In God we trust. All others must bring data.” Some of the best data come from the Our World in Data team at Oxford University. Their latest looks at what form of transport has the smallest carbon footprint. Driving big cars and flying short distances are the worst. – By Lloyd Alter Published October 13, 2020
Plug ‘N Drive Discovery Centre (EVs)
– Discover Electric Cars and take test drives in a sales-free, no-pressure environment.! Electric cars are cheaper to operate and maintain, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deliver better performance.
Book an appointment to visit the EV Discovery Centre in Toronto or the Mobile EV Education Trailer in Ottawa.
KIA Green Vehicles
When it comes to maintenance, electric vehicles require much less than a traditional gasoline-fueled vehicle. The difference comes down to moving parts; a traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) can have over 20,000 moving parts, while a fully electric vehicle may have as few as 20.
EV charging in Muskoka
Coming to a Place near you:
New
Fast Charge, south end of Gravenhurst In the Sobey’s parking lot.
