Hello EV Society members and friends, 

With summer just around the corner, outdoor in-person events are slowly making their way back into our communities. We’re thrilled to see EV Society chapters organizing events and spreading the electric vehicle message across the country. This month, we’re also sharing updates from the Government Relations Committee.

Thank you for reading, and if you appreciate the efforts of EV Society to act as a voice of influence across Canada for electric vehicle ownership, please share this newsletter and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to become dues-paying members. Signing up as a paid member provides funding to help us advocate on behalf of EV supporters like you. We could not operate without the support of our members, so thank you!

We want to hear from you. When you have an interesting story or related topic you’d like to share with the community here, please email us at Contact@EVSociety.ca. 

Aniseh Sharifi

2021 Annual Report

The 2021 Annual Report is a small glimpse into the tremendous work accomplished by our volunteers over the last year in support of EV adoption across Canada. We’re delighted to share some of these highlights with you! 

“2021 was a year defined by both challenges and progress, a year that many of us are thankful to put behind us. As President, I am so proud of the tremendous efforts by EV Society volunteers and EV owners from across the country. These folks managed to adapt to the COVID reality, seamlessly. They persevered in fulfilling our guiding principles of EV adoption and education with creativity, which resulted in an incredible 172% increase in engagements over past years!”
– Wilf Steimle, President

BEV in Depth Event Summary 

On May 25-26^th, the first ever 'BEV in Depth: Mines to Mobility' conference was held at Science North in Sudbury Ontario.  This was one of the first times the mining industry, automotive industry, and other EV stakeholders havecome together to discuss the challenges and opportunities of working along side to create a Canadian EV battery supply chain.  EV Society was proud to be one of the conference organizers and participants.

Canada is in a unique situation to be able to have all necessary components of the supply chain, from mineral extraction to manufacturing experience, and if we get this right, we have a chance of taking advantage of this once in a generation economic opportunity.

Opening remarks were provided by Marc Serre (MP, Nickel Belt), Julie Dabrusin (MP, Toronto-Danforth and parliamentary secretary for Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada), and Viviane Lapointe (MP, Sudbury) who all re-iterated that this is an opportunity Canada cannot afford to miss. The discussions ranged from mineral extraction and what efforts mining companies are taking to get to net zero, manufacturing both mining equipment and consumer vehicles, all the way to mineral/battery recycling to create the circular economy. Keynote presentations were made by international mining companies Glencore and Vale, with some key insights into their mineral business and expansion plans. 

EV Society President, Wilf Steimle, chaired a panel around consumer EV adoption.  There was also an Indigenous Leader panel that highlighted the need for respect and true partnerships with their communities around securing and mining EV battery materials.  Participants even had the opportunity to visit a mine and local companies engaged in the cutting edge adoption of BEVs in mining and the transition to electric mining.

Congratulations to the organizers of BEV in Depth: Mines to Mobility, including Cambrian College, Frontier Lithium, Greater Sudbury Development Corporation (Invest Sudbury), and EarthCare Sudbury/City of Sudbury.  Special thanks and congratulations to Devin Arthur and EV Society Greater Sudbury on the inaugural event!

Electric Vehicle Owners Survey

As you are aware, EVS is a member funded 'not for profit' organization.  A growing challenge for EVS is covering costs to maintain and increase our activities to advance electrification in Canada. 

We were recently approached by a major auto manufacturer who wishes to better understand EV owners and their views on various EV related issues.  They have offered payment in return for this information from our members.  

We are asking you today for less than 10 minutes of your time to complete a survey.  

Doing so will provide two significant benefits:

1. Provides an auto manufacturer with feedback from experienced EV owners to help them transition effectively away from fossil fuel to electric.

2. Provides EVS with some revenue beyond our membership dues, supporting our work promoting electrification.

Your responses will be kept anonymous and reviewed in aggregate form by EVS and the survey sponsor only, who have requested to remain anonymous.

Please help the EV Society and the work we do, by clicking on the following link and sharing your EV knowledge and experience. 

The EVS GR Committee provides advice on public policy issues related to electric transportation, identifies and coordinates government relations and advocacy activities, and contributes to the overall EVS’s policy agenda.  

We have been quite busy in the last few months. These are some of the files we have been following up:

And more will be coming. As per our 2022 Work Plan, there are several other topics the Committee will be engaged. So, stay tune for more news coming soon!

Your co-chairs: Peter Forint & Sebastien Hamel

OUR CORPORATE MEMBERS

Thank you to our corporate members. Click the link below to see more. 

Gerry Gaydos, Victoria’s EV and Solar Energy Pioneer

Gerry has been a participant in the EV movement since 1996 when he volunteered as Technical support on Western University’s Sunstang Solar Car race team, which went on to compete in the World Solar Challenge in Australia.

Since then, Gerry has been a well recognized EV and solar energy promoter in the greater Victoria area.  His commitment to promoting electrification of transportation continues today and includes two start-up businesses, participation in the Victoria EV Association, founder of Drive Electric Victoria, volunteering in a variety of environmental and political groups over many years, and innumerable personal consultations to individuals considering the transition to an EV.  

Gerry’s resume abounds with initiatives that promote EVs:

• Electric Vehicles and Solar Energy Entrepreneur, including founder of FunkyMoto Electric Vehicles Inc in 2006 and Bumblebee Electric Vehicles + Solar Energy CCC Inc. in 2018

• Electric Vehicles and Solar Energy Events Organizer, including the Drive Electric Victoria annual Ride & Drive events and Imagine Driving on Sunshine information sessions

• Electric Vehicle motorcade and tour organizer for environmental and political campaigns

• Transit Electrification Advocate, calling for electrification of Victoria Regional Transit Authority’s HandyDART services

• In 2021, Gerry stood for nomination as Green Party candidate in Victoria, with various supporters,  including Paul Scott, founding member of Plug-in America and Linda Nicholes, cofounder and past president of Plug-in America.

Currently, Gerry is working on the development of social enterprise strategies to leverage electric vehicles and solar technologies in support of indigenous communities and people engaged in local food production, taking his efforts beyond helping motorists to replace their fossil fuel vehicles with technically superior cars.

EV Society greatly appreciates Gerry’s early and ongoing efforts to promote vehicle electrification.  Gerry is a true EV pioneer, paving the way for future EV drivers.

Know an EV Ambassador who we can feature in EV Society’s newsletter? Email us at Contact@EVSociety.ca 

EPS: 25, Preparing Your Home for Bi-directional Charging

Last month we tackled the subject of bidirectional charging from the point of view of a Canadian Electrical Utility.  This month, we shift our emphasis to the consumer side of things as we consider what this technology could mean for homeowners.  What options will we have and what kind of equipment will be needed to take advantage of bidirectional energy transfer?  These may still be early days for the technology, but we will do our best to examine the implications. 

Joining us will be Mabel Fulford, Director of Innovation Execution at Peak Power Inc., and she has a strong professional and academic background in global energy systems, combining technical, economic and policy subjects. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from McGill University, a MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College London and a MASc in Chemical Engineering on organic solar cell materials from the University of Toronto. Mabel is the President of Young Professionals in Energy Toronto. 

A First-Time EV Owner's Purchase Saga

During the start of the pandemic, back in March 2020, I coincidentally started to dive into the idea of an electric vehicle. Not needing to drive much for work even pre-pandemic, a car replacement hadn’t really been a priority; but my car was getting older and by then, really showing some ugly rust spots (it was 15 years old after all) and I had been toying with a replacement for a few years now. Also, I hadn’t given myself a mid-life crisis gift yet – an EV sounded like a great excuse to get something fun without being [overtly] wasteful.

The decision on whether to get an EV was pretty straightforward for me once advances in battery technology allowed for over 400kms of electric range (there could be whole debates on whether this 400kms is even relevant for my needs). I wanted an EV – and not having to debate EV vs gas car choices eliminated much of the cost comparison/justification rationale – all valid and worth discussing, but I just left it as the front-end cost will be more, and would be made up by lower costs in the future. But which EV?

Do you have a story you'd like to share with your EV community? Email us at Contact@EVSociety.ca

If you’re interested volunteering your time, please contact us at Volunteer@EVSociety.ca

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