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NEWS
Melbourne EV festival aiming to spark interest
Test drive electric cars and bikes free at Port Phillip EcoCentre's Electric Vehicle Festival in St KildaEver wondered what an electric car is like to drive? With all the publicity focused on range issues – and other factors slowing sales down around the world – the matter of how they are at the wheel tends to get overshadowed. And that’s a pity, because many who’ve sipped suspiciously from the well at the Green Zone Drives and other such events have been pleasantly surprised. Now, if Melbourne’s Port Phillip EcoCentre has its way, many more will be, in just over a fortnight’s time.
On Sunday, February 24, the St Kilda-based sustainability centre is holding its Electric Vehicle Festival, designed to help demystify a technology that continues to march inexorably our way despite getting off to a slow start.
Reasons for that sluggishness worldwide extend beyond issues of range the industry is currently addressing to the tune of billions of dollars. It’s partly to do with disinterest in the new, something not helped by electric power’s golf buggy and milk van image. That’s why the Festival is serving up plenty of opportunity for visitors to test drive the first three EVs to arrive in Australia with mainstream badges – Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, Nissan’s LEAF (pictured) and Holden’s plug-in hybrid Volt.
Note that you’ll have to register in advance if you want to take part in the test drive programs for these. To put your name down, visit the site here.
And, not wanting to leave the two-wheeled community out, the centre is wheeling out some electric bikes for test rides, too, including the BH and Stealth e-bikes. While electric cars struggle to take off in markets around the world, studies suggest electric bicycles suffer no such problems, with sales estimated to have reached over 30 million units in 2012. Aussie company Stealth Electric Bikes is doing brisk business in the US at the moment, even with prices for its hand-made machinery starting at $7500 here. You can see Stealth’s upspec Bomber electric MTB in action here.
No pre-registration is required for the bike rides.
To help further demystify electric power, the centre has also convened a crew of experts for short talks and Q&A sessions.
Port Phillip EcoCentre Electric Vehicle Festival
When: Sunday 24 February 10am – 4pm
Where: Lower Esplanade Road, St Kilda, next to the Palais
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Written byJeremy Bass
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