Natasha D'Souza

The Electric Vehicle Expo was at the Museum of Science and technology this past weekend. The pouring rain did not deter the participants from showing off their vehicles.

Sparky the Electric Vehicle was the first e-vehicle that I saw. It’s owned by Allan Poulsen and is a 1996 Ford Ranger that was converted into an electric vehicle. The gas engine was replaced by an electric motor.

There are 22 golf cart batteries in its bed that allow a range of 50 kilometers between charges, given a speed of 60 kilometers an hour. The batteries take about 6 hours to re-charge.

This is ideal for someone who does not have a long distance to travel each day. On average it costs about $20k to convert a vehicle to an e-vehicle.

Powered by the wind is an interesting statement….

“I buy Green Tags to put electricity from Wind power generation into the Ontario electricity grid, to offset the electricity I take from the same grid to use for charging Sparky. Thus, Sparky is Powered by the Wind. Buying Green Tags is a lot easier on the wallet than putting up my own Solar Panels or small windmill”

In a vehicle that has a gas engine the loss of heat from the engine is used to heat the car in the winter.

In Sparky’s case there is no gas engine so a ceramic heater is used instead. To see more pictures check out Allan’s power point slides.