EVConversions.ca is a site owned and run by EVCO - Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa - an active volunteer organization promoting the use of electric vehicles where appropriate. Many of our members have been converting gas cars to electric for over 10 years. It’s natural to want to share that knowledge and experience so that more EVs can be put in service (and thereby reduce the number of polluting gas cars on the road). Therefore we will be offering a unique course on EV Conversions.
This website will be used for development of course content, announcing progress and development, and promoting the course. The course material will be made freely available under a Creative Commons license, to encourage course adoption in other cities.
Motivation for this project came from Mike Parker and Abrán Quevedo’s C2EC2T (Commuter Car Electric Conversion Course for Teachers) based in California and also Jenny Isaacs who brought the course to Pennsylvania for her VW Vanagon project.
Why Electric Cars
- They meet the driving needs of 90% of the population who commute to work and run errands within 20kms of where they live.
- Easy and cheaper to maintain over the life of the vehicle.
- Cost about as much as a normal car to buy or convert.
- To make the air we breath a little cleaner.
- To reduce our carbon footprint.
- To reduce our dependency on deminishing oil reserves.
Why Teach a Course about it?
To raise awareness, educate, and to bring EV Conversions from the backyard/garage to the forefront. Most people wouldn’t think to convert their aging clunker. There are millions of inefficient polluting vehicles on the road that could be converted into clean emission-free commuter cars. As the course grows, more people will learn how a conversion is performed and more professional mechanics will offer this service to clients. (Right now the EV Conversion “industry” in Canada consists of only a handful of professional shops). Other benefits include:
- Economic: a new niche industry in the automotive sector will provide local jobs to many.
- Costs of components: through increased numbers of conversions in Canada, EV component makers and battery makers will be able to offer reduced prices and volume discounts.
- Organization: by bringing together many organizations and individuals in the EV industry, we form a collaborative relationship of helping one another, and can more effectively lobby for change in government policies and regulations concerning electric vehicles.
- Recycling: that old clunker can get a new life.
