Jim Standen

Where will Electric Vehicles take us ?

Congratulations on the opening of the new Emergency Department of the Lady Minto hospital. Why is an EV guy saying that, especially in his EV oriented Driftwood column ? Before I answer that, an update. You may have heard that the Transition Salt Spring - EV Group has completed its missions and closed its doors. True. That is because our mission of education is now being supported by government (including generous purchase incentives), industry (BC Hydro) and many other organizations. EVs are now mainstream. If we look at our other mission of EV charging infrastructure on Salt Spring, there are a host of free public chargers and the long needed pay-for-use DCFC (super high speed) charging is now coming to the new Fire Hall and the Co-op gas station. Those high speed chargers will be available for really busy vehicles like taxis, delivery and emergency vehicles and of course, tourists. That pretty well completes our group missions, so we disbanded. But I do notice th…

Low-interest community loans available for new or used fully electric vehicles

Are you aware that as a Salt Spring Island resident, you can borrow up to $7,000 with a very friendly low interest 3.5% loan, towards the purchase of a new or used fully electric vehicle (not a hybrid). Yes, and you may be eligible. I am very excited to announce that the very first loan has been granted. In this case, the loan has been funded by a partnership of the TSS - Electric Vehicle Group and our local Transition Salt Spring Enterprise Cooperative (TSSEC). Future loans will be available from TSSEC’s Climate Action pool. TSSEC is a cooperative with about 100 members who loan funds to go to individuals, community projects and businesses for climate action initiatives. In the past 12 years just under a quarter of a million dollars has been loaned to 37 projects and people! TSSEC acts as a “broker” between lenders and borrowers, and it offers low interest rates and a simple application process for its Climate Action Loan program. Larger loans are available as well for…

Beta testing electric vehicle “Full Self Driving” mode on Salt Spring Island

I really enjoyed Shilo Zylbergold’s humorous take on self-driving cars in his Nobody Asked Me But column in the Sept. 27 Driftwood. Most of you readers may not be aware of the fact that self-driving cars have been operating on the streets of Salt Spring Island for over 2 years. Tesla has been on the forefront of this technology. The current software is a beta version, which is not ready for prime time, just for select cool beta-testers. When you purchase your car on the Web site (that’s how Tesla does stuff), the self driving software is an optional add-on. However, to be able to use it, you have to apply and commit to some safe driving rules. The first is that you must have your hands on the steering wheel at all times in case something goes awry. You also have to agree to some legalese. You have to manually turn the FSD (for “Full Self Driving”) software on and optionally enter a destination. At all times when the FSD software is active, your driving habits are monit…

EV Charging - The NACS Standard and what it means for EV owners on Salt Spring Island

Perhaps you have seen the recent announcements of initially Apterra, then followed by Ford and GM shifting their electric vehicle charging strategy to support the NACS (North American Charging Standard) otherwise known as Tesla Chargers (Level 2 Destination chargers and Tesla Superchargers for high-speed charging). Now other charger companies like Rivian, Flo and ChargePoint are following suit. This finally seals the deal for a single charging standard in North America. Such technology battles are not new. Consider the Beta vs VHS battle which was followed by Blue Ray vs HD DVD and now the many streaming options. Another format competition was Palm Pilot vs Blackberry vs iPhone. Eventually, there are just a few winners. Try to find someone using a beta machine or Palm Pilot today. One of the first deaths in the EV charging arena was ChaDeMo, the Japanese standard. Vehicles that use it will see that receptacle not being supported and being considered the standard, CCS, the…

EV Charging - Failure to connect

Normally, our free public electric vehicle chargers are very reliable, but I have had reports of folks having issues with the new unit at Island Savings. I suspect part of the issue comes down to manufacturing tolerances. Anything manufactured has a range of acceptable sizes. Light bulbs made by one manufacturer have to fit into sockets made by another manufacturer, so there are manufacturing specifications. But there is always some allowable variance - wiggle room. For EV charging wands and sockets, it appears that the allowable variance is quite small, but it exists, and together with some environmental factors, the connection can fail. Here is a really good example of manufacturing tolerance (or maybe I should call it Intolerance ???). We own two identical two-cup pyrex kitchen measuring vessels - almost identical. Things were not working out well in our kitchen and I finally sourced an issue. If you lined the vessels up (see photo), they are not the same height. An…

Global electric vehicle demand - will the grid break?

As we come to the close of 2022, the EV world is on firing on all cylinders (silly way to say it - right ?). Locally, we on Salt Spring recently reported a year-over-year growth rate of 40% in passenger EV ownership from 272 in 2020 to 380 in 2021 (about 5% of passenger vehicles). Our ownership number would be much higher, but issues such as global supply chain issues and a much greater post-pandemic sales surge have caused EV wait lists of up to 2 years (some dealers I am in contact with will no longer take wait lists beyond 2 years). Is this a temporary flash in the pan/pet rock event ? No. An article I read this week discusses the fact that 99% of folks that have chosen to drive EV have stated they will never purchase an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle again. This is a global shift in the way we drive, supported by the new driving experience, reduced cost of ownership, little required maintenance, purchase incentives and government regulations banning the future …

EV Tips: Charging

I often get asked about EV Chargers. The EV Group has worked diligently to encourage merchants around Salt Spring to install Level 2 Chargers that are mostly free to use (some have donation boxes - please use them). The charging stations are primarily for tourists, but are also intended for our use. I’ll take this opportunity to thank the business owners again for their generous support. However, is this where you would charge your new EV? Not exclusively, that would be totally uncool. So what options do you have? The first thing to say is that charging is easy. Just like you plug in your lap-top or phone when you get home, you will mostly charge your EV the same way, at home. Come out in the morning to a full charge. A lot of people are bothered because it can take hours to charge a big battery, but the truth is that you are mostly asleep and the total ‘charging time’ is the time it takes you to plug in and unplug your car. Less than 60 seconds. How long will it take to …

EV Tips: Driving Electric Cars in Winter

This winter we have seen our share of challenging weather. I have often been asked how EVs manage in snow and slush and on icy roads. And what about the range?? So here’s my take on driving an EV in the winter. First…Creature comforts. In an EV, use the heated seats and if you have one, the steering wheel heaters. They work really well, and a warm bum and hands helps you to stay warm without having a really hot cabin. The cabin heat and defogger use a bit of juice, so I keep the cabin at a low set temperature, and cycle the defogger on and off. Better yet, if you have access to your car via your phone, pre-warm the cabin before you leave for the day or before heading out from your performance at ArtSpring. You will lose distance during the Winter months. The combination of reduced battery efficiency and reduced re-generative braking, increased use of headlights, heater, high friction winter tires, all take their toll. But you get used to it very quickly and the…

EV Tips from Jim Standen and the EV Group

Promoting Sustainable Transportation on Salt Spring Island ~ I am pleased to announce that the ArtSpring EV chargers are back in operation. This was the first EV Charger on SSI and has been working reliably for 6 years. The original wands (the thing that plugs into your car) wore out from overuse (which is kind of a good thing - wink). The new wands are far superior to the original ones. Larger contacts - better materials, etc. I would like to thank Julian Sale of Motorize - Your EV Store, for sourcing the wands and doing the replacement work at no charge, Jeff Chamberland of Bearfoot Renewables for the removal and re-installation and Erin at ArtSpring for running the panel. This is a good time to remind folks that ArtSpring does not own the chargers, Transition Salt Spring does. The EV group (a sub-group of TSS) tries to provide funding via the donation box to cover the electricity usage, repairs, eventual replacement, and signage (behind the c…

Electric Vehicle Density on Salt Spring

With the recent COP21 decision in Paris to have a plan to address the threat of climate change through Green House Gas (GHG) reductions, Salt Spring Island is proud to be already leading the way. Electric vehicles are the low hanging fruit for emission reduction and we have the highest density of electric automobiles in Canada (and quite possibly the US) and more are arriving on a regular basis. We will end the year with at least 61 fully electric vehicles quietly not producing any GHG emissions. A recent and conservative estimate of our total fleet emission reduction (through avoidance) is estimated to be at least 200 Tonnes per year. And we have 6 Public free charging stations sponsored by our generous local business for our visiting EV tourists. And this is, as they say, just the start.

Growing Electricity Based Transportation Movement

There have been many achievements over the past year in support of electricity based transportation on Salt Spring Island. This especially true in support of electric cars with the installation of Level II charging stations at B&B's and commercial locations in Ganges. We have rapidly grown to almost 50 fully electric cars in a very short time, to by far the highest density of EV's in Canada. We have many more e-bikes (and vendors) and we have an industrial electric drone company. We have created new jobs in the community. To recognize our achievements and the opening of the charging stations at Country Grocer and Island Savings, Transition Salt Spring and the Chamber of Commerce together with our sponsoring businesses, have gathered for a celebration. The focus is our expanded infrastructure and the many available and affordable forms of electric transportation. Automotive vendors including Vancouver TESLA, Motorize Auto Direct, Graham Kia, Three Point Motors, C…

Electric Vehicles - Sharing the Benefits

We have just completed our first 2,500 kilometers driving our all-electric Nissan Leaf, almost all of which has been on Salt Spring. Ours is a used vehicle (affordable to us) that was pre-owned as a leased unit by Nissan. It provides a good driving range, is comfortable, quiet, handles well, and has a surprising amount of power to ensure safe driving. Almost all of the time, we have plugged the car into a standard 120v outdoor outlet at our home. We have occasionally used the Artspring Level II charger, which is free for use by the public, but the electricity used is currently paid by our local organization, Transition Salt Spring (TSS). A big thank you to TSS for providing this valuable service to our local electric vehicle owners and providing an incentive to those considering visiting our island. This week we received the first Hydro bill since purchasing the car, and as per predictions based on the car technical specifications, it has increased somewhere between …