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Rock down to Electric Avenue

The snowblower has officially been put away for the summer. So, if we get another dump, it’s likely my fault.

Bill Phillips

Free Press

The snowblower has officially been put away for the summer.

So, if we get another dump, it’s likely my fault.

Haven’t fired up the scooter just yet, but I do have the battery charging and it will only be a matter of about 500 kicks on the kick-start to hear the angry putt-putt of that 49cc engine.

Hey, with the price of gas at $1.33 per litre and expected to climb when the warm weather comes, the wallet will actually be able to collect some dust.

It gets pretty disheartening when you hit the $100 limit on the gas pump before the tank gets filled and you’re heading to the gas pumps more than the grocery store.

I’m thinking one of the new electric cars will soon be moving up on my wish-list.

The province is even getting into the act.

B.C.’s popular Clean Energy Vehicle (CEV) Program is getting an extra jolt (that pun came from the press release so I can’t take credit for it) from the implementation of the $2.74 million Community Charging Infrastructure Fund that will see 570 public charging stations across municipalities, regional governments, First  Nations, and B.C. businesses and institutions by March 31, 2013.

The Community Charging Infrastructure Fund will be managed, promoted  and administered by the non-profit Fraser Basin Council.

Battery-powered electric vehicles should cost as little as $300 per year in electricity bills compared to upwards of $1,500 per year to fuel a gasoline-powered car or, in my case, almost three times that amount for the honkin’ big V-8 I need to carry pillows home from Sears.

An electric vehicle is starting to sound pretty attractive and I’m not alone in that.

To date, B.C. represents over 22 per cent of the national electric vehicle sales for the Nissan Leaf, reaffirming British Columbia as a market leader in the clean energy vehicle market and in March 2011, Mercedes-Benz Canada announced plans to build a new facility in Burnaby to manufacture fuel-cell stacks for hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles.

One of the arguments for extracting as much oil as we can out of the oil patch, as quickly as we can, is that while everyone wants to get rid of CO2 belching automobiles, it isn’t going to happen soon so let’s squeeze all we can out of the Alberta sand in the meantime.

The best way to do that is for society to make the move away from the gas-guzzlers willingly before it is forced to when the world runs out of oil. The only way we can do that is if there are options. Electric vehicles are becoming that option.

It’s nice to see the province getting involved in building these stations. Hopefully it’s just to kick-start the process.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see an entrepreneur be able to make a living with an electricity-only service station?

By the way, in May the Environmental Assessment Agency will be holding public hearings and consultation sessions in Prince George on the proposed Site C hydroelectric dam.

Holy crap, this doesn’t get any easier, does it?