Earth Garden’s cute little yellow electric car — Sunny — was just the first of many such cars produced in 2008 by world-beating Central Victorian company, Blade Electric Vehicles.

by Alan Gray
Trentham, Victoria

In a stunning boost for the Australian electric car maker, Blade Electric Vehicles, Hyundai New Zealand have announced plans to sell 200 of BEV’s ‘Blade Runner Mark II’ electric cars in NZ. The cars will be the Mark II version of the Earth Garden electric Getz featured in the March 2008 issue of EG. Hyundai New Zealand become the first automotive manufacturer to offer new electric cars for sale in New Zealand.

“This move will create a lot of interest within political parties and government agencies, as the NZ Government’s Transport Strategy 2008 states that New Zealand should become one of the first countries in the world to widely use electric vehicles. Officials from the Ministry for the Environment, Ministry for Economic Development and the Ministry of Transport have all been very supportive of Hyundai’s move,” commented Philip Eustace, Executive Director of Hyundai Motors New Zealand.

“They see this as a way to get the electric car strategy underway. As a country we are adopters of technology which makes us reliant on other countries and we are a long way off having mass production electric cars available here.”

The electric Getz has a top speed of 110+ kmh with a range of 100 km on a single charge with a rapid charge extending the daily range to approximately 200 km. The cars will be a fully electric, plug-in version of the petrol Getz. The Getz is a retro-fit electric car, meaning that the batteries and electric motor are fitted to the car after the petrol engine is taken out.

“This is a huge leap forward for BEV, and if they can do it across the Tasman, surely we can do it here,” Ross Blade, Managing Director of BEV told Earth Garden. When Earth Garden contacted Ross Blade for this story, he had 12 Hyundai Getzs in his central Victorian workshop in various stages of conversion from petrol to electric.

“The best way to support this industry is simply to buy one of these cars. There are large companies, government departments and many local councils that could slash their emissions by supporting an eco-friendly car industry,” he said.

Several Victorian councils have now bought Blade Runners. Melton, Nillumbik and Moorabool shires have bought one each and Maribyrnong council in the inner west of Melbourne have bought three. The City of Melbourne came back and bought a second Blade Runner after being very impressed with the performance of their first one. And the Victorian Government’s Department of Human Services has now taken delivery of a converted Toyota Yaris, a heavy car not as well suited to conversion as the Getz.

Emission free
If an Electron is recharged from 100% GreenPower it becomes an emission-free car. We have now driven more than 6000 km without a hitch. The car is a delight to drive, it handles beautifully, and has all the power and acceleration of a petrol car. In fact, we’re yet to discover a single drawback. We plug it in every evening in the carport, it’s fully recharged next morning, and we never have to visit petrol stations any more.

World comparison
The world’s most advanced electric car is the Tesla sports car, a US$100,000 sports car from California that can go from 0-100 kmh in four seconds. If you like sports cars this is the one, yet we’ve been told that the driver’s seat is not adjustable!

It appears from our research that the Blade Runner is probably the world’s most advanced production electric passenger car: its range (100 km), acceleration, and top speed (120 kmh) are above the specifications of any other production passenger car we can find.

Electric sports car
The Mazda MX-5 is a well-known sports car and BEV have just finished converting one for NSW resident, Mr Walter Koeller. Walter is an electrical engineer who loves to tinker. And he’s always liked the idea of an electric car. So when he saw the Electron on a TV news report in March 2008, he couldn’t resist.

“I always imagined I’d convert one myself, but when I saw that Ross Blade’s cars have a 40 kw AC motor combined with a lithium-ion battery pack I thought: ‘That’s exactly what I want’,” Walter said recently.

Now he’s the proud owner of a British Racing Green, fully-electric, Mazda MX-5 convertible sports car. After discussing his plans with Ross Blade, Walter hunted around for the perfect secondhand MX-5 to convert. He found a 1999 model which had an 1800 cc petrol motor, so the car could comfortably carry the weight of the large, 67-cell battery pack.

Walter finds that his MX-5 keeps up with any petrol cars on the road and easily goes 110 kmh on the freeway.

“It’s no slug. After tweaking it a little myself I found that it goes extremely well up our steep hill. You wouldn’t know it’s electric. It’s the perfect sports car. I love going out in it,” he says.

“I don’t like the fact that I was forced to buy petrol to get around. Getting an electric car allows me to say, ‘No, I don’t want to buy your product,’ when I sail past a petrol station.”

Walter clearly loves electric toys: his family also have an electric bike, a Toyota Prius and they generate a good slab of their own electricity from a grid-connected 1 kw (8 X 125 watt) solar power system and 1 kw Bergey wind turbine on their hilltop property in New South Wales.

• For more information about the Electron visit the Blade Electric Vehicles website at: www.bev.com.au.