The Blade Electron is a watershed concept in automotive market practice. For years academics have put forward the concept of extending the life of cars from 10 years to 25 years and even more to reduce their environmental impact. The Hot Rod industry is an example where vehicles are maintained and kept on the road in prime condition 60 years after manufacturer. These vehicles have in the passage of time become classics and instead of being consigned to the scrap heap are recovered, rebuilt and traded among a unique community of drivers.

As Australia’s first full production all electric car the Blade Electron has a unique place in the countries automotive history. Electron owner might consider nursing this legacy and the cars in the coming decades to minimise their environmental impact.

The Blade Electron remains about changing the throw away culture associated with car ownership to one of respecting the cost to the environment embodied in the car and in response ensuring it is kept in useful service for the next 25 years.

The Blade Electron was a star performer at the Green Zone Drive event in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct over the week of October 2-8. Over 100 people test drove the Electron over a 3.5 kilometre circuit around public roads. As expected, it performed flawlessly in the testing environment (including during the severe storms on the Wednesday).

Wednesday October 6 2010 saw the launch in Melbourne of the 5 year, $5m Victorian Electric Vehicle Trial. The Electron attended alongside the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and a plug-in Toyota Hybrid Camry (not yet available in Australia).

The Trial was launched by the Premier, John Brumby, who took a couple of spins around the Federation Square carpark in the Electron. He spoke at length about the purpose of the Trial – “to make Victoria an EV-friendly state”, and highlighted the success of Blade Electric Vehicles.

Transport and Roads Minister Tim Pallas also attended, as did Education Minister Bronwyn Pike.

• Interested in a contributing to a sustainable future?
• Looking for a Zero Emission transport solution?
• Looking to purchase an Electric Vehicle?

Look No Further.

Clean Driving is a local project bringing commercial electric cars to the Canberra Region, Today.

If you’ve seen the green “I’m run on 100% green electricity” car around Canberra, you’ve seen the future of Zero Emissions driving.

If you’re ready to go electric, would like to find out more about electric vehicles or even test drive one, Clean Driving will be happy to help you out.

If you’re ready to “go electric” they’ve done the hard work, and can help get you organised with a brand new electric car and have you motoring the electric way in no time.

Visit the Clean Driving website.

NZ Minister for Climate Change Issues - Dr Nick Smith

NZ Minister for Climate Change Issues, Dr Nick Smith, gave a speech to the 6th Climate Change And Business Conference in Sydney on Wednesday, 11 August 2010.

Dr Smith has been driving an Electron in his electorate of Nelson for over 2 years. In the speech he says in part:

“Another initiative of which I have a personal interest is encouraging the uptake of electric car technologies.

“ New Zealand having such a large percentage of renewable electricity is uniquely placed to reduce emissions from the new generation of battery powered cars.

“Full credit to Blade Electric Vehicles in Melbourne (sic) who converted my Hyundai Getz into full electric.

“My nine-year old son disapprovingly calls it a “nana car” but it is technology such as this that is helping pave the way with its zero emissions.”

The Conference Communique contains recommendations in the transport area including:

• Help change behaviour through incentives, regulations and gov’t best practice e.g. with its vehicle fleets.
• Work on integrating infrastructure e.g. upgrade electricity grid to facilitate renewable power for vehicles.

Full transcript of speech here.

The Electron with the mighty Tesla

Electric vehicles converged on the Mecca of Australian motor racing, Mount Panorama in Bathurst, last week for the Central NSW Councils Electric Vehicle Challenge.

An eerie silence descended over the Mount in what would have to be the quietest “race meeting” ever held there.

The Electron was joined in circuits of the famous track by the world’s only production electric sports car, the Tesla. While the $250,000, two seat Tesla zoomed (at the public speed limit of 60kmh) around the track, the Electron carried four adults at a time easily over the testing, steep mountain and down the long straight, picking up valuable regenerative energy at the same time.

After six full circuits of the 6.5 km track, the fuel gauge still indicated over 50% charge remaining, confirming the claimed range figures for the Electron (allowing for load and hilly terrain).

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV was notably absent from the Challenge.

Simon Hackett, MD of Internode and an Electron (and Tesla) owner, puts it succinctly: “Once you drive an electric car, you realise you are in a generation-changing vehicle. And I don’t miss the generation I’m leaving.”

On the start grid

On display is the ‘CO2 Tacho’ to be installed in each Electron (naturally it will be smaller) to (a) record the CO2 content of energy being put into the car and (b) allow the drive to automatically set charging to commence when Green energy on the grid is at its highest and to turn charging off when dirty power is at its highest.

Following  a  successful  crash  test  last  year,  BEV  has  received  official  approval  from  the   Department  of  Transport  Administrator  of  Vehicle  Standards  to  produce  up  to  100  electric   vehicles  per  year.  This  builds  on  BEV’s  status  as  a  licensed  low  volume  (second  stage)   manufacturer  of  motor  vehicles.

“This  approval  is  recognition  of  the  quality  of  our  vehicles  and  our  adherence  to  Australian   Design  Rules”,  said  Ross  Blade,  founder  of  Blade  Electric  Vehicles.  “We  are  committed  to   obtaining  full  manufacturing  status  in  the  near  future,  in  order  to  fulfil  the  increasing   demand  for  electric  vehicles.”

or  further  information,  contact:

Ross  Blade,  Blade  Electric  Vehicles,  03  5472  2009

November 24, 2009

Central Victorian electric car company, Blade Electric Vehicles, has just completed a set of major milestones that place it at the forefront of global development in electric passenger cars.
Firstly, its four door hatchback ‘Electron’ – a converted Hyundai Getz — has just passed being crash tested by a national crash testing authority (Autoliv Australia Test Centre).
“This is Australia’s first electric vehicle to be successfully crash tested and, according to Autoliv’s engineers, the Electron’s results were excellent,” said Ross Blade, founder of Blade Electric Vehicles (BEV). The detailed charts supplied by Autoliv (available on request) show that the Electron easily passed all crash testing criteria by large margins. BEV is the first EV manufacturer to comply with VicRoads’ stringent new rules for evidence of safety in EVs. Victoria has the highest standards of evidence for EV safety in Australia.
Second, one of BEV’s earliest customers, Mr Alan Gray, has just completed 20,000 km in his Electron – unserviced – and without the car being off the road for a single day in the past 18 months.
“The car is amazing. I have to fight my wife for a drive – she loves it more than I do. And it never lets us down. We charge it from the solar panels on our roof, and I estimate that it will pay for itself in four years – even without petrol prices rising,” said Mr Gray.
The Electron currently sells for $48,000 inc GST; BEV have a three year buyback scheme in place; the four-seater car goes 110 km/h+ with all the acceleration of its petrol equivalent, and has a daily range of 200 km with its optional one-hour rapid charger.

• For more information please call Mr Ross Blade on 0410 492 195 or Mr Alan Gray on 0428 51 52 54.

October, 2009

Australia’s  first  commercial  electric  car,  the  Blade  Electron,  has  passed  the  frontal  offset   crash  test  required  under  Australian  Design  Rule  73/00.

“The  excellent  test  result  proves  that  the  Electron  is  a  safe  vehicle  according  to  Australia’s   stringent  standards  and  further  demonstrates  Blade’s  commitment  to  the  safety  of  its   customers”,  said  Blade  Electric  Vehicles  founder,  Ross  Blade.

In  2009  VICroads  stated  that  there  was  clear  evidence  to  show  changing  the  drive  system   in  a  production  vehicle  can  lead  to  the  failure  of  safety  systems  such  as  air  bags  during  a   collision.  Blade’s  immediate  response  was  to  arrange  for  the  Electron  to  be  crash  tested.   The  results  prove  beyond  doubt  that  Blade’s  remanufacture  of  the  Hyundai  Getz  to  electric   drive  has  kept  all  existing  safety  features  fully  functional.

The  complete  test  results  can  be  viewed  at  BEV’s  website,  www.bev.com.au.

For  further  information,  contact:

Ross  Blade,  Blade  Electric  Vehicles,  03  5472  2009