HIGH TECH

THE ENERGY cost to

operate George McCrae’s
1980 Dodge Omni is about
five cents a mile. What’s
more, the car has no
radiator or muffler systems.
How does he do it?

His personal urban transit
needs are met with the power
discharged by 1,200 pounds of
golf cart batteries. Sixteen bat-
teries give him a range of 25 miles
and a top speed of 65 miles per
hour. :

McCrae, a North Vancouver
resident and B.C. Hydro system
maintenance manager, is also a
founding member of the Van-
couver Electric Vehicle Associa-
tion (VEVA).

He drives an electric vehicle dai-
ly to commute between his North
Shore home and his office across
the bridge.

McCrae is pragmatic when it
comes to speculation about the
role electric vehicles will play in
the near-future transit scheme of
things.

Said McCrae, ‘‘The big problem
is that after almost 100 years of
vehicle development, the internal
combustion engine vehicle is very
well developed. It has all the
things we want in terms of
freedom, power — it’s a different
kind of animal.

‘*The electric vehicle is really an
engineering problem. Even if we
were to increase the battery tech-
nology tenfold, we could only
store the equivalent of 10 galions
of gas,” he added.

He anticipates the future role of
the electric vehicle as that of a se-
cond car or as a vehicle used in

: fleet operations.

The threat of the electric vehicle
entering the auto market will like-
ly push the internal combustion

men

Itsa Fresh 5 &
Adventure! VE

Guest Validation

36 - Sunday, December 1, 1991 - North Shore News

a

r WY ge 6655 Neon 921-8188
ganve re ry -

BUSINESS

News photo Mike Wakefield

NORTH VANCOUVER resident George McCrae is a founding
member of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association (VEVA).

engine into greater operating effi-
ciency.

McCrae believes
another generation of energy
sources, like hydrogen, comes
along the internal combustion
engine and its fuels will steadily
improve. Vehicles will also
become lighter as more plastics
are used.

McCrae and fellow electric en-
thusiasts began VEVA in response
to a glaring oversight made on the
part of Expo 86 planners. Al-
though transportation and com-
munication provided thematic
focus for the fair, electric vehicles
were not included.

“Myself and three or four
others who were interested in the
city thought that we had to do
something about that. We worked
with some people in California
and Seattle and local people and
we got together 22 electric vehicles
on the road for Expo. We had an

that until

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exposition and rally. We had a lot
of fun doing that so we formed a
club,”’ he said.

What began with five or six
members now includes approxi-
mately 200 members throughout
Vancouver, Vancouver Island,
Washington state. The group puts
out a monthly newsletter to keep
members up to date on electric
vehicle development.

McCrae is one of three North
Shore members. North Vancouver
resident Bill Glazier has an electric
1981 Ford Escort. Also on the
North Shore, Axel Gringmuth
owns an electric 1980 Pacer sta-
tion wagon,

McCrae explains the attraction,
“Electricity is clean, convenient,
economical, it’s the business I’m
in, it’s efficient, there is some
novelty involved. You are also
making a statement when you do
this.’*

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