Inspiration

Let me begin by saying that in the past year I have learned many things about the history of the automobile. Like many others, I saw the documentary film "Who Killed The Electric Car" and found it fascinating and inspirational. In addition, the films "An Inconvenient Truth", "The 11th Hour", and "The End of Suburbia" have put many things about the state of our world into perspective for me. The insight from these films was like a wake-up call for me and my family as well as many friends. Our family was always conscious and respectfull of the environment but I must say we are much "greener" today than ever before.

Our children learn from our habits just as we learn from our childrens' innocent curiosity about life and the world we live in. As adults, we can really learn a lot from kids. It amazes me how simple and natural they are and what a great imagination they can have. Life is simple and the solutions to many of the world's problems are simple but as humans living in a complex society we have managed to complicate things way too much. I often find myself saying "It's so simple that it's complicating" when I have discussions with people about certain topics.

In an effort to live an even greener life and to limit my dependancy on gas/oil, I decided to convert an existing internal combustion engine vehicle to electric. This project began in June 2008 when I went ahead and purchased an electric motor. I had done a lot of reading and research on the internet in order to understand what was involved as well as the pros and cons. I even drove to Ottawa from the Montreal area to see the EV Expo which was held on May 31st, 2008. I met and spoke to many people who were owners of electric car conversions, factory electric car prototypes, and experienced entrepeneurs in electric vehicles and/or related products and technologies. I was really serious about this and my wife and kids knew it after this trip. In July 2008, I managed to secure a place to perform the conversion work. My father-in-law who is a retired auto mechanic owns a commercial property with three garage style locals. I was very fortunate that one of those locals was tempoarily vacant and it was offered to me for my EV project. I will have to get moving, however, because a new tenant is expected to move in by the end of this year.









Electric Car Timeline

Jim