REV!2007 Report

Posted Saturday June 9th, 2007 11:30pm by Jeremy Whyte

The 12th annual Ride Electric Vehicles show (REV for short) was held today at Spanish Banks in Vancouver near UBC. VEVA members and friends gathered in the west parking lot near the beach with their tents and a wonderful variety of electric vehicles. The weather was very damp but our spirits weren't, and there was a good turnout of the public visiting the show, with a number of people really going out of their way to come check it out.
The word got out via the website, posters and flyers, email campaigns, word of mouth, and a couple of media plugs. John Stonier was plugging the show on CBC 690 "The Early Edition" on Thursday morning. At least three media crews were there today covering the event with cameras and reporters, including the Knowledge Network and Fairchild TV. Upon discovering all these electric vehicles, the common reaction from the public was, "AMAZING!"

Some highlights of the show:

• The vintage 1912 Detroit Electric car which belongs to VEVA. It has recently received some TLC in the form of new paint on the wooden wheels, new batteries courtesy of Polar Battery, clean installation by the Detroit work party, and more ongoing work on the roof.
• VEVA's Enfield Electric which has recently emerged out of hiding. It is also an original electric car from Britain in the 1970's. There is a related article about it on this website.
• A number of electric bicycles on display by individual VEVA members and local electric bike retailers, including BionX, JV Bike, E-Ride, E-Cycle, and more. Many of these are so affordable and practical, with excellent range and performance. There was a custom-built electric motorcycle which is capable of incredible acceleration and speed. Thanks to those who brought electric bikes, scooters and motorcycles: Alexandre Coulombe, Gordon World, Janko Veselinovic, Steve Miloshev, Devon Bjerkness, Jan Engstrom, Jurgen Borovica, Justin Lemire-Elmore, Ken Shiels and Rob Shaw.
• Another self-balancing skateboard invention by Justin Lemire-Elmore.
• A variety of electric cars brought out by VEVA members. These included Al Godfrey's clean Porsche 928, Alan Cumberlidge's Mercury Lynx, Gordon Wong's Fiero, Gregory Fung brought the GEM NEV from Delta-Q, Joanna Zilsel's very nice Chevy S-10 pickup, Nick Banks from Dynasty brought 2 Dynasty IT cars, Philip Be'er aslo had a Dynasty IT, Randy Holmquist had a Might-E truck and a Dodge Neon kit conversion from his Canadian Electric Vehicles business on Vancouver Island, Roger Stockton's Suzuki Forsa and electrathon racer from Delta-Q, Walter Wardrop's Solectria and Honda Hybrid, and Phil Dayson's Solectria Force. Kudos to those who displayed their electric cars and talked to people about their cars and answered many questions.

The whole event was topped off with a barbeque feast for all the attendees at Don Chandler's house.
Many thanks to Don and his family and others who hosted the barbeque, those who brought beverages, and Haakon's partner who bought food and cooked. Also big thanks go out to all the volunteers who helped to set up in the morning, clear up at the end, tow vehicles, and got the word out to people and the media.

It was another successful event and everyone really enjoyed it. Look forward to next year's REV show, which will be held in Burnaby.

Check out some photos from REV!2007.