BY SEAN MALINOWSKI
Imagine a world where you can plug in your car at home, and have it run smoothly all day? Not in your lifetime? Think again.
Klaus Dohring, president of Green Sun Rising Inc., visited the University of Waterloo on Feb. 4 for a public lecture on electric vehicles.
He touched on the number of electric vehicles that are available in the market today, as well as the different charging stations offered to electric vehicle users.
“By 2025, at least 15.4 per cent of new vehicles sold in California will be zero emission vehicles,” Dohring said. “California has always been a trend-setter. Now, they are making clean air a trend.”
There are three different charging stations. A level 1 charger is perfect for a light car user who has a tight budget. This charger fits in a regular three-prong wall socket, but unfortunately, the full recharge takes more than a night.
A level 2 charging station uses a higher-volt outlet, which can be found at charging stations or installed into your home for a few hundred dollars. It can fully recharge a battery in approximately 2-5 hours.
A level 3 is definitely the fanciest of the three. This fast-charging station can recharge your car in less than an hour.
This charging station is obviously the most rare and expensive, but they are slowly popping up in urban areas around North America.
“It’s kind of like having your own gas station at home,” Dohring said. “But that oil well will never run dry.”
Dohring mentioned Tesla as the forerunner for electric vehicle luxury, stating that the Tesla S is “the sexist electric car on the market,” for its appealing look and overall performance.
Tesla also has its own high-tech charging stations across North America, with the closest being in Comber, Ont., near Windsor.
Arumughan Al-Haq, business analyst for Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, said the race for sustainable vehicles is a marathon, not a sprint. Based on his conversations within the field, he said the transformation of our infrastructure alone will take time.
Dohring, who does drive an electric vehicle, said it’s time for politicians to understand the inevitable. The electrification of transportation is the future.
“What we need the government to do, is to put quick-chargers on every 50 kilometres of Canadian highways. Think, a 100 years ago we didn’t have gas stations, just like charging stations.
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