Follow evMe’s proud owner Howard Eastwood as he travels the roads and highways of Australia with his new electric vehicle.

March 2009
Hand over ceremony in Glen Innes

Firstly I would like to say that evMe’s performance has far exceeded all my expectations.
After taking delivery of the car we spent the first few day’s visiting friends and relatives. All had a drive and the ladies particularly liked the simplicity and quietness of the vehicle. We renamed her “model E” because she is the first Digital Electric Car in Australia.

My wife Pam and I were invited to Pam’s sisters home in Tenterfield 100 Km north on the New England Highway. I took the opportunity to commence testing the Km range of the car.
Pam was happy to go as far as Tenterfield (with a picnic basket and thermos just in case). My brother in law then continued with me to cross the Queensland boarder at Wallangarra. Mrs. Trish McMerriman at the Wallangarra Store signed our record book as proof of the journey. The trip showed we could achieve 150-175 Km on highway conditions.

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April 2009
Forster Trip

Over the trip to Forster Seal Rocks and back, we covered a total of 1000Km. The aim of the trip was to explore ways of recharging an EV on an extended journey without an existing charging network.” Howard was also keen to test the car’s range when climbing from the coastal plain up onto the New England Tablelands (3,500 ft above sea level).

On the way down to Forster we stayed the night in the Walcha Motel where we trickle charged the car from the room’s 10amp power point. (We claim this Motel would be the first to charge an electric car).

We pulled into Gloucester for lunch and recharged at the local electrician’s workshop. This gave us the ability to recharge at a higher ampage taking only two hours to fill. This is where the expense came in. Pam went shopping for the last hour and it cost nearly $100.

On the way back from Foster we again lunched at Gloucester and charged fully before attempting the climb up the range. The car climbed well operating at 0.6Km per 1% of battery charge. It was obvious when we reached the top of the range that we would not be able to make Walcha without a top up. We called into the Nowendoc Roadhouse and plugged into charge. We did a tour of the tourist sights of Nowendoc while waiting. We expect Nowendoc is the first petrol Roadhouse to charge an electric car.
Travellers’ note: Remember to order your coffee or tea before you plug your car in at the Nowendoc Roadhouse or the jug will blows the fuse. Also check that other customers are not waiting to order coffee too.

The information displayed on the dash gives you a good progressive indication of the distance available at all times and with the lithium polymer battery, is able to be fast charged. The future looks very promising. Development is taking place on smart charges to be fitted to the car allowing recognition of a range of amperages including large amperage for fast charging.

My son Ben and I are currently planning a trip to Melbourne in October and this will be outlined in a future newsletter.