In the interest of working out the future of transportation in Victoria, the VIC government has been running trials with environmentally friendly cars. Last year Mitsubishi’s all-electric iMiev was loaned out to households for 3 months in an effort to test its real-world viability. Now Holden is the latest car manufacturer to signed up as a partner in the Victorian Electric Vehicle Trial.
GM Holden and the Department of Transport signed an agreement in May 2012 while the Volt isn’t due for release in Australia till later this year. The is a plug-in electric vehicle with extended range capability. Basically that means that once the batteries are depleted, around 80 km, there’s a small fuel motor that will take you the rest of the way. This is Holden’s solution to range anxiety while we wait for the next generation of batteries.
Holden’ Director of Energy and Environment, Richard Marshall said “joining the Victorian Electric Vehicle Trial was an important step in the drive to enhance consumer awareness of emerging vehicle technologies”. The Victorian Electric Vehicle Trial will include more than 60 organisations, 60 vehicles and 200 charging locations during its lifetime.
As a lover of technology and cars, I applied twice last year but was unsuccessful. I really hope that the people and organisations that are chosen in this round do EVs justice by publicising the benefits. Despite dozens of people getting the iMiev’s for months at a time, I never once saw a hands-on video explaining the results of the loan. I feel there’s real consumer interest around the topic of EV in this country and would love to be the person to bring a balanced review to the discussion.
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