the EV "Fest" at the convention center

being intersted in (despit appearances) EVs and EV development  (I have no doubt that it is the future for many vehicles, just "when" remains uncertain to me) I went along to the Brisbane Convention center with a mate and had a look around. It was nice to see some offerings from mid priced manufacturers:

such as Hyundai as well as a bunch of home brew stuff (which I always love to see done well). This little Suzuki 4WD was excellent:

 and showed how much space can be made in the engine bay without as much engine there

I didn't find out about the engine on that, but instead got chatting with the owner of the orange beetle behind it (visible in the above photo).

The guy was probably the most down to earth (realist) in the whole place and he seemed to enjoy chatting to my mate and I about his vehicle (perhaps because we're both interested in older cars too). His view was that the EV conversion made his (mid 60s?) beetle a great daily driver and increased its reliability.

This is the "engine" he had in the beetle:

which was quite compact (as can be sen from the automotive clutch and ring gear here to fit the VW). Details on the makers website here, but a very tidy little conversion. The owner has said he's modified the original gear box to have only 2nd and top ... works well with the torque range of the motor.

Naturally there were some EV bicycles which I also have an interest in (being in my view the most desirable city EV to have). I liked this one the most, and it happens to be a folding type so you could easily bring it into your apartment:

love that single sided front and rear swingarm:

A little pricy for my taste (just under AU$5000) but if I lived in the center and wanted to get about it would be a very tidy choice ... (although myself I still lean towards an actual 200cc motor scooter like the Honda dio), but with rego costs and access to bike ways it may eventually balance out as the ideal. Just make sure you don't forget to keep it charged because you can't really just "go to the servo and fill up" if its flat.

All in all a great morning (thanks Dom)