From bikes and scooters to family and luxury vehicles to road trains and buses and even a tiny house, the move to electric was evident at this year’s Noosa Electric Vehicle Expo and Street Fest held last Sunday.
Sunshine Beach Road was closed at Noosa Junction for the first time for the event which proved to be a great success for both the exhibitors to bump in their displays and the crowds to pore over the innovative vehicles, test drive bikes and scooters and access cafes and restaurants along the street.
Among the exhibitors was Janus Electric which is working to fill an increasing number of orders to convert road transport fleets to electric, using exchangeable batteries as the key to success.
Janus Electric general manager Lex Forsyth brought a standard 10-year-old prime mover to the expo that the company converted to electric at a cost of $150,000 and they have orders coming in from a range of companies including mining, forestry and construction industries.
B-doubles and even triple road trains are being converted, enabling travel of about 370km on a battery charge before the need to stop and swap it for a fully charged battery, with the three-minute swap replacing the need to wait for a charging station.
Polkadot towed their basic design tiny house to the expo.
The social enterprise created the tiny house as a solution to the affordable housing crisis. It can be towed by a regular 4WD, is small enough to be legally placed in a backyard and with its solar/electric power is completely off-grid.
Polkadot’s Jimmy Hirst said the house that contained a kitchen, bathroom and sofa bed would cost under $40,000 and could be connected to a second tiny house for a more comfortable home for under $60,000.
Pete White of Bus Stop brought along a full size, electric powered coach, which has already been sold for use to a Gold Coast school. Put together in China using European products, the King Long coach can travel 400km on a single charge before the need for a four-five hour recharge.
There was a range of electric bikes and scooters at the expo including trail bikes from Noosa-based Spoken Trail.
Jimmy Dawson said their electric trail bikes were in hot demand from locals and tourists buying or hiring them to explore the Noosa Trail network and tossing an extra battery in their backpacks to lengthen their rides.
“It extends your range. On a regular day you can make it to Kin Kin,” he said.
Redlands-based Star 8 green technology company brought to the expo a few scooters which was just a sample of the wide range of vehicles they are marketing across the world, particularly in Asia.
Electric tuk tuts and even self-charging solar-powered ferries are in the Star 8 range.
Showing the interest from students in future technology Matthew Flinders Anglican College brought along an old Land Rover students converted to electric. Design and technology teacher Brendan Gallaher said a group of about 12-15 students had converted the car over 18 months, which was now registered and had been driven to the expo from the Buderim school.
“It’s just an educational tool to help kids understand their future,” he said.
Student Henry Everson who had worked on the car conversion, said it had been a great learning experience for students to see what’s next, and his choice when he buys a car will be electric – “100 per cent,” he said.
