“No Pipelines Required”: Electric Vehicle Owners and Business Leaders Drive in Solidarity with Burnaby Mountain Protectors
VANCOUVER — A group of electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts and business owners are headed to Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area Friday morning to show solidarity with the hundreds of protesters who have gathered to oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline drilling. The event is being organized by small business owner, J-M Toriel, whose company Big Green Island Transportation installs electric charging infrastructure. Toriel said he organized the event because, “We don’t want investments in dirty oil pipelines that put British Columbians at risk, and we are tired of hearing people say that ‘we all need gas to drive’ in defense of new fossil fuel infrastructure. We brought electric vehicle drivers here to show we can all be part of a clean energy future – no pipelines required.”
Toriel is driving to Burnaby Mountain in a plug-in Nissan Leaf, owned by the car-sharing service Modo Co-operative to show that you don’t even need to own an EV to make alternative transportation choices. EV drivers are bringing slogans and banners with positive messages of a future that does not rely on fossil fuels and new pipelines: “BATTERIES INCLUDED – NO PIPELINES REQUIRED,” “LESS OIL, MORE COURAGE” and “NO, WE DON’T ALL NEED OIL”.
Byron Sheardown, CEO of Vancouver-area printing company International Web Express Printing, owns a Chevy Volt. “I proudly drive an electric vehicle. Why risk our coastlines and communities for a resource that will be refined and consumed elsewhere? Alternative energy is abundant and supports the local economy. Governments and drivers need to support green energy and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Sheardown.
Electric vehicles do not require additional infrastructure from the oil and gas industry – EVs have no tailpipes and don’t burn gas. Transportation is the largest carbon-emitting sector in British Columbia. Said organizer, J-M Toriel, “The more drivers realize that it costs 1/10th the cost per kilometer to drive electric vehicles, the more they will make the switch.”
The EV convoy will meet on top of Burnaby Mountain near Chargepoint EV charger at Lot E at 10am then drive down Burnaby Mountain Parkway between 10:30-11:30am, Friday November 27, 2014.
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Contacts:
For additional information contact spokesperson and organizer: J-M Toriel 604-771-4954 or jmtoriel@gmail.com
For More Information about Electric Vehicles:
EV Facts https://www.facebook.com/emotivebc or http://www.wwf.ca/conservation/global_warming/transportation/going_electric/
– People assume electric cars are expensive, but in fact their energy efficiency, and cheaper electricity rates in B.C. makes them ten times cheaper to operate than comparable gasoline cars. And that’s just the fuel cost. With no engine, there is virtually no maintenance.
– There are nearly 10,000 EVs in Canada. In Norway, that number is 36,000 — or 1 out of every 8 vehicles.
– Electric vehicles have lower operating costs, last many times longer than conventional cars, and recover their value in about 3 years.
Map of Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area: https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.2795369,-122.9442063,15zww.google.ca/maps/@49.2795369,-122.9442063,15z
Darcy Riddell
Convening, Capacity Development and Research for Environmental and Social Innovation PhD Candidate, Social and Ecological Sustainability, University of Waterloo
http://www.sig.uwaterloo.ca/ + http://www.sigknowledgehub.com/
Cell 604-880-6442 Twitter @DarcyRiddell Skype darcy.riddell