Electric Vehicle Festival — Saturday 1/12/12 — Canberra City

The International Electric Vehicle Festival will be held in downtown Canberra in City Walk (Civic) next to the merry-go-round on December 1st 2012, demonstrating the potential for these vehicles to be sustainable transport options.

The festival is an international and national show-case of the wide variety of electric powered vehicles available to the community today, from ebikes, scooters , converted electric vehicles to the range of commercially available electric vehicles like the Mitsubishi iMiev, Nissan Leaf, Renault Fluence, GM Volt and the Tesla, all available for viewing at the festival.

Also on display will be a range of hybrid electric vehicles such as the Honda Insight, Honda Civic, and Toyota Prius.

“Electric vehicles are a crucial aspect of Australia’s transition to a low-carbon future. They produce no tailpipe emissions and can be run on electricity from renewable sources, supporting our nation’s commitment to renewable energy and clean air”, Festival Chair Julia
McDonald said.

“Running the festival in the centre of Canberra is a great opportunity for the national community to see the scale of where Australia’s EV market is going and how it has grown in recent years.”

The organisers welcome the ACT Government’s support for use of electric vehicles as one way of reducing city greenhouse gas emissions.

“In fact, the ACT has a commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 and to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2060. To meet the 2020 target we, as a community, need to halve our current emissions within the next decade.

“Transport is one way of doing that and while getting out of cars and on to bikes, buses or their feet is a priority for state and federal governments, electric vehicles are emerging as a viable option in the low-carbon economy.”

“Canberra is the Nation’s fastest growing Electric Vehicle city, with increased rollout in infrastructure and the highest number of Electric Vehicles per capita.”

“The range of electric vehicles at the 2012 Festival shows us that electric vehicles are adapting to the need of the community from small to medium size vehicles with range capacity for local commuting to escapes beyond the state borders.”