Reggie Plunkett, owner of an 1899 Sperry Cleveland vintage electric car, with Dervla O'Flaherty of ESB ecars outside The Convention Centre, Dublin. At left is a new-generation electric car, the Opel Ampera
An international electric vehicle summit called Fully Charged 2012 is set to take place in Dublin this coming July.
Fully Charged 2012 is a satellite event of the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF 2012) which is one of the highlight events of Dublin City of Science 2012.
The one-day conference, which will be hosted at the Convention Centre, on 11 July 2012, will be bringing together thought leaders and policy makers from Europe, the US and China, as well as other electric vehicle (EV) technology experts to discuss global developments in the field.
International executives from IBM, Nissan, Renault, Siemens and the International Energy Agency will also be sharing their knowledge, latest research results and views about the EV industry.
For instance, speakers will include Paola Petroni, the vice-president at Enel, the electricity operator in Italy, who will be speaking at the conference, as will Allan Schurr, IBM’s vice-president of strategy and development. Prof Han Lei, the deputy secretary-general of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, will also speak at the conference.
ESB ecars is organising Fully Charged 2012, while the EU-funded Green eMotion project is co-hosting the event.
The event will also feature a practical panel discussion involving those responsible for ecar programmes in Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and the UK. The aim is to give people insight into the business models, consumer uptake and the challenges of EV adoption.
Green eMotion, the largest EU-funded transport research project in Europe, which has a €42m budget and 43 partners, will also be discussing its first-year results.
Electric cars and related EV products and solutions will be on display in the exhibition area. For instance, the Nissan Leaf, the Toyota Prius Plug in Hybrid, the Renault Fluence and the 2012 car of the year, the Opel Ampera, will be exhibiting at the conference.
Irish companies that have been spending the past two years developing products and services for the EV market will also be showcasing their innovations.
There will also be an e-car test-drive zone to give people the chance to try out the EVs for themselves in Dublin city on the same day.
Reggie Plunkett, owner of the 1899 Sperry Cleveland vintage electric car, at the Convention Centre, Dublin
The 1899 Sperry Cleveland electric car has a 48-volt electric motor, which is powered by eight traction batteries. The car has a maximum speed of 10mph. The all-wooden black and maroon coloured car was designed by Elmer Abrose Sperry. It features a chassis which has a tiller steering system like that found on a boat.
The present owner of the car is Reggie Plunkett, who acquired it at an auction about 20 years ago. He has completed some major restoration work on the Sperry Cleveland since then.
