Doug Fisher (L) and President Ed Simon (R) thank guest speaker Tim Burrows.
June 6, 2018 Kitchener Westmount Rotary Meeting Minutes
Location: Aqua Lounge @ the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kitchener
Announcements:
President’s Night is June 28; respond to Jerome Freiburger to confirm attendance for golf and/or dinner.
The 2018 VFL winner’s names, ticket numbers and ticket sellers are now posted on our website.
Flag Fundraiser Program is now underway; “Canada Proud” info is available on a new website: www.RotaryKW.com
International Conference is the end of June in Toronto; reminder for “Rock the Distillery” event; tickets still available
Jerome Freiburger reminded members of our club’s team participating in the “Day of Golf” and asked for help with sponsors for the team.
50/50 Draw: The pot grew to $461.00. Klara Serjani, Chris Wilke and Ian Robertson all had their shots at finding the elusive black marble ... to no avail .
Trivia Question: President Ed recycled a question from early in his Term and asked the members to name the # of cases of Polio that have been prevented since Rotary commenced it’s program; no-one was able to answer and the wine stays bottled another week.
Guest Speaker: Tim Burrows, an electric car (Tesla) owner and advocate.
“just imagine – someone fills up your gas tank every night while you sleep” – that’s what driving an electric car is like to me.
Tim feels electric cars are the disruptive force in the automotive industry today. Capable of delivering up to 400 horse power with only one moving part and virtually zero maintenance, they are the answer to the future. 8 Countries have already set deadlines for the elimination of fosil fuels for automobiles (including China and India) and 18 major cities worldwide already have bans on fuel burning vehicles within city limits.
Tim has started taking his Tesla Model X to car shows and gets a lot of attention and a lot of questions, the most frequently asked include:
How long does a charge last? 475 kms on a single charge.
Where do you charge it? 95% of the time, at home and overnight when hydro rates are lowest (car is programmed for that)
How long does it take to charge? Often, as little as 20 minutes
How long does the battery last? Longer than the car; 400,000 – 500,000 kms or more.
How much does it cost to fuel? The hydro cost for fueling is roughly equivalent to $0.23 per litre of traditional gasoline.
Other benefits include more storage & cargo space because there is no bulky combustion engine and 100 % “smart car” connectivity all the time as the car is always internet connected and automatically gets upgraded with new capabilities and technologies all the time, just like a phone. Tesla offers a (rapidly expanding) network of conveniently located charging stations across the U.S. and Canada whose locations are also programmed into the vehicle navigation systems. Tesla cars are being built to adapt to be fully autonomous. Tim told the club there were over 57,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2016, the vast majority of which were the result of driver error.
Citing history and horses, Tim told the club that it is entirely likely that a child born in North America today, will never NEED to learn to drive.
“just imagine – a full fuel tank every morning in a car that just keeps on getting better over time and requires virtually no maintenance” was Tim’s closing remark.
