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Marina owner says electric cars are the way of the future


By Sarah Sobanski

A local business owner is ahead of the game when it comes to electric cars. He's already bought Tesla vehicles and is looking into how to buy tesla stock so he can capitalize on the popularity he thinks they will garner.

Limerick Lake Lodge and Marina owner George Offshack is wrapping up his second summer season with two Tesla EV Level 2 electric car charging stations. Last year his stations saw limited use, but this year Offshack says the stations are used at least once a week if not more.

"Travellers seem to leave the GTA, they go to Ottawa for whatever purpose and then they are unable to get back to the GTA," said Offshack. "Typically they are getting to here and finding they need a few hours of charge."

Offshack said that locations like his lodge are good places to have electrical charging stations. Electric car drivers who are charging their vehicles need something to do while their cars are charging. His visitors can take a boat out on the lake or enjoy the marina.

"If they have a boating licence they can rent a boat. Typically I see people buy some snacks and sit on the deck and enjoy the lake. They enjoy the scenery, they're out of the city. For most of them it's just an unexpected stop in the wilderness. They get to enjoy Ontario's outdoors," said Offshack.

He added,"Electric charging stations are going to be in essence like a lot of other retail things and that is at a certain point you have to reach a critical mass. Until you reach a critical mass you're not going to get a lot of traction. If they started to show up in Tim Hortons, in McDonald's, they're showing up at Ikeas, they're showing up in these places and that's where they should be."

Tesla built the stations at the resort and in return Offshack is offering five years of free charging.

"It seemed like a good fit. I was looking for a way to up-scale the resort, and it seemed a way to attract more up-scale visitors," said Offshack.

He noted he put in the stations because electric cars are becoming more and more popular.

"It's more that this is the way of the future. I don't actually believe that electric cars that are environmentally responsible," said Offshack. "When you actually do the energy conversion, from a raw energy, into electricity, and back into a mechanical motion the physics of that isn't that good. I believe in the big picture electric vehicles aren't that great, but they are nice and clean, and they are quiet and they are opening our minds and developing some battery technology that can be good for other things too."

Limerick Lake Lodge and Marina charging stations are available all season, running 24/7 except from late December to February.

As for the charging stations coming into Bancroft for 2017, Offshack has some advice.

"I know there's a provincial program at this point that's trying to help roll out electrical charging more, be careful where you put them. If you put them where the driver is bored while they're charging you're not going to do much to gain positive influence for your community."
Excerpt: A local business owner is ahead of the game when it comes to electric cars.
Post date: 2016-09-07 15:57:49
Post date GMT: 2016-09-07 19:57:49
Post modified date: 2016-09-07 15:57:49
Post modified date GMT: 2016-09-07 19:57:49
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