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Woodstock Hydro Turns Over New Leaf with Electric Car

Woodstock Hydro officials are all revved up over their new electric car. They picked up a 2012 Nissan Leaf last night, and are already exploring the possibilities of running a completely gas and oil free car. (Pictured right: Woodstock Hydro's Jay Heaman and David Peters with the new Leaf) The 25-kilowatt motor and fully electric drive train can travel up to 160km on a single charge. It can be plugged into a standard 120-volt outlet to recharge. But Operations Manager Jay Heaman says they have bigger ambitions. "We're hoping to have the first charging station in Woodstock at our office. This car actually is connected to the Internet and it tells you where the next charging station is. In our case here in southwestern Ontario the only one that shows up is in London. So we're hoping to expand that network." The vehicle comes with three charging options that range from 24-hours to 30-minutes to charge the vehicle back up. One noticeable feature of the Leaf is that the drive train is electric, meaning no shifting, and it runs extremely quite and smooth. Heaman says they'll use the car to study charging loads and patterns. It will also be a public demonstration vehicle, and you can check it out next week as part of the Energy Expo at the Outdoor Farm Show.

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