22 November, 2010

Interesting developments at work – Day 5

Odo 145

I don't like to mention work. As they say, don't post anything on the internet that you wouldn't like to see posted on the notice board at work... So I'll stick to the facts and you can guess at my opinions.

Before I considered charging at work I emailed my boss's boss and asked her if it would be ok. She checked it out with Property Services. They responded with an email back from a guy called Doug that said it was ok with them from a safety point of view and so my manager's manager gave her ok to charge at work. That was on the 9th. Since then I've recharged at work twice. Today, the 22nd I get an email from this Doug guy. He says that he's “just noticed” that I have an electric bike plugged into company power and that I need to disconnect it at once. I wrote back saying I was confused. I'd asked for permission to plug in this equipment and he'd given his ok in writing on the 8th of November. How come he's “just noticed” now? Was he overruling the call centre manager? So he wrote back and said that he'd only given permission for it to be used occasionally and that “it appears that you're using it continuously” hence permission was “withdrawn henceforth”. So apparently plugging in twice in 12 days is continuous...

Seems that arguing with him would be pointless. So as it happens, I work for a government owned electricity company and the NSW government has an “Electric Vehicle Taskforce”

“The NSW Government has established an Electric Vehicles Taskforce to explore opportunities and barriers to electric vehicle uptake in NSW. The taskforce is reviewing the technology, infrastructure, policy, and legislation to support the uptake of electric vehicles by NSW motorists.”

Now it turns out that my company has a representative on the EVT. So I rang him. He couldn't spend much time on the call as the company was flying him to Canberra for a meeting on ways to promote EV use. He was *very* interested in the fact that I have an EV and even more interested in the barriers that I'd encountered. He asked and I've sent him a copy of all the emails that have passed between me, my manager and this Doug guy. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.


So on to happier things. I got a call from Phil today. I had emailed him to say that there was no owners manual for the bike. He wanted to let me know that it's going in the post today. He also wondered if I would lend my bike to a magazine for a road test. I think that would be ok, so the guy from the magazine is going to call and tee something up. I really just wanted a quiet low maintenance bike to use around town instead of the car. However like most EVers I've ended up a true believer. I sure wouldn't be lending my bike to a magazine for a test ride if it was a normal petrol bike. These things just convert you from a consumer into an evangelist.

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