Last updated 2025.03.16 (sub-pages may have been updated more recently)

Proud sponsor of the EVCO Electrathons

Econogics Products and Services

Project Management | Research and Analysis | Proposal and Grant Application Writing
Electric Vehicles Consulting (on and off-road) | Energy Efficiency and Conservation Consulting
The Emperor's New Hydrogen Economy (book) | Water Savers | Soneil Battery Chargers
Business Systems Consulting

Project Management

If you're looking for someone who will blindly follow the PMBOK instead of making the effort to understand the problem(s) to be solved, the operating context and the sustainability of a solution, creating a solid implementation plan and sweat the maintainability of the project outcomes - I'm not your guy.

This is the kind of story that makes me cringe, and I would avoid because I will figure out all the use cases and 'walk' them as part of the solution design. (It's why a one-shot project with a lot of moving parts with a lot of volunteer labour and team participants like the first EVCO Electrathon worked at all, let alone was repeated for multiple years. If you're looking for that kind of passion for your project or problem solution or building a team for success, get in touch). Anyway, onto the story.

The Swiss government enthusiastically ordered a plush $117 million private jet for its officials, only to realize upon delivery that not only is the runway in their capital city too short for the jet to take off, but the aircraft is also so large that it doesn’t fit in any of their hangars
How did this acquisition project get to purchase without somebody 'walking' the use cases for the aircraft taking off, or being maintained in a hangar? I mean, I'm happy for Bombardier getting the sale, but how hard would it have been for the people on the project team (sales, airport mgt, maintenance company) to have checked the Bombardier website and learn the take-off distance and wingspan? (Just because I figured it would add to the challenge, I chose to get this info without the Bombardier site. Wikipedia says the take-off distance is 1,760 metres and the wingspan is 32 metres.

By the way, my PM sweet spot is a small team with talented individuals delivering something novel and sustainable on behalf of large numbers of stakeholders.

Research and Analysis

I'm curious by nature, have a wide range of interests, and apparently have a talent for spotting things the crowd has missed. It's part of what makes me a 'slayer of bad ideas'. If you're wedded to an idea, concept or product idea, I'm probably not who you want. I may be who you need. It's better to understand fatal flaws in a proposal than travel a long road guided by bad assumptions. Or perhaps, we can test the assumption and find a better path to success.

Proposal and Grant Application Writing

Proposal and Grant Application Writing are often part of the Project Management toolset I have developed over the years. I'm a very good writer and award-winning published author. I take a structured approach to developing proposals; even grant applications need to tell a story - not just fill in the blanks. I pay attention to details, while figuring out the real questions behind the ones that show up on the form, so we can answer both. I don't get screened out because of word count or character count limits; I adhere to them.

I can't list all my successful proposals; many are covered by NDAs. However, here's a sample.

• Hydro Ottawa Manifold intelligent EV charger — selected for funding by NRCan
• Hydro Ottawa & Coventry Connections 25 EV taxi fleet — selected for funding by NRCan
• Pilot for long-life ultra-fast-charging lithium-ion batteries — selected for funding by BESC
• For RESTCo, a proposal to evaluate novel oil spill response technologies for the capture of microplastics in open water — funded by the National Geographic Society

For a 'rate card', get in touch.

Electric Vehicle Technology Consulting

In 2011, Nissan and Mitsubishi started putting their advanced battery electric cars on sale in North America. Today, plug-in vehicles are on the brink of going mainstream, and are a key technology to enable us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. Organizations should be determining how they will utilize these vehicles to reduce operating costs, meet corporate emissions targets, reduce vulnerability to refined oil products price volatility and supply disruptions, and drive their message to their clients and the public by getting these vehicles into their fleets - on-road and off-road.

If you don't know where to get started, we do. We don't represent any brand of plug-in vehicle or charging systems. We work for you, not a vendor.

In the meantime, we can also guide you regarding options that are available today that can meet many of your existing transportation needs. Did you know that electric versions of buses, Class 8 road tractors and utility vehicles are already available for sale? How about electric boats, including ferries? Electric aircraft are an emerging technology. Did you know that the U.S. Navy has been using electric ground vehicles for decades, or that the Canadian Department of National Defence has used EVs? Including a Canadian-made small EV which could be driven into a passenger elevator and driven indoors to pick-up and deliver equipment, and then driven into the field to support operations. If you have a transportation requirement, and a commitment to good environmental citizenship, then we can likely find a clean-air transportation solution to meet your needs.

We drive the talk. We have and use several plug-in vehicles, and have for decades. Clean air, zero-emissions, environmentally beneficial absolutely, and cost-effective too, if you know what you are doing. Save by learning from our experience, including hybrids and biofuels. If you want to learn a lot about clean electric drive for free, start here. If you want our guidance regarding your fleet, from line-trimmers to trucks, contact us for additional help tailored to your situation.

Here are some pieces written by our company President related to electric vehicle technology.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Products and Services

Water Saver toilet fill diverters

Simply the most cost-effective way to reduce residential water use. Saves water that would be wasted on the fill cycle, does not reduce water volume for the flush. Installs quickly and easily, then forget it. No moving parts, no consumables, no maintenance - ever! Just $5! Save water and your money, forever! Guaranteed!
Water Saver toilet fill diverter information ==>

Soneil Battery Chargers

It took years before we found a product made by someone else that impressed us so much that we decided to sell it. That's what happened with Soneil battery chargers. We aren't just a distributor, we were a customer first, and still are. We couldn't sell to you if we weren't first sold ourselves on this product, and we are. Our first Soneil charger got us an extra two seasons out of the traction pack in our electric tractor we simply would not have had with the OEM charger in the tractor.

The Soneil chargers are intelligent, compact and affordable chargers, available for lead-acid batteries in 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72-volt versions, and several models for the most common voltages. If you are tired of replacing your batteries because they have died prematurely at the hands of a dumb charger, we recommend investing in a Soneil smart charger, and getting more life out of your batteries. Soneil battery charger information ==>

Reducing Your Energy Bills

If rising energy bills are affecting your household budget or corporate bottom-line, and it's time to do something about it, we can help. We know a lot about reducing energy consumption and related costs. We're so sure we can help, we even provide a lot of good information on the subject on our website for free.