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SEVA meetings are held every second Tuesday.


EVents 2007 07 10

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Our monthly meetings are held at the Church of the Nazarene above the Mosaic Community Coffee House.

Join us at our SEVA Meetings

Unless otherwise posted here, or sent out over the SEVA Maillist each Monthly Meeting is Held on the Evening of the Second Tuesday of each Month commencing at 7 p.m. or there about. Meetings are held at the Church of the Nazarene at 44th St. NE, and 3rd Ave NE, just behind Dicks Drive In on 45th. Their fire damage has been repaired, and they welcome us back. We encourage visitors and members to help support this free venue with the purchase of some fine coffee and other refreshments downstairs at the Mosaic Community Coffee House.

Edmonds City Council discusses supporting PHEV and public charging

Tuesday July 10 (same night as SEVA meeting), Edmonds City Council committee discusses wisdom of supporting plug in hybrids and of installing public electric charging stations. Kirby and Robin Jacobson will be organizing the "show and tell" portion of the event from about 5:30 pm to 6 (when the meeting starts) and thereafter from about 6:45 to 7. Can others join us with their vehicles to support plug ins and plugs FOR them? (I will be out of town). Local charging available nearby.

Dan Davids intends to be there with his Toyota RAV4 EV at 5:30.

July 10th 2007 Meeting

We had great weather for our July 10 meeting, with attendance down slightly from the booming numbers of the last three months. We were able to break at around 8:30p so we could all go outside and look at members' cars. I finally left around 9:20p and there were still a dozen or so folks gathered around EVs, "talking story," as they say in Hawaii.

Here's the meeting recap:

EVents (past and future)

  • 6/23 Brief recap of experiences from Gasless at Greenwood show. My observation was that I was pleasantly surprised at how many people had either seen or heard of WKtEC, as well as how skeptical the general population is at statements coming out of Detroit these days. Granted, the Greenwood show draws a mostly urban crowd, so perhaps this is more expected than, say, if the show were held out in suburbia...the land of soccer moms and giant SUVs.
  • 7/13-14 Reminder to all about NEDRA electric drag races at PIR on Friday and Saturday. (would love to hear a report of how it all went!)
  • 7/20-21 Sustanable Living and Renewable Energy Fair (sponsored by Shoreline Solar) I will have my RAV4 EV on display and am scheduled to give a talk on electric cars at 4pm on Saturday. Stephen Johnsen may also help out. Others interested in attending, please contact Steve Lough. More info at http://www.shorelinesolar.org/fair4/fair.php
  • 7/28 Alternative Transportation Fair at Issaquah Farmers Market, start Sat at 10am. I will have my RAV4 EV on display, and I know that Steve Lough has also been in touch with Rina Fa'amoe, Resource Conservation Specialist, City of Issaquah.

Advocacy/ EV News

  • I reported on the latest turmoil at the California Air Resources Board, where chairman Sawyer had just been fired by the Governator. Long-time exec director Whitherspoon summarily quit her post. Brief discussion of why SEVA should stay up on happenings with CARB, as what happens there will affect us all. There's an alternative vehicle workshop sponsored by CARB on 7/24, which I will be attending in Sacramento. A ongoing goal of mine, and others in http://PlugInAmerica.com, is to try to get the focus off of fuel cells and back on BEVs, which we already know work very well.
  • Ford recently announced its intent to deliver a Plug-In Escape Hybrid to Southern Calif Edison before the end of the year, with 20 more to follow in 2008. This is the first substantive announcement from Ford since their massive pull-back from hybrids in general last year.
  • A brief note for all to keep their ears to the ground re the northwest being designated as one of the five locations nationwide destined to receive some serious funding for PHEVs. This comes out of the national energy bill that is currently wending its way through Congress. Jay Inslee has also just updated his New Apollo Energy Act, a very comprehensive plan, indeed. Jay can be seen driving his Prius around Seattle when he is in town. Read more about the New Apollo Energy Act at http://www.house.gov/inslee
  • We discussed an article from the Christian Science Monitor about a ZENN dealer in Bozeman, MT. Recall that MT was the first state to raise the authorized speed limit for NEVs from 25 to 35 mph. After a fair bit of pondering and input how to phsically alter/modify an NEV to up it to 35mph capability, we decided to take an action item to research the topic more fully and report to the group at the August meeting.

Public Charging Infrastructure Committee

Stephen Johnsen reported on the work his committee has been doing to get charging stations installed in the Puget Sound area. We have a commitment from Costco to restore their EV parking stall in Issaquah, and things are looking good for an installation in downtown Seattle at Hotel 1000. Stephen also displayed an electrical receptacle box that is used in the RV industry and their was discussion of NEC section 625, which applies to charging stations.

Stephen, Hans, Kirby, Rich and I had just come from an appearance at the Edmonds City Council. We were there at Steve Bernheim's request to support his efforts to get a public charger installed in Edmonds. We had RAV4 EV, S10, and a Zap 3-wheeler on display in the parking lot outside the meeting. The infrastructure committee will work with the fleet manager for Edmonds, Dan Sittauer, whom we met at the meeting.

Donation to Mosaic Coffee House

After passing the hat, I was delighted to make a contribution totalling $30 on behalf of SEVA to the Mosaic Community Coffee House. They provide the meeting room for us to get together every month at no charge, so this was our way of thanking them for the use of the facility. We hope they stick around!

Tech Talk

  • I asked Rich Rudman to give us a brief update on his Plug-In conversions of Prius hybrids. Always interesting to hear about, the latest plan is that Rich's company, Manzanita Micro, will ultimately provide kits to customer Green Car Company. They will then make the actual installations at their facility and sell converted cars to the public.
  • We had a discussion of Toyota's recently published concerns about Prius conversions. The most important of these issues include the need to address crashworthiness/safety when 400 pounds of lead-acid batteries in the passenger compartment are subjected to a rear-end collision. The second issue has to do with the changed weight and balance of the Prius and resulting impact on vehicle handling and stability.

Car Viewing

We adjourned to the excellent weather and long summertime light to examine the EVs parked outside. A good showing of cars, including S10, Ranger EV, RAV4 EV, among others.

- Dan Davids