EVents 2009 12 08

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.

January 12th 2010

Happy New Year

Well, 2010 is off to a GREAT start. 68 folks fought the rain to be here. Now for the Synopsis.. Not necessarily in order of importance.

John Frost has our new 2010 SEVA Calendars. Very well done, and many were sold. We will be bringing them to the Feb 9th meeting if you missed your chance to buy one. You are encouraged to buy an extra and give them out to any influential folks you might know. John also passed on the name of one Jeff Thurnau of Mukilteo ( 425 374 3474) who has an older HONDA EV Conversion to Give Away to a deserving SEVA Home.

We have a growing number of “invitations to attend” various Enviro EV-ents. I will try and list them on our Web Sight Calendar. This is a Part of SEVA business, I could REALLY use an assistant. Some one who we could forward various invitations, and keep track of them. Any volunteers ??? ( my great fear is that some important EV-ent will slip by me.) Thursday January 21st: Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability. This event is free and open to the public. 2326 Sixth Avenue, Room 100

Monday January 25th: Building Owners and Managers Association ( BOMA) 12N to 1:30PM at the Courtyard by Marriott in Bellevue We will be talking Electric Cars, Parking, Infrastructure. Wednesday April 21st: GoGreen Conference Olive8 | 1635 8th Avenue Seattle, Washington, 98101 8:30am-4:30pm

And there may be more, which have fallen through the cracks.

I passed on a bulletin asking for a “Request for Proposal” ( RFP) for EV related stuff totaling $90,000. From the Puget Sound Resources Council (PSRG). If any one else would like a copy of the information drop me an e-mail.

Steve Mayeda of MC-Electric had good news from December. They sold 20 EV’s last month !

News from NISSAN Corporate that they have chosen Aerovironment to supply their Wall Units for Home LEAF charging... This conflicts with our friend Rich Feldman and with ECOtality, and eTec. So I wrote hem and he responded, that customers will be able to choose. Their SMART wall unit, or Aerovironment’s not so smart unit…

Dave Cloud reported on his progress of his streamliner stretched tear-drop Geo Metro which WAS to be an X-Prize entry. Also brought in TWO Lynch motors on a common shaft, which some one is paying him to put in to a pick-up truck. As good as the Permanent Magnet Lynch motors are, we all thought they were way too small to properly power a 3000 lb. pick-up.

Stephen Johnsen gave a good recap of the NISSAN Leaf and the Ride-N-Drive in Seattle in early December 09. As things turned out, we could have had at least a dozen more SEVA member attend if they had wanted to, for by the early afternoon, there were almost no one waiting to take a ride in the Leaf Prototype Demo Car. Too Bad…

Roger Wright reported on their success with a prototype Electric Racing Kart. Turns out even as a rough prototype, it was faster than the rental karts out at Pacific Race Way. Now they will be using this experience to build some proper Race Karts.

Our POLITICAL guy Jeff Finn, is up to his elbows in sawdust in a major remodel of their condo, but he did check in this morning, and said there are no MAJOR EV initiatives this Olympia session, for everyone is just trying to figure out how to meet their budget short fall. He did mention two bills to watch for however. Senate Bills # 6346 (Expand EV usage by allowing "Medium Speed" 35 mph capable EVs to use state highways that have speed limits up to 45 mph) and #5736 (Expires EV and EV Battery Sales Tax Exemption in 2014).

Dave Bardin who is doing double duty at SEVA and I-VEVA ( Island Vashon EV Association ) came up with a great IDEA for a Western Washington EV Rally this Summer, for Tacoma, Seattle and I-VEVA. I thought why not broaden it a bit more and include Portland and VEVA (Vancouver BC).!

Cory Cross of Pacific EV, gave a great report on a Sunbeam Alpine sports car conversion they are doing and their own brand of Lithium batteries complete with BMS. ( battery management system)

A new member Del, working with Barbara in EV Education gave a report on the new schedule of EV classes. We will try and POST this to our web sight under EV Education. The Classes at So.Seattle will run Feb. 1st, 6th, 20th, 27th, and March 22nd. For Details go to ( www.learnatsouth.org ) or call 206 764 5339

Last but certainly not least Manzanita Micro, and maestro Rich Rudman put on a wonderful demonstration of their new “Complete Battery Box Solution modules. The fully enclosed 12.8 V 160 Ah, Lithium modules are less than HALF the weight of equivalent lead acid, and should last 10 years. They start at $1325. and include a very sophisticated battery management system with computer interface to control both charger and motor controller, to keep the batteries in their “sweet spot”. For more information go to: www.manaznitamicro.com

As always, if I have left something out, please POST it to our e-mail group, or go to our web sight to the Meeting Minutes, and feel free to ADD your additions or corrections.. Till Feb. 9th 2010…Happy New Year.

A Very COLD and CLEAR evening

But inside, everything was warm and very informative. We nearly hit 70 participants again ( 68 to be exact)

The first order of business was to Draw Names for the limited number of SEVA folks to attend the NISSAN Ride-n-Drive at Qwest Conventions Center Wednesday 12/9/2009. We voted to attend the 12 noon to 2 pm time slot. I am sure that there will be much news by tomorrow on what folks thought of their Traveling LEAF Road Show.

Next we had a brief presentation by Paul Corning from the Attorney Generals Office, on the Washington State “Lemon Law” and how it may apply to EV Up-fitters and EV Dealers. Lets hope we never have to find out.

Then we had a wonderful presentation from Nathan Isaacs and OpCONNECT Charging Stations. Highly developed and very versatile, out of Beaverton Oregon. The units themselves are around $3800. but installation and communications, and utility can run the cost up to $10,000. Each unit however can handle 4 cars. More information at www.opconnect.com

Next we had a visit from MY counterpart at the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association ( VEVA) by Don Chandler. The VEVA chapter is very active in infrastructure matters, and have worked hard on changing local building codes to accommodate many charging stations in new construction. A very interesting talk. Urge our members to check out their web site, and what they have been up to at: http://www.veva.bc.ca/home/index.php

Daniel Davids gave a brief report on Plug-In-America, and Jeff Finn made another PLEA for volunteers to help with Washington State Legislative matters. Especially with up-coming talks on Road Taxation for Alternative Fuel Vehicles which do not contribute to Gas Taxes presently. This could be very important in years to come Contact Jeff at: voltrunner@q.com

Rich Rudmand and Stephen Johnsen gave an excellent report on their LiIon Battery module, which should sell for around $1400. for a 200 ah 12V module to include communications, and BMS all in one sweet package weighing less than 60 lbs.

An URGENT call went out for digital pictures of our cars for our 2010 SEVA calendar. No pictures with some descriptive copy…. NO CALANDAR !! Send your stuff to our Treasurer John Frost at: frostjf@msn.com

As always, if any one reading this discovers that I have left something out, please POST the corrections and additions. Also on our Web Sight, one can do the same…

From all of US here, to all of YOU out there… We wish you the Best of the Season, Peace on Earth and Good Will to one and all..

See you NEXT Year…The YEAR of the Electric CAR !!