Seattle Electric Vehicle Assocation (SEVA) – Promoting, Educating, & Proliferating Electric Cars Since 1980

Washington State is a great place for taking an electric vehicle road-trip. The Department of Transportation has been strategically placing many DC Quick Charge stations along the states major highways.
SEVA's current President Stephen Johnsen is shown here with a rare GM EV1 which he helped a small team from Western Washington University revive in 2007.
The Seattle Electric Vehicle Association actively participates in many car shows throughout the year.
SEVA member and intrepid EV Road-tripper Lee Colleton snapped this photo while charging at Stevens Pass ski area after a long day of mountainous freeway driving in his electric Mitsubishi Miev.
If you want to convert a vehicle to electric, there are many knowledgeable conversion experts in SEVA. Washington State is also home to electric vehicle components manufacturers such as Manzanita Micro and suppliers such as EV Parts.
For many years SEVA members have taught electric vehicle technology courses at South Seattle Community College including a course where a gas car is converted to electric in just 6 days!
Many SEVA members, like Roger Swearingen, have more than one electric vehicle in their households. Roger is pictured here with two OEM electric vehicles; a Fiat 500E, and a Ford Ranger electric pickup truck.
SEVA member Deb Seymour enjoys the long-range capacity of her white 2014 Tesla Model S. This photo was taken of her with her WA license-plated car in Salt Lake City, UT!
Steve Lough has been SEVA's President up until 2013 and he has been promoting, demonstrating, advocating for, and educating people about electric vehicles for nearly 30 years.
Practically any vehicle can be electric and SEVA members own and drive many different electric models.
Washington State has a number of incentives for electric vehicles thanks to forward-thinking legislators and the work of many SEVA members such as Jeff Finn who is pictured here charging his LEAF in front of the Capitol.
Washington State leads the nation in per-capita electric vehicle sales!
Veteran SEVA member Dave Cloud has probably converted more vehicles than anyone in Washington and holds many records for all sorts of EV achievements. He is pictured here with his streamlined Geo Metro conversion which went over 200 miles on a single charge using lead-acid batteries!
Many SEVA members are also members of the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) and they race their electric vehicles during race season at nearby Pacific Raceways.
Electric vehicles can go anywhere gas vehicles can go as demonstrated by SEVA members Grace Reamer and Kevin Boze who forded a small river in their Coda electric sedan.
The immediate and extremely high torque produced by an electric motor allows electric vehicles to accelerate VERY quickly and to produce impressive numbers when tested on a dynamometer.
There are many good reasons to go electric and most EV owners love the rapid acceleration! At Pacific Raceways local Tesla owners run sub13 second times in the quarter mile at well over 100 mph!

Welcome!

The Seattle Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA) is an all-volunteer group of Seattle-area folks who are passionate about all things having to do with electric cars. Our members run the gamut from brand new Tesla owners to folks who have been converting old gasoline cars since the 1980’s.

We participate in car shows, educational events and political events having to do with electric vehicle legislation. But we mostly get together to have some plain, old fun at our free monthly meetings and by simply driving around on our zero-emission wheels.

SEVA also serves as a gateway to the latest press and information on and about electric vehicles. Jump on in to see what’s happening in the world of electric cars!

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Upcoming Car Shows and “EVents”

We LOVE car shows and participate in many during any given year. We also display at other local festivals as well when invited!

Shows are great places to come out and learn about electric vehicles of all types. Our members are happy to talk about their vehicles, whether home-done conversions or product in vehicles. Come on by!

August 26^th: West Seattle Car Show (Seattle, WA) South Seattle College, 6000 16th Ave SW in the NORTH Parking Lot 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Also August 26th: Space Elevator Family Science Fest (Seattle, WA) The Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way S. Seattle, WA 98108 10am-3pm
September 9^{th :}Sustainable Ballard Festival (Seattle, WA: Ballard Commons Park ) As in years past, SEVA will have some cars present at this neighborhood mini-Green festival!
September 24th: 21 Acres Center For Local Food Harvest and”Get Squashed” Festival 13701 NE 171 St, Woodinville, WA 10am-4pm.
September 30^thSalmon Days (Issaquah, WA) Contact SEVA Secretary Kevin Boze to sign up.

Visit the SEVA Calendar Page for more details.

SEVA in the News

On Sunday, June 18, 2017, The Seattle Times AUTO Section featured a lengthy article called “Batteries Included! Seattle Electric Vehicle Assocation Leads the Charge” (by Tom Voelk) about SEVA’s 37-year history promoting electric vehicles in the Puget Sound Region. Thank you, Tom, and Seattle Times! Click here to read article.

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EV News Headlines

BYD Sells 11,000 Plug-In EVs In China For August (9/21/2017) - BYD continues to set the plug-in vehicle sales bar for other manufactures to strive for, as once again in August the OEM sold ~11,000 EVs, eclipsing the 5-digit level for the 3rd month in a row. Tracking the numbers from China can be a tricky task, especially when the numbers... ...read more
Tesla is designing its own computer chip for self-driving cars: report (9/21/2017) - Early last year, with promises of self-driving cars in owners' hands well before any competitor, development of the Tesla Autopilot system for the maker's electric cars was proceeding nicely. Then, in May 2016, a dedicated Tesla owner was killed in a Florida crash when his Tesla Model S, operating on ...read more
Rare-earth metals in magnets for electric-car motors: what you need to know (9/21/2017) - It's not surprising that the powertrains of electric cars differ quite a bit from traditional internal-combustion engines. Although they have fewer moving parts, the rare-earth magnets that help power electric cars can be quite complex to fabricate. So, what is there to know about rare-earth magnets—and how do automakers choose ...read more
Tesla’s Latest Software Update Includes Useful Supercharger Info (9/21/2017) - Tesla aims to make Supercharging details even more clear and has released a software update which should prove advantageous. As we recently reported, Tesla has just added new Urban Superchargers. Additionally, the automaker is continually expanding its Supercharger network, not only by increasing capacity at current stations but also by ...read more
The 2018 Nissan Leaf has three types of cruise control: how they differ (9/21/2017) - When the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car arrives at dealerships early next year, it will offer fresh styling inside and out, more power, a 150-mile range, and an array of standard or optional active-safety features. It will come in Nissan's standard three trim levels—base S, mid-level SV, and top-of-the-line SL—with ...read more