Seattle Electric Vehicle Assocation (SEVA) – Promoting electric vehicles through education, demonstration & advocacy since 1980

Bothell High School's student-built "Shock & Awe". SEVA member Pat McCune is their teacher.
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!
Practically any vehicle can be electric and SEVA members own and drive many different electric models.
Does your solar installer show up in an electric vehicle? Puget Sound Solar founders & SEVA members Pamela Burton & Jeremy Smithson do!
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.
Brutus Electric Motorcyles
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.
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.
Seattle Electric Vehicle Association at Woodinville's 21 Acres Farm Festival, 2017
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.
Seattle Electric Vehicle Association welcomes electric bicycles as well!
The Seattle Electric Vehicle Association actively participates in many car shows throughout the year.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
Nissan LEAFs look good in the Seattle Autumn!
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!
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.
SEVA Member Jennifer Northern, at the helm, is an avid proponent of electric scooters!
Washington State leads the nation in per-capita electric vehicle sales!
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.

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 carssince 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!

Img of Car Shows

Car Shows and “EVents”: Let the 2018 Season Begin!

We LOVE car shows! It’s the best way to get electric cars out in front of the public and answer questions. Our club members are an enthusiastic bunch who can be found at any one (or all) of these fun, family events:

ONGOING:Tesla Owners Club of the PNW (TOCPNW) has an events calendar up: https://tocpnw.org/events/
Some events are private, but some are open to the public, and in fact some are meant as outreach. Not all are local.
March 24^th: Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Seminar At Everett Chevrolet (Everett, WA) 11:00 Presentation by SEVA member Mike Fink.
April 8^th: Richland Earth Month EV Discussion & Display (Richland, WA) 1:09-4:00 PM Garrett Brown will discuss present & future of EVs at the Richland Public Library 955 Northgate Drive, Richland.
April 18^th North Seattle Community College Earth Day Timothy.Albertson@Seattlecolleges.edu is the contact.
April 18^th Bellevue College Earth Day (SEVA Members: contact Stephen Johnsen)
April 19^th: University of Washington: Bothell Campus Earth Day Contact: AGuerrero@uwb.edu
April 21^st: City of Bellevue Earth Day (SEVA Members: contact Jeff Finn)
April 21^st: Whidbey Island Earth Day
May 6^{th :}TOCPNW Car Show (Ferndale, WA)tocpnw.org/events/
May 6^th: National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) Spring Electric Vehicle Show at TripleXRootbeer (Issaquah , WA) More info at: driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1220 (SEVA Members: contact Phillip Skoog
June 17^th: Fenders of Front Street (Issaquah, WA) Contact Phillip Skoog
June 17^th: Burien Father’s Day Car Show. www.discoverburien.org/events/event/fathers-day-car-show (SEVA Members: Contact Grace Reamer)
June 22-24: REVolutionss Expo (Salt Spring Island, BC) A fun and entertaining weekend envisioning and experiencing our renewable electric and energy-efficient future http://www.revolutionss.ca
June 30^th: Greenwood Car Show (Seattle, WA) The BIG one with a huge public turnout! (Members: contact Mark Schiller and/or Steve Lough)
July 14^th: “Past Meets Future” at LeMay Auto Museum. (Tacoma, WA) This is a TOCPNW event, but we assume other EVs welcome. Heck, anybody can go to the museum.
July 28^th: Shoreline Solarfest (Shoreline, WA) No fee but they would like you to register at this link
shorelinesolar.org/2018-transportation-zone-application
July 29^th:Renton River Days. SEVA is not officially part of it this year but if anyone is interested in coordinating this, contact us.
Aug 25^th: West Seattle Car Show (South Seattle College) Details TBA
Sept 8^th: NDEW Steilacoom (Steilacoom, WA) driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1202
Contact Dick Muri City Capt.
Sept 8^th: NDEW Liberty Lake (Liberty Lake, WA) driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1215 Jorgen Rasmussen City Capt.
Sep 11^th: Bellevue NDEW (Bellevue, WA) driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1267
Contact Jeff Finn City Capt.
Sep 16^th National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) Issaquah (Iss aquah, WA) web page soon
Philip Skoog City Capt.
Sept 16^th: NDEW Ferndale (Ferndale, WA) driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1282
Sept 22^th: Sustainable Ballard Festival (Seattle, WA) www.sustainableballard.org/festival/
Sept 30^th: Snohomish Car Show sponsor is Bickford Ford. Ford EVs and conversions encouraged, lots of categories for prizes see linksnohomishcoc.com/classiccardisplay/

Car Show Dates Still To Be Determined (But keep checking back!)

NDEW Vancover https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1253
NDEW Walla Walla https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1244

Alternative fuel vehicle sales tax exemption ENDS May 31, 2018

The Department of Revenue has notified the Washington State Auto Dealers Association that the alternative fuel vehicle sales tax exemption will end on May 31. To receive this tax exemption, your vehicle must be delivered on or before May 31, 2018.

The list of qualifying vehicles is available athttp://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/altfuelexemptions.html.

The exemption

Only applies to new vehicles.
Only applies to the first $32,000 of the selling price or total lease payments if the customer leased the vehicle prior to the exemption’s expiration.
Expires on the last day of the calendar month after the Department of Licensing determines that 7,500 vehicles have qualified for the exemption.

To qualify, a vehicle must:

Have a base model MSRP under $42,500 and be on the list linked above; and
Be a passenger car, light duty truck or medium duty passenger vehicles that:

Is exclusively powered by a clean alternative fuel; OR
Uses at least one method of propulsion that is capable of being re-energized by an external source of electricity and is capable of traveling at least thirty miles using only battery power.

If you are receiving your vehicle after May 31, 2018, you will be required to pay all applicable sales taxes.

https://dor.wa.gov/find-taxes-rates/tax-incentives/incentive-programs#1133.

Scroll down to Clean Alternative Fuel and Plug-In Hybrids, and then click on Qualifying Vehicle Count.

SEVA in the News:

On Wednesday March 28, 2018, SEVA President Emeritus Steve Lough was interviewed by King 5 about Washington State’s Pay-By-Mile Pilot Program and how that might negatively or positivELY affect the electric vehicles owners.
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.

Img of EVs at Pacific Racewa

EV News Headlines

Pivot Power to build 2 GW network of batteries and charging stations (5/22/2018) - Pivot Power has unveiled plans to build a 2 GW network of grid-scale batteries and fast charging stations across the UK. The company plans to invest some £1.6 billion to develop 45 sites around the country, installing grid-scale 50 MW batteries at electrical substations. The battery network will store enough electricity ...read more
Tesla hopes to improve Model 3 braking distance to earn a thumbs-up from Consumer Reports (5/22/2018) - Talk about shortening timelines in the auto industry – when Consumer Reports reported that it had found Model 3's stopping distance to be unacceptably long, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded within hours, promising to look into the matter and do whatever it takes to improve braking performance. CR announced that it ...read more
Volvo Unveils Second Electric Truck – FE Electric, It’s Bigger, Badder (5/22/2018) - Volvo Trucks presents its second all-electric truck, the FE Electric, just three weeks after the first one – FL Electric. The new Volvo FE Electric is bigger – designed for heavier city distribution and refuse transport operations – with gross weights of up to 27 tonnes (vs. 16 tonnes in ...read more
In April, BYD Again Sold Over 13,000 Plug-In Electric Cars In China (5/22/2018) - In April, BYD's plug-in electric car sales amounted to 13,105 In China, which is on par with March. Compared to one year earlier, sales of New Energy Cars increased by 117% and accounted for 36% of total BYD sales. Additionally, BYD delivered 287 Denza BEVs (JV with Daimler). Read Also ...read more
BP Invests In StoreDot – Firm Promises Charging As Quick As Fueling (5/22/2018) - BP Ventures, the investment arm of the oil major BP, invested $20 million in Israeli-based StoreDot, which promises batteries capable of ultra-fast charging in 5-minutes. StoreDot has been hinting at its breakthrough batteries for several years now (see news from 2015 and from 2017), and finally this year is securing ...read more