SEVA Meeting Minutes – August 2016
SEVA Minutes, August 9, 2016 This meeting was held outdoors. Meeting called to order, officers introduced, 44 persons in attendance.
EV OF THE MONTH – SEVA members were glad to get an up-close and personal look at the new ECO-Cruise. Some of you may remember this vehicle prominently featured at the Greenwood Auto Show, and a couple of our members got to take a test drive! This writer just came back from a camping trip, and it was readily obvious what a great fit the ECO-Cruise would be to replace the noisy gasoline-powered service vehicles that presently work our State Parks. The EV would be an excellent fit for its ruggedness, its serviceability, and a quiet ride that adds to the tranquility of the camping experience. This company is local in here in Seattle and showcased one of their little EVs with its carbon fiber body panels!
SUCH A DEAL – Also featured at the meeting was a brand new EV Soul from Kia, and its owner was very enthusiastic about the incredible deal on a lease, which she got from Lee Johnson Kia and the base model was only costing $150 a month for a 3 year 30,000 mile lease! Share this news with the naysayers who claim EVs are merely toys for rich people.
SEVA’S OPEN MEETING POLICY – was taken to a whole new level, as the meeting was held outdoors. No church keys = no church admittance, so we conducted our business “al fresco,” and apologies in advance to any neighbors who had to listen to the proceedings. 🙂
SEVA BUSINESS – SEVA is growing and changing and becoming more of a separate entity from the EAA. To that end, SEVA will start charging memberships of $40 per year, and then sharing part of that revenue with the EAA, instead of the other way around. Our next meeting (September) will also be our big membership drive, so bring your cash and checks. Our association with the EAA will continue to be valuable for the newsletters and the liability insurance that allows us to participate in car shows; we’ll simply be the ones collecting the dues to make sure we receive what we deserve and then giving the EAA their fair share as well.
EVENTS — Starting with Emerald City Joules, there was lots of excitement on the race track. A Smart ED car did 17.5, a Fiat 500e did 16.6, and you can see Mr. Fulcher’s epic Leaf burn-offs on social media. A P85DL knocked out an 11.5 … with a full complement of luggage! … and Shock and Awe turned in a head-turning 8.9 second run! There were also more than one >70mph electric bicycle racing!
PORTAND EV ROADMAP – The members who attended this event brought back news of charging protocols that are becoming more robust and powerful at 150kW to meet the trend toward bigger batteries. The Chevy Bolt was on display, and Seattle City Light will be committing to installing fast-charging stations! There’s also talk about incorporating charging stations into light poles. Will this become a reality?
RENTON RIVER DAYS – Thanks to Mark Yormark for being the “point guy” and organizing this well-attended show. In the future, SEVA wants to move to a more prominent spot within the venue. Vehicles included a Nissan LEAF, A Mercedes B Class, two Tesla Roadsters, a Kia Soul EV, a Studabaker conversion, VoltRunner, John Lussmeyer’s crowd pleasing Ford F-250 4×4 and president Johnsen’s Flux Capacitor Fiero. The $100 IKEA gift card went to a very deserving Jeff Finn who has taken his bright green VoltRunner to many, many car shows this season!
SHORELINE SOLAR FEST – 24 cars were on exhibit, and attendance was helped by excellent weather and no fewer than three different E-bike vendors that helped bring in the crowds. And the after-party was a great time.
Alt Car Expo in California Sep 15-16 in Santa Monica. Admission is free.
A 75MPH E-BIKE — The “Tsai-Borg” was demonstrated to the membership by it’s builder Cory Tsai. It actually BEAT “O’ Sparky” in the ¼ mile at Emerald City Joules! After the meeting President Stephen took it for a spin around the neighborhood and it is REEEEEAALY FAST!
NATIONAL DRIVE ELECTRIC WEEK – SEVA will be having another show at XXX Root Beer on Sep 18. It is never too early to register your car for the show and make plans to be there.
DAVE CLOUD’S LATEST – Was an amazing motorcycle conversion that was not only dirt cheap, but powerful and eerily silent it was finished in 4 days and sporting a nice 72V pack of Thundersky 60AH cells. Congratulations, Dave!
FOR SALE – A Curtis 1311 Programmer for the Curtis AC drives $200 OBO get in touch with Roy Lemeur. roylemeur@Hotmail.com
CHARGING FOR EVERYONE – An EVSE that can handle up to seven cars was presented to the membership. This may be just the thing that’s needed for apartments and condominums!
Lee Howard of MainPine systems showed of the awesome design which can handle smart sharing of up to 7 EVs charging at the same time! Lee will be talking with the SEVA Board about putting in a 7 car station at Dicks Drive In for meeting attendees to charge!
Meeting adjourned at 9:40.