SEVA Meeting Minutes – March 2013

SEVA Meeting Minutes: March 12, 2013 – President Steve Lough, presiding. Board members introduced. 65 persons in attendance.
Four first time visitors: welcome! One Googled EVs. Two others brought by another member. One visiting from MC Electric.

EVENTS: We have been invited to many, many events. Rather than have everyone appear at one, it would be best for SEVA to spread out its presence across several events.

MERCER ISLAND 13 April
NEWCASTLE 20 April
BELLVUE COLLEGE 22 April
SCIENCE FAIR PANEL DISCUSSION – TBA
CENTER FOR WOODEN BOATS – May 19(?)
QUEEN ANNE PANEL DISCUSSION ON EVs — June 4th
Greenwood Car Show – “Gasless on Greenwood 2013” June 29th

Please send an email to ( events@seva101.org ) if you have information about other events. An email will be sent out with specifics to events for those interested in showing cars.

MARKETING REPORT – Jeff Finn presented his briefing on EV charging as a marketing strategy. More charging stations = more effective range = more drivers coming to your vacation destinations and patronizing your businesses. EV Charging Stations are listed on the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau website. News articles were shared, highlighting the EV driver as a tourist.
Businesses should think of an EV charging station as a “free billboard,” as the charging websites always cite the local business were the charging station is located.

PLUG IN AMERICA REPORT – there is a Webinar about successful EV dealerships. The date is 13 March. While many car dealerships are firmly entrenched in the status quo, there are other dealers who realize EVs are the future and are motivated to sell EVs. Misconceptions abound about EVs (A Volt only goes 35 miles?!?). Customers need a lot of education, and they are going to have a lot of questions.

MEMBERSHIP – We are NINE MEMBERS AWAY from being the largest EV club in the United States. That’s a point of pride, to be sure, but membership has other, more obvious benefits, chief among them is the newsletter. If you aren’t a member, please think of one.

EVs in WASHINGTON – 1,776 Leafs; 78 Volts; 33 MiEVs; 15 Fords; 250 Teslas; 19 Toyotas, 1 Tango, and 1 Coda. This figure does not include Wheegos, Zenns, or home-conversion vehicles.

EDUCATION AND LEGISLATIVE – There are two bills currently going through the Senate: HB 5802 (Greenhouse Gas Study) and HB 5849 (The “De-ICE-ing” Bill) will come up for a vote soon. There is an amendment to halve the fine. We may hold a celebration if one or both of these bills becomes law. Get active, get in touch with your elected representatives, and get ready to celebrate. HB 1910 will extend the sales tax exemption for solar power initiatives. That bill is set to expire, and it may do so or be curtailed or modified in some way. HB 1301 would extend the incentive program for EVs, but that bill is expected to struggle in the Senate.
Many legislators are holding town halls this time of year. Now is an excellent time to go to your legislator’s website and seize the opportunity to talk to your elected representative about the issues that matter to you.
On the educational front, the education committee would like to see a re-vamping of the website to create a “look” that is simple, clean, intuitive, and easy to read. Emphasis, as always, is out there for showing EVs at car shows and hosting test-drives.

SOLAR POWER IN ACTION – If you want to see how solar power is used in the home, there are open houses, tours, and seminars. Printed information was circulated at the meeting, but members are encouraged to look for other opportunities to see how solar can work for you. Contact Jerrimy Smithson.

WOODLAND PARK ZOO – Is adopting EVs for parts of its fleet. Two Ford Transit Connects Electric’s. Yet another local entity that is embracing the environmental and financial advantages of going electric.

NEW EV OWNER – Congratulations to Matt Moreno on purchasing his Tesla Model S. And congratulations to new Nissan Leaf owners Rich Rudman and Mark Schiller.

ON THE WEB – “Jay Leno’s Garage” has a featured segment on a diesel bus that has been converted and re-purposed to all electric for one-fifth the cost of a new “from scratch” electric bus. Re-purposing a gas car to an electric car has often been called the “ultimate recycling.” Or as President Steve once coined the phrase, ” To convert a Gas Car to Electric is the Highest form of Recycling.”

CONVERSION PROJECT – The newest conversion project is going to be on converting a BMW to Z-3 electric. This six-day class at South Seattle Community College has slots open, and all are welcome to the post-conversion party.

MORE EV NEWS – Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park is organizing a panel discussion. The date is TBD. There is particular interest in people who use solar energy to charge.

GOOD OF THE ORDER – The new Bullitt Center is “green living” but does anyone know if it has EV charging? Who knows about light duty EVs that city governments might buy? 220 new charging stations have recently been added to the greater Seattle area. We have EV drivers in the State Legislature! Our leaders are “getting the memo” on EVs. Remember: you “dying” batteries can be restored easier and more cheaply than being replaced. It’s EV racing season again! There are some SEVA T-Shirts and keychains available for sale. There is a used EV Ford Ranger (the factory version) for sale.

VISITOR FROM MC ELECTRIC – Located on Dearborn Avenue, MC Electric is a business that sells and services new and used electric vehicles, from electric motorcycles to a Tesla Roadster which is there on consignment. Jason encourages you to stop by and say hello.

The formal meeting adjourned at 8:40

Lively discussions went on till nearly 10:00 pm. For many this is the best part of the
monthly meetings.

A special thanks to our new recording secretary Kevin Boze. The minutes here above are HIS work. I doubt if I could do anything to make them an better. Thanks Kevin

Steve Lough
Pres.


Steven S Lough
President: Seattle EV Association
206 524 1351
WEB: www.seattleeva.org