SEVA Meeting Minutes – March 2017
SEVA Meeting Minutes: March 14, 2017
-Called to order. Officers introduced. 48 persons in attendance.
- HAPPY PI DAY! Today is 3/14/17. Won’t happen again for another 100 years. Seize the day.
- WELCOME NEW ATTENDEES! – Johnathan heard of us through Shoreline Community College. Ron owns a Leaf and a Model S and describes Elon Musk as his hero. Charles is looking to convert his car. Neil works for SmartPlug and is interested in DIY conversion. Larry is retired and owns a Leaf. Mike got some good information from Steve Lough and is shopping for an EV.
- CAN ANYONE REPLACE A LEAF BATTERY? Now that the deals are out there on used Leafs (and the deals ARE there!), there is some curiosity on behalf of the membership about a DIY replacement strategy for the battery packs. LEAF packs are $5,500 when you take your car into the Nissan service dept.
- EV OF THE MONTH – THE CHEVY BOLT – Deb Seymour went down to San Francisco for a memorial service and had a chance to drive the Bolt! She said it was highly similar to driving a Leaf. Too many buttons for Deb’s taste, but she thought it was a comfortable ride and handled well. A cool feature: a rear-facing camera interfaces with the surface of the rear-view mirror for superior views.
- CAR SHOWS –
March 25th is Coltura’s show 10am-2pm. Reach Now will be test driving I3’s. And there will be other cars and displays. www.coltura.org/events for more info. SEVA could use some representation at the table, too.
April 19th is Bellevue College’s Earth Day. Please be there at 9:40 am (parking lot B2, we think). With hundreds of college students passing by, it’s a great chance to expose new people to EVs. email President Johnsen at hpev.llc@gmail.com for more info
May 7th is the XXX Car Show (9am-3pm). See Philip Skoog for more information.
June 24th is the biggie: Greenwood Car Show. Fill out a form and get it over to Organizer-in-Chief Mark Schiller.
July 23 is Renton River Days and Treasurer Mark says we will be in the skate park, which is a very favorable location, with high visibility.
June 7th Plug-In North Central Washington is sponsoring a drive through across Highway 2 from Everett to Spokane.
- Chuck Benson has averaged 1,000 kWh per month for the last 24 months from his solar array at his farm up in Skagit. Congratulations to Chuck and keep on charging!
- Europe has introduced some actual 350kW DC fast chargers and they’re out in the real world!
- Two Shell stations (Tumwater and Fife) have installed EV charging stations.
- VOLVO – Has announced they will have a new long-range (250mile plus) EV for about $35-40K.
- A STATE-WIDE COALITION FOR EVS? — Longtime EV supporter and SEVA friend (now SEVA member) Ron Johnston-Rodriguez addressed the membership about the possibility of founding a Washington State EV Coalition. He feels we are going to experience a “significant uptick” in interest in electric vehicles as ranges go up and prices go down … but the charging infrastructure continues to lag. What does California and Oregon have that Washington doesn’t? A large-scale organized force to be a voice for change. We need to convince people that electric vehicles are coming, and they are the smart thing to do.
It has been moved and seconded that the SEVA Board sign on to the Memorandum of Understanding that Mr. Rodriguez entered in to the Record.
- OUR MAN IN OLYMPIA – Jeff Finn briefed the membership about what’s going on in the Legislature regarding EV legislation. Short answer: things have been taking a back seat to the mandate to fully fund education.
- GOOD OF THE ORDER – Roger handed around some 3D printed parts that he made from his recently purchased printer. Additive manufacturing is the future! The rebate for EVSEs expires in April. If you’re interested, look into it! Looking for a “policy person” to work in Olympia about developing EV infrastructure. email: roger (AT) tri-digital.com
- YOU ASKED FOR IT – WE GOT IT!! The membership wanted a better sound system and “more informational videos”. Tonight, they got both, as President Stephen debuted our new sound system and presented a video about Shock and Awe. For those who weren’t there or want to see it again, it can be viewed here:
We will look forward to seeing everyone next month on April 11th when we will have world renowned speaker, author and professional car hacker Craig Smith as our featured speaker.
Stephen Johnsen
President Seattle Electric Vehicle Association
www.seattleeva.org
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