SEVA Meeting Minutes – October 2015
SEVA Meeting Minutes: October 13, 2015, –Called to order. Officers introduced. 36 persons in attendance.
Many thanks to our diligent secretary Kevin Boze who always does an excellent job emailing the SEVA meeting minutes out to me right away and I haven’t always been as quick about re-posting them.
EV OF THE MONTH is Pat’s white Ford Focus! Pat said that one of the reasons he went with the Focus is that he was a Ford technician for many years and just couldn’t see himself buying anything else. He says the Leaf has been an excellent learning tool for the students in his automotive technology class. Pat adds that – while he wishes it had better truck space and a CHAdeMO port – he is very happy with the car and his wife loves it.
NEW MEMBERS – No new members for this meeting. The first time in a long time!
EVENTS – No outstanding events, but check the events calendar at www.seattleeva.org
HOLIDAY PARTY and POTLUCK – Will be for our December meeting. Venue is still to be determined…
WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY A 501c3 NON-PROFIT!! – This means your contributions are now tax-deductible. So, start contributing.
BOARD MEETING – Pursuant to our By-Laws, SEVA held a regularly scheduled Board meeting at the Renton Library. Among the goals we discussed were improving EV friendly legislation, educating the driving public about the advantages of driving electric, and getting more reliable and more diverse charging locations.
TAKING “CHARGE” OF EV SHOWS – Also decided during the Board meeting was that Board members take responsibility for heading up our “must-do” car shows and events.
LAPTOP – If you have a laptop you would like to donate to SEVA, we are looking for one. Don’t forget that you can now deduct the value of that laptop if you donate!
FERRY CHARGING – Sorry to say, an official communique has gone out from the Washington State Ferry System that there will be no more charging of EVs on WA State Ferries.
DRIVE ELECTRIC REPORT – Grace Reamer reports that we had 59 vehicles at the XXX Root Beer show, amounting to more than 1.5 million oil-free miles driven. Prizes, activities, robotics teams, visiting dignitaries and officials, and our raffle ticket sales netted us $220 and paid our expenses for the show.
THANK-YOU TO NISSAN – For donating an additional $170 which was intended to help pay for the car show.
SILENT THUNDER – President Johnsen shared the highlights of Silent Thunder with the membership. We had people come from Southern Washington and as far north as Vancouver Canada. Throughout the day there were between about 30 and 70 people. Vehicles included a bunch of Model S sedans (including a P85D!), some electric bicycles, Nissan LEAFs, a Chevy Volt, a converted BMW Z3, Jon Rue’s converted Del Sol, an electric Fiero and Dave Cloud’s latest super low-slung creation. One of the most impressive vehicles to race down the track was David Kiker’s gleaming red Tesla P85D which grabbed the fastest time of the day laying down a solid 11.8 second quarter mile time!!! Of the approximately 20 EVs in attendance about a dozen of them raced the track, including the lightning quick Tesla P85D!
SEATTLE AUTO SHOW – SEVA was invited by Ford to attend a “Drive the Bases” media event at the Seattle Auto Show. Naturally, we would like to see more electric cars represented, but there’s always next year.
SEVA CALENDAR – It’s time to send in your pictures for the SEVA calendar. Send them in to President Johnsen, at: hpev.llc@gmail.com and we are now accepting pre-orders for calendars too.
CHAD SCHWITTERS – Gave a presentation on the Auto Industry’s approach to EVs. The industry is mature (100+ years), very high capital requirements, long product cycles, highly regulated, commodity-ish, has high barriers to entry, and it quite nearly saturated.
THE MODEL X IS OUT – The Model X made its debut on September 29th. If you haven’t seen the rollout video, check it out online.
LEGISLATIVE NEWS – JJ talked to the membership about the latest in legislation. Passed HB1853 allowing utilities to invest in charging infrastructure. Tax exemption extended to 2019, although hard-capped at $35K. Annual $100 EV fee is now $150 and expanded to hybrids. Commercial tax breaks for alternative fuel good and freight vehicles, including natural gas and electric. Among the new developments, there is interest in fixing the $35K cap, as well as interested in more charging infrastructure support. There will be a public hearing on EV readiness code amendment for apartments, condos, and some commercial buildings
RAFFLE – Congratulations to Jay who wins $25 in our raffle!
Meeting adjourned at 9:03