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SEVA meetings are held every second Tuesday.


Difference between revisions of "EVents 2011 04 12"

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(New page: {{Minutes}} ==April 12th 2011 Meeting==)
 
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==April 12th 2011 Meeting==
 
==April 12th 2011 Meeting==
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==As written by Stephen Johnsen, standing in for Cory C.==
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Here are the April 12, 2011 SEVA meeting minutes, sorry I wasn't quite as fast as our usual secretary Cory :-)
 +
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==
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The April 12, 2011 SEVA meeting was packed with at least 80 people including quite a few first-timers! The parking lot was full of nearly 20 EVs of all types. ==
 +
 +
We had some factory built EVs including a few Tesla Roadsters, a few Nissan LEAFs and my GM S10E, there were also many conversions including a revived green VW pickup with CALB lithium cells, The Ostrom's gorgeous red Fiero GT and many of the other usual EVS like Kent's Beetle, Brian's red MR2 and Dave Barden's Blue Truck and many more. Murray Fye from South Seattle Community College brought the blue S-10 which was newly converted to electric during the most recent intense "6 Day" conversion class! Many of the students who made the completion possible were also at the meeting. Photos and more info can be found at: http://www.evalbum.com/3726
 +
 +
Another interesting vehicle was a creation Dave Cloud built to transport his electrathon EVs inside -you guessed it- a Geo Metro. This new Geo Metro is stretched with an aluminum fuselage of sorts that offers space for the electrathon racer inside. Dave reported that the mileage of the Geo went from about 48mpg to 46mpg and he wants to try and get it up to 60mpg.
 +
 +
Inside the meeting hall, the meeting kicked off with a report from Jeff Finn about the current situation with the proposed $100 a year EV tax created by Senator Haugen who carries a lot of power in Olympia. Some SEVA members including Jeff, President Steve and Ray Carter of MC Electric Vehicles went down bright and early on Monday April 11 to comment on the bill which had been passed in the Senate and moved on into the House. Many SEVA members wrote their legislators and Jeff talked with our friend Ron Johnston-Rodriguez from Wenatchee about the  bill. Jeff later received a call from Rep Mike Armstrong who talked at length with him and said he would propose an ammendment to make the tax due at the end of the year instead of at the beginning. Jeff noted that if he lived in Oregon a state which is passing similar legislation, based on how many miles he drives the total cost with the Oregon plan would be a much more fair fee based on the total miles traveled for the EVs and it would cost Jeff about $70 for BOTH of his EVs instead of $200.
 +
 +
A few motions were made and seconded which essentially amounted to the following:
 +
 +
SEVA would withdraw its opposition to ESSB5251 on the condition that we can have ammendments. These ammendments could include something such as only ONE single fee per EV owner (so if you are the registered owner of multiple EVs you would pay only one fee since you can only drive one at a time). Other ideas included a fee reduction such as $25 for motorcycles and $50 for homebuilt Evs.
 +
 +
Time will tell what becomes of this bill...
 +
 +
Next, Steve Lough offered SEVA EV drivers a bunch of ChargePoint "Charge pass" cards for Coulomb charging stations which were donated by James Billmaier. James the author of "JOLT" an EV book is having a free EVent open house at his home this Saturday April 16. More info available on that and other upcoming EVents at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjmhWJm5m8NSdDhmTlJRLUNTdXNhajd6VE1uVEdVcnc&hl=en#gid=0
 +
 +
Steve L. mentioned other EVents coming up including:
 +
 +
April 20th Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition EVent at REI.
 +
 +
Saturday April 23 Newcastle EVent which Steve Lough will be speaking at.
 +
 +
Also Les Neu from "They Shall Walk" announced the upcoming "Cruise The Ave" car show and cruise which has a section for alternative fuel vehicles. For more info visit www.cruisetheave.org or call 206-229-8234 it is on May 1st.
 +
 +
Steve Lough talked about increasing instead of reducing King County Metro trolley buses. SEVA member and trolley bus driver Chuck L. has been heavily involved with this. They presented a lifecycle cost analysis between diesel buses and electric trolley buses and there is a significant savings over a 20 year lifecycle. There are only 5 cities in the country that use trolley buses so the initial cost is higher but over time and especially on big hills like Queen Anne and with rising fuel costs the electric buses are less expensive. They receive 80 cents on the dollar for trolley buses as well as diesel hybrids. Ideally allow batteries on the hybrid buses so that they can disconnect from the wires and expand the use of electric trolley buses. Politicians don't quite understand that idea so lets persue and expand the wired portion and by putting more vehicles under that wire, it will make it more economical. They would also like to expand the idea of building the trolley buses locally and spending the money LOCALLY. They have about 159 trolley buses to replaced. Chuck will send out info on an upcoming meeting to discuss this at the end of April.
 +
 +
Longtime member and prolific converter Dave Cloud had the first 2 races of the Electrathon season. Dave had won every race last season but broke a fork and lost the first race this year. Then his daughter Shannon won the second race of the season and many more are to come.
 +
 +
Ivan Workman of EVSupport spoke about what is new with the plethora of EVSE manufacturers and shared photos from recent EVents with Ford and Eaton.
 +
 +
He also mentioned that Coulomb offers free stations as long as the host pays for the installation. The station is FREE. Let Ivan know... Theres 2 different programs Ecotalities program in Seattle and Charge Point's program is open to anyone in King County. More info at: http://www.evsupport.com/
 +
 +
Jeff Finn and Steve talked about having charging stations put in at the church where our meetings are held. Something I have been mentioning we need for years. I will be contacting the Pastor of the church to see if we can get some useful Level 2 charging at our usual SEVA meeting location.
 +
 +
Speaking of yours truly, I Stephen Johnsen talked about the SSCC 6 day conversion which was a big success. I showed photos of the S-10 which was also brought to the meeting. I also shared images of a vented Optima YT and swollen Thundersky batteries emphasizing using proper restraints on the prismatic lithium cells as well as monitoring batteries when they reach full. Member larry shared about his S10 conversion with 26 flooded batteries which went from 5 miles to 18 after doing a prolonged equalization charge and adding water. I then showed an awesome new graphic display from Bruce Sherry and Manzanita Micro and demonstrated what is happening to batteries when they are connected in series and used in an EV.
 +
 +
The SEVA raffle had $55 in the pot for the winner and $55 for the club.
 +
 +
I guarantee next month to be a very exciting meeting so mark May 10 on your calendars. My good friend and fellow SEVA member Ron Easley and I will be showing a unique new EV!
 +
 +
Sincerely,
 +
 +
Stephen Johnsen
 +
SEVA Vice President (acting as secretary in Cory's absence)
 +
 +
P.S. As I left the meeting I couldn't help but stare at the University District Chevron Station where Diesel was $4.69. Nothing like higher gas prices to drive interest in EVs...

Revision as of 16:05, 15 April 2011


Our monthly meetings are held at the Church of the Nazarene above the Mosaic Community Coffee House.

Join us at our SEVA Meetings

Unless otherwise posted here, or sent out over the SEVA Maillist each Monthly Meeting is Held on the Evening of the Second Tuesday of each Month commencing at 7 p.m. or there about. Meetings are held at the Church of the Nazarene at 44th St. NE, and 3rd Ave NE, just behind Dicks Drive In on 45th. Their fire damage has been repaired, and they welcome us back. We encourage visitors and members to help support this free venue with the purchase of some fine coffee and other refreshments downstairs at the Mosaic Community Coffee House.

April 12th 2011 Meeting

As written by Stephen Johnsen, standing in for Cory C.

Here are the April 12, 2011 SEVA meeting minutes, sorry I wasn't quite as fast as our usual secretary Cory :-)

== The April 12, 2011 SEVA meeting was packed with at least 80 people including quite a few first-timers! The parking lot was full of nearly 20 EVs of all types. ==

We had some factory built EVs including a few Tesla Roadsters, a few Nissan LEAFs and my GM S10E, there were also many conversions including a revived green VW pickup with CALB lithium cells, The Ostrom's gorgeous red Fiero GT and many of the other usual EVS like Kent's Beetle, Brian's red MR2 and Dave Barden's Blue Truck and many more. Murray Fye from South Seattle Community College brought the blue S-10 which was newly converted to electric during the most recent intense "6 Day" conversion class! Many of the students who made the completion possible were also at the meeting. Photos and more info can be found at: http://www.evalbum.com/3726

Another interesting vehicle was a creation Dave Cloud built to transport his electrathon EVs inside -you guessed it- a Geo Metro. This new Geo Metro is stretched with an aluminum fuselage of sorts that offers space for the electrathon racer inside. Dave reported that the mileage of the Geo went from about 48mpg to 46mpg and he wants to try and get it up to 60mpg.

Inside the meeting hall, the meeting kicked off with a report from Jeff Finn about the current situation with the proposed $100 a year EV tax created by Senator Haugen who carries a lot of power in Olympia. Some SEVA members including Jeff, President Steve and Ray Carter of MC Electric Vehicles went down bright and early on Monday April 11 to comment on the bill which had been passed in the Senate and moved on into the House. Many SEVA members wrote their legislators and Jeff talked with our friend Ron Johnston-Rodriguez from Wenatchee about the bill. Jeff later received a call from Rep Mike Armstrong who talked at length with him and said he would propose an ammendment to make the tax due at the end of the year instead of at the beginning. Jeff noted that if he lived in Oregon a state which is passing similar legislation, based on how many miles he drives the total cost with the Oregon plan would be a much more fair fee based on the total miles traveled for the EVs and it would cost Jeff about $70 for BOTH of his EVs instead of $200.

A few motions were made and seconded which essentially amounted to the following:

SEVA would withdraw its opposition to ESSB5251 on the condition that we can have ammendments. These ammendments could include something such as only ONE single fee per EV owner (so if you are the registered owner of multiple EVs you would pay only one fee since you can only drive one at a time). Other ideas included a fee reduction such as $25 for motorcycles and $50 for homebuilt Evs.

Time will tell what becomes of this bill...

Next, Steve Lough offered SEVA EV drivers a bunch of ChargePoint "Charge pass" cards for Coulomb charging stations which were donated by James Billmaier. James the author of "JOLT" an EV book is having a free EVent open house at his home this Saturday April 16. More info available on that and other upcoming EVents at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjmhWJm5m8NSdDhmTlJRLUNTdXNhajd6VE1uVEdVcnc&hl=en#gid=0

Steve L. mentioned other EVents coming up including:

April 20th Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition EVent at REI.

Saturday April 23 Newcastle EVent which Steve Lough will be speaking at.

Also Les Neu from "They Shall Walk" announced the upcoming "Cruise The Ave" car show and cruise which has a section for alternative fuel vehicles. For more info visit www.cruisetheave.org or call 206-229-8234 it is on May 1st.

Steve Lough talked about increasing instead of reducing King County Metro trolley buses. SEVA member and trolley bus driver Chuck L. has been heavily involved with this. They presented a lifecycle cost analysis between diesel buses and electric trolley buses and there is a significant savings over a 20 year lifecycle. There are only 5 cities in the country that use trolley buses so the initial cost is higher but over time and especially on big hills like Queen Anne and with rising fuel costs the electric buses are less expensive. They receive 80 cents on the dollar for trolley buses as well as diesel hybrids. Ideally allow batteries on the hybrid buses so that they can disconnect from the wires and expand the use of electric trolley buses. Politicians don't quite understand that idea so lets persue and expand the wired portion and by putting more vehicles under that wire, it will make it more economical. They would also like to expand the idea of building the trolley buses locally and spending the money LOCALLY. They have about 159 trolley buses to replaced. Chuck will send out info on an upcoming meeting to discuss this at the end of April.

Longtime member and prolific converter Dave Cloud had the first 2 races of the Electrathon season. Dave had won every race last season but broke a fork and lost the first race this year. Then his daughter Shannon won the second race of the season and many more are to come.

Ivan Workman of EVSupport spoke about what is new with the plethora of EVSE manufacturers and shared photos from recent EVents with Ford and Eaton.

He also mentioned that Coulomb offers free stations as long as the host pays for the installation. The station is FREE. Let Ivan know... Theres 2 different programs Ecotalities program in Seattle and Charge Point's program is open to anyone in King County. More info at: http://www.evsupport.com/

Jeff Finn and Steve talked about having charging stations put in at the church where our meetings are held. Something I have been mentioning we need for years. I will be contacting the Pastor of the church to see if we can get some useful Level 2 charging at our usual SEVA meeting location.

Speaking of yours truly, I Stephen Johnsen talked about the SSCC 6 day conversion which was a big success. I showed photos of the S-10 which was also brought to the meeting. I also shared images of a vented Optima YT and swollen Thundersky batteries emphasizing using proper restraints on the prismatic lithium cells as well as monitoring batteries when they reach full. Member larry shared about his S10 conversion with 26 flooded batteries which went from 5 miles to 18 after doing a prolonged equalization charge and adding water. I then showed an awesome new graphic display from Bruce Sherry and Manzanita Micro and demonstrated what is happening to batteries when they are connected in series and used in an EV.

The SEVA raffle had $55 in the pot for the winner and $55 for the club.

I guarantee next month to be a very exciting meeting so mark May 10 on your calendars. My good friend and fellow SEVA member Ron Easley and I will be showing a unique new EV!

Sincerely,

Stephen Johnsen SEVA Vice President (acting as secretary in Cory's absence)

P.S. As I left the meeting I couldn't help but stare at the University District Chevron Station where Diesel was $4.69. Nothing like higher gas prices to drive interest in EVs...