SEVA Meeting Minutes – May 2014

SEVA Meeting Minutes, May 13, 2014

Called to order. Officers introduced. 68 people in attendance.

PSE REBATE – PSE is offering a new rebate for EVSE (also known as “home charging equipment). The amount is reported to be $500, and there is a possibility that Seattle City Light may introduce a similar plan.

OLYMPIA NEWS — President Stephen has been selected to represent EV owners on an advisory panel for a Washington State study on EV charging infrastructure business models. This is being led by the Joint Transportation Committee of the Washington State Legislature. We’ll be expecting to hear more details as events warrant.

“THE OATMEAL” ON EVS — If you saw Matthew Inman (aka “The Oatmeal”) at Tesla’s open house event, then you heard him hint at a cartoon he was creating, describing his experiences as a Model S owner. That much-anticipated cartoon is now published at http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla_model_s. Read and enjoy it.

A NEW WORLD RECORD — Don “Big Daddy” Garlits has set a new world record for a four wheel electric dragster in the quarter-mile. President Johnsen shared a video of the event with the membership. Blink, and you’ll miss it! Will the 200mph barrier be broken? It will happen! More info at www.nedra.com.

SILENT THUNDER ALL-ELECTRIC NATIONALS — If you haven’t witnessed EV drag racing in person, there’s Silent Thunder, the all-EV road racing and drag racing event. Mark your calendars for Sept 6th, and bring your EV to Pacific Raceways in Kent.  http://nedra.com/upcoming_events.html.

–  July 26th is SolarFest, and the events don’t stop there.

Be sure to visit www.seattleeva.org for the latest updates. Already, we are talking about a church event on August 14th and a Bothell High School open house on June 3rd.

Triple X Show!!! – XXX Root Beer held its first-ever all-EV show at its famous Issaquah site. Grace Reamer shared some photographs of the vehicles, participants, and visitors with the membership. It was rated a major success.

We will be doing XXX again on September 21st. Register your EV, tell your friends, and let’s make the next one an even bigger show!

AND SPEAKING OF THE WEBSITE – SEVA’s new, re-designed website is live! Check it out at www.seattleeva.org.
AND SPEAKING OF NEW – SEVA’s new email list is live. Due to member input, we will make it publicly viewable, although you will need to register in order to post on it.

BECOMING OUR OWN NON-PROFIT – SEVA’s Board is actively working on the documentation and contract language to become our own 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The articles of incorporation have been drafted as well as the bylaws.

GRANTS – Being our own non-profit will also make it easier for SEVA to apply for grants. We have two grant applications in to “The 11th Hour Group.” We’ll keep you posted.

WIKISPEED/MOMENTUM/PEN-ENT – Dave Warmenhoven, president of Momentum, gave a presentation about the developing technologies between these three corporations, and the new cooperation between them to move forward in providing more alternatives to traditional ICE transportation. Their ultimate goal: a 150mpg vehicle.

EV-FRIENDLY PAC – You can donate to a new PAC, which was introduced at the meeting. David Kiker has started this Political Action Committee with the intent of improving the odds that our politicians in Olympia will act favorably in the interest of electric vehicles.

AT LAST: AN ISOLATED MANZANITA MICRO CHARGER — Rich Rudman of Manzanita Micro gave a talk and presented his newest battery charger which included a built-in J1772 port right on the front with the communication smarts also inside. Additionally the new charger is isolated using a custom transformer to make it even safer. www.manzanitamicro.com

RAFFLE – Congratulations to our raffle winner Jeremy. Remember: one-half of all raffle ticket sales go to help support SEVA. The other half go to the lucky winner: YOU!!

Meeting adjourned at 9:30. See you next month on June 10th!

–Kevin Boze, Secretary