SEVA Meeting Minutes – August 2022

Seattle Electric Vehicle Association

Aug 9, 2022 meeting minutes
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The monthly SEVA meeting was called to order shortly after 7 p.m. by President Jay Donnaway. Secretary Billy Kreuter was absent due to health concerns, and Treasurer Charlie Tsai had a conflict and was unable to attend. Vice President Grace Reamer took notes.

NEW MEMBERS: Dana, a former employee of Lough Motors, has been doing conversions and currently has a Bombardier EV available. Virginia Powers brought her 10-day-old electric Mini Cooper to share in the parking lot, after waiting more than three months for delivery, but was unable to stay for the meeting. Ryan recently ordered a new Chevy Bolt and is waiting for delivery.

CHARGING NEWS – As DC fast charge networks come and go, some stations have been lost in the shuffle and actually dispense energy for free, it was reported. General Motors is offering up to $1,000 toward the cost of installing a home charging station. Tacoma Power offers free charging stations to EV owners.

FORD RANGER UPDATE – Jay recently showed his Ford Ranger EV at the Hot Rods for Hearts show in Tacoma. He said Lanny Thomasen now has all of the Ranger EV parts and supports the owners of the legacy vehicles. Those who want to replace the original batteries with new lithium batteries can increase the range of the truck up to 230 miles.

MITSUBISHI iMiEV UPDATES – Steve Lough reported that the friend he advised and helped purchase a Mitsubishi iMiEV a few years ago still loves the car. Jean Darcie also has solar power at home for charging. She is battling cancer now, but made a generous donation to SEVA. Jay reported that his mother’s iMiEV experienced a charger failure very recently, but it occurred just barely within the 10-year warranty, so replacement of the fast-charger unit was covered by the dealer.

HOLLEY HIGH VOLTAGE EXPERIENCE – Four SEVA members reported about their road trip to participate in the Holley High Voltage Experience July 9-10 in Sonoma, CA. Corey Tsai and Scott Vandivort built their own electric bicycles, including welding frames and using components scavenged from a moped. Scott aimed to find the most powerful battery he could and ended up with a 6-amp-hour cell, padded with thermal foam in the battery case. He used the heat bed from a 3-D printer taped to the battery box to heat the battery to the optimum temperature for maximum power discharge. They loaded their bikes into the all-electric camper van conversion available from Pac Westy/EV Works and drove straight through, with about a dozen charging stops on the way. They found that the Electrify America stations were the fastest, but the Chargepoint stations has the best interface. The event featured road racing, drag racing, exhibits and lots of home-built conversion projects, including trucks and quads and bikes and even a Delorean, as well as the car that holds the land-speed record. A number of tricked-out Teslas with specialty lighting were on display, and a favorite vehicle was a converted white 1966 Cadillac convertible. Corey ran his bike up to 57 mph in the quarter mile, and Scott got his up to 51 mph. Stephen Johnsen and Ron Easley drove separately in Ron’s Model 3. They used the Scan My Tesla app with an OBD2 port dongle to track lots of data about the car, such as battery temperature when fast charging (it got up to 145 degrees F.) Also making the trip to California was Pat McCue in his performance Ford Mach E. A Lucid Air ran the quarter-mile in 9.8 seconds, and a Rivian R1T posted an 11.5-second time. Another highlight was Burien’s own Steve Huff, whose Faster Than Cancer dragster set a new Sonoma Raceway record at 202.82 mph. On the way home, Stephen and Ron were surprised to charge up at a Shell station, which formerly was the Greenlots network before Shell took over. Corey and Scott ran across an abandoned drag strip in Northern California that was posted with no combustion engine allowed signs because of fire danger, so they had the run of the strip on their custom electric bikes.

RACING EVENTS – Stephen reported that Summit Racing is now sponsoring an all-electric racing series at Pacific Raceways. Prizes and trophies are awarded at every event, but more participation is needed in order to keep the series going. The idea started with the Silent Thunder event several years ago, but that didn’t bring in enough people to make it financially feasible. With many more electric cars on the road now, the new racing series hopes to draw more people. At each event, the first 10 EVs to arrive are sponsored and race for free. Any production electric car of model year 2008 or newer is eligible to race. Three more events are scheduled this summer on Aug. 13, 14 and 20.

MORE SUMMER EVENTS – Grace reported that she and Paul Kahle exhibited at the Seattle City Light Family Day in July, at the invitation of the utility. City Light is participating in more events and wants EVs on display, including the Othello International Festival on Sunday, Aug. 14 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Othello Playground in southeast Seattle. Contact Grace for details at gvreamer@aol.com. Also on Aug. 14 is the Kirkland Waterfront Car Show, which several SEVA members have attended in the past. Coming up on Aug. 27 is the LeMay at Marymount annual car show, and SEVA has been invited to participate. Finally, SEVA is considering sponsoring a booth and car display at the annual Issaquah Salmon Days Festival on Oct. 1 and 2. Contact Grace if you are interested in helping.

CONVERSION RESOURCES – Two newer books were recommended for anyone interested in converting a gas car to electric: “Convert It” updated in 2021 by Ron Sims, and “Do It Yourself Lithium Batteries.” Both are available on Amazon.

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Zoom Meeting Recording(s):
: Did Not Stream Meeting