SEVA Meeting Minutes – February 2022

Seattle Electric Vehicle Association

Feb 8, 2022 meeting minutes
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The membership of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association met at First Church of the Nazarene in Wallingford on Feb. 8, 2022. Former Scribe Kevin Boze issued the cry at 7:01 p.m..

WELCOME! New attendee Gunnar introduced himself. Cody came for the first time in several years. He has a Tesla and he’s interested in car-sharing and Turo.

ANNUAL BOARD ELECTION – President Jay Donnaway announced the 2022 election for Vice President and Secretary. Vice President Grace Reamer read the bylaws’ rules regarding board members and elections. Jay nominated Grace for a third term as Vice President, and then Jay nominated current Secretary Billy Kreuter for a second term as Secretary. The slate of Grace and Billy was voted in by acclamation.

FINANCIAL REPORT – Treasurer Charlie Tsai noted that of the $27,000 in SEVA’s bank account, ongoing expenditures are solely the $30 monthly donations to the church for use of the social hall. He will catch up on membership fee accounting with the national Electric Vehicle Association.

POLICY UPDATE – Grace reported that the first hearing on the Road Usage Charge bill was last Thursday. SEVA did not attend in person, but submitted written comments online. There seemed to be lots of support at the hearing for RUC, but some opposition as well. Tim Eyman showed up and was opposed, saying he was “outraged” that the legislature might consider another tax. Governor Inslee is opposed to the RUC provision that makes it mandatory instead of voluntary. HB2026 sponsor Rep. Wicks indicated that the bill is not expected to progress through the Legislature this year. Jeff Finn pointed out that SB 5444, last year’s RUC bill, is still alive. The Omnibus Transportation bill was introduced today. It offers no additional incentives for EVs. SB 5975 authorizes $1 million in grants to develop electric aviation and $15 million to build a hybrid electric ferry. Another transportation bill, SB5974, incorporates the 2030 EV goals of the former Coltura bill in section 416(1), and also proposes sales tax exemptions for fuel cells, as well as the creation of an interagency electric vehicle coordination council. This bill gets it first public hearing at 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 10 in the Senate Transportation Committee.

CHARGING – Jay shared a new proposal by Seattle City Light for bringing its DCFC program to Belltown, and SCL is seeking public comment. City Light’s materials for the proposal, with a link to a survey, are at seattle.gov/city-light/belltown-ev.

CHARGING RESOLUTION – Jay resumed last month’s discussion of Electrify America’s charging installations. There is no Tesla-CCS adapter, but Teslas can use a CHAdeMO adapter. Some automakers, such as Kia, used to use Chademo, but the current models use CCS. Members suggested a few revisions to the wording of the SEVA resolution. It was suggested that the statement should go to Plug-In America, among other recipients. Kevin read the statement. Jay called the question, calling for a vote that the resolution be sent out. This was unanimously approved. (See attached document, and please share!)

EVENTS:

Theresa Ramsdell, president of Tesla Owners of Washington, said that their annual meeting will be conducted virtually in two weeks. In March they’ll have a program about wireless charging. By Tesla’s request, their meetings are open only to members. Their event for Drive Electric Earth Week will be April 23. There will be a June event in Shelton. They will be at the Lavender Festival in July in Sequim, and at the tulip festival in Mount Vernon on April 9. Next year they hope to host the North American convention of all Tesla clubs.
On April 23 or 24, Express Credit Union is planning to again host an Earth Day EV promotion event. SEVA members are invited to show cars.
Triple X Issaquah all-electric car show will be coming back on Sunday, May 8.
Greenwood Car Show is also coming back, hosting its 30th anniversary event on June 25.
The South Sound Sustainability Expo will be April 16 at the Tacoma Convention Center.
The EV Roadmap conference will be in Portland June 29 through July 1.
Fully Charged will be Sept. 11 and 12 in San Diego.
Jay said that he will attend EVS35 in Oslo in June.
The Electrify Expo will be in July, location to be determined.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a hearing on Feb. 15 at1:30 p.m. to review Puget Sound Energy’s and Pacificorps’ proposals for transportation electrification.

MEMBER UPDATES:

As of last week, Jay has left PacWesty for his new position with Tacoma Power.
Kent Bakke said that he came across a story about a cross-country trip using Electrify America’s 350kW stations that took well under three hours for all charging.
Jay said that Rich Rudman has had a successful test of a drone he’s working on.
Brian Grunkemeyer said that the FlexCharge app now has added capabilities for managed charging.
Jay said that the oldest networked EVSEs, such as Chargepoint’s first generation, are becoming obsolete because they require 3G cell service.

Jay adjourned the meeting at 8:21 p.m.

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