SEVA Meeting Minutes – March 2022

Seattle Electric Vehicle Association

Mar 8, 2022 meeting minutes
___

Former Scribe Kevin Boze issued the cry at 7:05 p.m.

New attendees: Mike Vernier just ordered a Hyundai Ionic 5. Dana has been interested since the early 1980s, and spoke to Jay recently for battery advice. He used to repair City Light hydro equipment.

ELECTRIFICATION COALITION – The featured presentation was given by Sarah Fischer. She is an electric-vehicle specialist at the national Electrification Coalition, where she is the group’s Washington State employee. Sarah moved to Seattle in October from Ohio. EC is a non-partisan, nonprofit advocating electric transition for several reasons;

Protecting economic and national security.
Reducing the United States’ dependency on an unstable global petroleum market.
Electricity has very stable pricing compared to carbon fuels.
Electricity is getting cleaner over time.

EC’s EV adoption programs include efforts to oppose anti-EV policies such as registration surcharges. Sarah does training for municipal staff, including fleet analysis. The Electrification Coalition has created the software product called “Dashboard for Rapid Vehicle Electrification” (DRVE) to model fleet-transition costs. They do federal policy work, such as showing how the Postal Service could benefit from electrification.

IN THE NEWS : President Jay Donnaway mentioned the Ukraine war and said that Ukraine had been a major adopter of EVs. Ukrainian Tesla owners have used Camp Mode to extend the availability of electricity. KOMO and Geekwire both contacted the SEVA board for a comment about the impact on EV sales of rising gas prices due to the war in Ukraine. Here is an article that appeared last week: https://www.geekwire.com/2022/ as-gas-prices-soar-amid-ban- on-russian-oil-will-more- drivers-move-to-electric- vehicles/

POLICY UPDATE: Vice President Grace Reamer reported that the Omnibus Transportation Bill still includes Clean Cars 2030 and a state EV coordinating office. Coltura is planning a rally in Olympia if Governor Inslee signs the bill this time. The bill is now in conference committee to reconcile amendments. HB 1793 has passed and is awaiting the governor’s signature; it promotes installation of EVSEs in condominiums and similar common areas governed by homeowners’ associations. The Road Usage Charge did not pass this year. Grace reported that Crosscut quoted Reema Griffith of the state Transportation Commission saying that EVs “don’t pay their fair share.” Reema agreed that wasn’t accurate, but did not follow up with Crosscut. Grace contacted the Crosscut journalist, who agreed that the annual $225 EV fee should have been included in the article about the RUC.

EVENTS:

Greenwood Car Show is back on Greenwood Avenue North on June 25. Sarah Fischer volunteered to coordinate SEVA’s participation.
Jeff Finn has been working on an Earth Day show in April. Express Credit Union wants to have this happen again, as it did on Earth Day weekend in 2021. Jeff said he just made contact with the right people. He’ll be at the Kingman, Arizona EV museum for an event that weekend.
Phil Skoog is organizing a Mother’s Day show at the Issaquah XXX.
Jay will be at the South Sound Sustainability Expo at the Tacoma Convention Center on April 16.
Jay also will be attending EVS 35 in Oslo, June 11-14.

PROJECTS: For anyone doing conversions, former President Stephen Johnsen demonstrated a pyro fuse from Tesla which enables Ludicrous Mode. This device can distinguish between accidents or short circuits, and acceleration drawing 2,000 amps. It utilizes an explosive charge to break the circuit. It costs only $18-$25 and it’s very light-weight

Jay adjourned the meeting at 8:14 p.m.

Minutes drafted by Billy Kreuter, Secretary, and edited by Grace Reamer, Vice-President.

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