SEVA Meeting Minutes – March 2025

Seattle Electric Vehicle Association

March 11, 2025 meeting minutes
___

The May 3 March 11, 2025 membership meeting of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association took place at the Tesla Studio, 2627 NE 46thSt, in University Village, Seattle.

Prior to the meeting, members met on the upper level of the garage to show and discuss electric vehicles.

At 7:04 pm, President Stephen Johnsen called the meeting to order.

First time visitor Dave came because he is planning to build/convert an EV. Quinton has an EV Geo. Someone is looking to convert an original 1975 Mini Cooper. Stephen observed that converting small cars to electric is challenging. Because weight and volume are limited, battery capacity is limited, so performance versus range decisions need to be made early in the design stage.

Grace presented her legislative update. She will continue her weekly emails, please keep checking there for the most recent news and contact your legislator.

Jay invited folks to the March 20 EVSE Security Measures discussion.

Rob discussed current events and meeting locations. SEVA is a non-political organization, meaning that the organization cannot advocate for a particular candidate or party. However, some of our members have strong opinions regarding current events. A recent email survey to a smaller list resulted in half of the respondents being against or concerned about meeting at a Tesla location. As a result, the board is looking at other possible meeting locations, including Lucid in the University District and Phinney Community Center. One attendee suggested Beacon Hill Church. Ryan suggested that we could meet in the parking garage, bring chairs and use his Cybertruck for power. Generally, the preferred new location should be close to I-5, between WA 520 and I-90.

Stephen would like to see more meetings with car shows, for example Redmond Exotics.

Stephen shared a recent experience with a NEMA 14-50 receptacle, including photos. A vehicle was being charged at 48 amps (220 v) when he heard arcing and found that the receptacle had melted. An increasing number of charging receptacles are overheating and failing. Everyone should check and tighten their electrical connections yearly! Outlets used for EV charging were historically used for ovens and stoves that didn’t pull full power for hours and hours. At the same time, it seems that the quality of electrical components has been dropping. For example, he found significant differences between a cheap 14-50 and a more expensive Leviton EV rated outlet. The physical body of the outlet was larger, the wall plate was larger and the wire clamps were very different. Given the high currents, long hours and daily thermal cycling that EV charging outlets experience, look for Hubble 9450A or Leviton 1450R with and EV logo on it. Jay recommended using crimped ferrules on fine stranded wire, as thinner strands loosen faster with heat cycling.

Stephen then related that while he is the new president of SEVA, he has been attending meetings for 21 years. His grandfather converted EV’s but they weren’t fast, since they were powered by lead-acid batteries. In college he did some public speaking and became interested in alternative fuels. Hydrogen was seen as superior to electric. In 2004, for his senior project at University of Washington, he did an electric vehicle conversion. This was a challenge, since the faculty had a preference for hydrogen. In the end, he became convinced that finding multiple sources of unbiased information was important then and is even more important now.

Discussions among the group included advances in LiPo batteries that give 60% more ah in the same size package so folks can upgrade and extend the range of their conversion EV without changing the battery compartment.

EVCCON in Cape Girardeau, MO is an EV builders convention in the fall. Related to Jack @ EVTV Motor Verks, who does lots of youtube and sells solar.

Upcoming EV Drag Races, April 6.

Keep an eye out for variable pricing based on time of day at DC fast chargers in Tachoma, $0.25/kwh at times.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.
By Eric Eskilson, SEVA Secretary

—

Zoom/YouTube Meeting Recording(s):
: YouTube: SeattleEVA.org 20250311 Meeting