SEVA Meeting Minutes – November 2016

SEVA Meeting Minutes:  November 8,  2016, –Called to order. Officers introduced. 24 persons in attendance.

Thanks to all who showed up to our SEVA meeting on the election night.

NOVEMBER’S EV of the MONTH – A Dodge Dakota that is being “revived” with a new Lithium battery pack was presented by John.  First done in 2009, John was a pioneer using Valence lithium ion batteries. Now he has recently upgraded it to a Nissan LEAF battery pack and he made a presentation showing the process.

TESLA ANNOUNCEMENTS – Tesla has introduced solar tiles, which will have significant aesthetic improvements as well as be self-heating, and they have also announced that all of their future cars will have the necessary hardware to use autonomous driving.  All new Teslas will have eight cameras, providing 360 degrees of view enabling their self-driving abilities.

AND SPEAKING OF TESLA – After January 2017 you’ll get 400 kWh of free supercharger usage per year with a new Tesla; after that, it will start to cost you.

MORE FROM TESLA – The Model X SUV will offer a five-seat model with seats that fold down.

A LESS COSTLY LEAF FOR THE CHINESE MARKET? – There is a chance that Nissan may be doing precisely that to get more market penetration in China.

CHEVY BOLT – The executive publisher of Auto Trader says the appeal of the Bolt doesn’t come from the fact that it is an electric car; he says its appeal comes from it being  a great vehicle. Both the Auto Trader/Kelly Blue Book editor as well as Motor Trend magazine praised the Chevy Bolt and its incredible acceleration and performance.

SEMA REPORT – Pat McCue attended the huge SEMA show in Las Vegas and two great things came out of the trip:  One, NHRA is sounding more receptive to opening drag racing to electric vehicles.  Two, they (NHRA) is also interested in getting the official rules re-written to be friendlier to electric vehicles.

NEXT MONTH – the SEVA meeting WILL NOT BE HELD AT THE USUAL LOCATION but instead will be our holiday party and will take place at Puget Sound Solar at: 805 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144. There will be many L2 charging stations ranging from 30 to 70 amps available. It will be a potluck party and instructions will be emailed out with what type of food to bring depending upon where your last name falls in the alphabet.

Lastly, what appears to be an early pre production Scion XB conversion “E-box” is being offered for sale in Gig Harbor. For more information contact John McGowan who can put you in touch with the owner.  jhmcg3@gmail.com