Contents: Presidents Message | Meeting Minutes | SEVA Club Car Needs List | EV Jokes | Editors Corner | Area EV Charge Costs | EV News Bits | Upcoming EVents |
Presidents Message
by Mark Bahlke (mbahlke@mcd.intel.com)
Hey it's summertime!!! With the well known Sacramento heat also comes the well known Sacramento Electric Vehicle Association annual picnic. I know this will be a great picnic, because the last 3 have been excellent. Dennis Merritt and I have been working really hard the last couple of weeks to round up vehicles for this picnic, and it's paying off. So far, we have confirmations from about 15 people who will be bringing their vehicles. This will be approximately equal to the showing we had last year. But we have several other people to contact, and I am hoping that we will have significantly more vehicles than last year.
The big event surrounding bringing all these vehicles to the picnic is that we will drive over to SMUD en masse, and take a group picture under the SMUD PV charging array. This could be the biggest EV group photo ever, at a very well known EV icon. The picture will be added to our web page, of course. If people want, I'm sure we can arrange to duplicate it, for individual copies.
I am using the word "vehicle" carefully when referring to the picnic, because that is what we are, specifically not exclusively automotive vehicles. Also, because there will be other "vehicles" there of the electric sort. Bob Dean will be bringing some of his ZAP bikes for us to try out, and there may be another ebike or two.
Among our distinguished EV guests will be the legendary Bruce Parmenter, up from the Bay Area, who will be bringing his EV Blazer, the Brucemobile with him. Most of you with experience on the internet will be very familiar with Bruce. His informative and entertaining posts of his EV experiences in the bay area (and now a story about Sacramento!), along with his diligent distribution of relevant news items culled from a very wide range of sources makes for really great reading. He does many things to index, catalog, and disseminate EV information to any who should ask. Some of you may remember Bruce's appearance at one of our regular meetings last year where he presented a lot of great information on organizing EV events. We will be very privileged to have him be part of our affair. I am hoping that he will be able to drag a few other Bay area EVers with him.
In addition to Bruce, there will be a very wide range of EVs representing SEVAs finest clean air transportation. A special vehicle of note will be the SEVA club vehicle, our "mascot" if you will. This will be a club "project car" for the coming year or so, hopefully providing many of you a close up look at a simple vehicle conversion, and some hands on experience as we renovate, clean, and generally "fix up" our latest addition. At least I am hoping that is what we will be doing. At our last board meeting, we discussed letting the membership decide if we will undertake this project. So we will have a "penny vote" at the car to help us decide to "keep it, fix it", or "lose it".
Go over to the trailer the car is on, look over this little cutemobile, and toss a penny in the "ballot jar" of your choice. The jar with the most $$ in it will decide what we do with it. We will also have a project jar for donations to projects in general, which I hope will enable us to get more EVehicles on the road in Sacramento. If you are able to donate a little or a lot to the project fund, it will be a great help to us all.
Bring your cameras, some good food, and expectations to have a good time.
I am looking forward to seeing you all there. Mark
Meeting Minutes
by Ruth MacDougall (ruth.macdougall@smud.org)
Mickey Oros introduced his company, Electric Vehicles Infrastructure, or EVI of Auburn, CA. EVI develops charging infrastructure for home and commercial charging of EVs. He said 90% of the infrastructure for charging EVs is in place, namely the utility grid. Where he comes in is supplying the other 10% of the equation with efficient and cost-effective equipment. He expects 75-80% of EV charging to happen at the EV owner's home and 15-20% to happen at their work or other commercial locations.
There are 12 companies producing plugs for EVs. The most popular two are the Hughes inductive paddle charger and the French Avcon plug. Toyota and GM are the only ones who have chosen inductive and all the rest are using conductive charging. EVI makes a charging station that provides a safe interface between the power grid and the car. Conductive charging is getting as safe if not safer than inductive and the cost is less than inductive. Cost is between $35 and $500 plus the on-board charge costing about $1000. The charging station should include a communication link between the car and the utility for the purpose of billing and load-shedding. EVI is poised to install these charging stations in the U.S.
EVI has also created a few products, one they call G-FIX. This corrects situations where nuisance-tripping of the GFI occurs because the charger has a GFI and the house has a GFI. Mickey showed us his talking charging station, called RIC, or Remote Interactive Connections. RIC has a watchdog to make sure it stays plugged in. If power goes off in the night, it will restart or alert the EV owner. RIC also keeps track of how many hours you are charging and allows the owner to set the charging to begin when the cheaper Time of Use Electric Rates begin.
It was a very informative talk and demonstration about an area that was rather new to SEVA clubmembers.
SEVA Club Car Needs List
Here is some of the things needed for the SEVA 'Club Car', so keep an eye out.
We want to rebuild this car as an educational tool for our members and to then
show it off at educational EVents in our area.
48 volt controller
48 volts of batteries -
8 - 6volt flooded
Brakes examined and repaired
Paint job inside and out
Tires 5.0 - 15's
Windshield installed
Wiring needs to be done
Charger needed
Main contactor
EV Jokes
compiled by Ruth MacDougall
Q. What do you call a born-again electric vehicle activist?
A. An EV-angelist.
Q. What kind of cocktails do they serve at EV conventions?
A. ICE breakers.
Q. Name the biggest question about electric vehicles?
A. Watts up doc?
Q. What can average Americans do for the environment?
A. Get out and Volt.
Q. What are the three ways to get an EV?
A. Lease it, buy it, or charge it.
Q. Why has the EPA cut back on it's ICE clean-up program?
A. They're exhausted.
Q. Why are the terminal covers different colors?
A. In nature you have red and black ants, in electricity you have red and black amps.
Q. Is there a negative side to electric vehicles?
A. Sure. It's called the ground.
Editors Corner
by Tony Cygan (tonyc@144volts.com)
I've had some recent luck in getting one of my neighbors to purchase a cordless electric lawnmower. Dan had seen me with mine and thought it was a great idea. He was in need of a new mower at the time, so his wife bought him one for Fathers Day. This same family has had a lot of interest in my electric car. In fact Dan's mother had bought U.S.Electric Car stock a few years ago because, according to Dan, she thought it was a good thing to help promote the technology. She was aware that it was risky, but went ahead anyways.
I suspect that Dan may purchase an EV when they come on the market in the next year or two here in Sacramento. I think my having an EV has helped him see that they are a reliable and good commuter car. He is aware that they are not long distance vehicles and has no problem with that aspect of it. I suspect that my having built one and having driven it every day has helped to convince him that they are viable.
It's always been my contention that it will take awhile for people to start buying electric cars. That until they see others in their neighborhood driving them they won't take the chance. A lot of people don't want to be the first one on the block to own or try something new, but they have no problem being the second one. If we can convince one neighbor at a time to drive electric, we can override any media bias or bad press put out by the oil industry or other groups who can't or don't want to see the positive aspects about driving electric.
We are the people who will help make the electric car a reality. By owning and driving them, and by talking about them with others, so they get the right facts.
Area EV Charge Costs
Will Beckett from the San Jose EAA received his utility bill and found the following rate information in his bill.
It shows the different monthly costs based on a usage of 750KWh month.
Will charges an electric S-10 Blazer in Palo Alto, CA..
Palo Alto $42.17
City of Santa Clara $55.13
Sacramento Municipal $61.93
San Diego Electric $90.66
Pacific Gas & Elec $96.95
S. California Edison $102.16
EV News Bits
From Calstarts Website (www.calstart.com) and other sources
06/06/96 - Praxitele Multi-User EV Program to Launch in France
The novel Praxitele program in France to provide a multi-user electric cars to subscribers as "instant rental cars" will officially begin operation in early 1997, the consortium designing the system has announced. The initial system will operate with 50 vehicles - Renault "Clio" electric cars - in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, a high-tech suburb of Paris similar to the Silicon Valley.
The cars will be spread between six stations in the community, and can be electronically unlocked and between station sites anytime by system subscribers, who are given special electronic cards. The cars serve a role similar to the "station cars" being tested in the San Francisco Bay area, giving added transportation flexibility to commuters.
06/07/96 - Swiss City of Monthey Starting Multi-user EV Project
Within two months the Swiss city of Monthly, near Lake Geneva, will launch its own version of an increasingly "hot" idea - small electric cars available to multiple users as commute or shopping vehicles.
This new transportation service - called Vehicle Individual Public (VIP) - will start with 20-30 "Saxi" electric cars, and small design licensed from Horlacher of Switzerland. The cars will be available on a "use it and leave it" principle, meaning subscribers only pay for the vehicle when they're using it, not when it's parked. The concept follows the system ideas being developed by the Praxitele and Tulip projects in France.
06/05/96 - Thermophotovoltaic Generator to Run Hybrid EV
An innovative new generator that converts the light put out by a hot combustion source into electricity is under
construction at the Vehicle Research Institute (VRI) of Western Washington University. The thermophotovoltaic generator,
as it's called, will be placed in a hybrid-electric test car by next year.
The generator uses state-of-the-art, highly efficient gallium antimonide photovoltaic cells to convert the light emitted by a natural gas burner into a steady source of electric power. Developers say the generator is virtually silent in operation and has negligible emissions, possibly able to meet an "equivalent" zero-emission vehicle standard. A 20-kilowatt generator is currently being built. If successful, the technology could eventually compete with fuel cells as a power source for electric cars.
Nissan To Lease EVs In Japan
TOKYO (Reuter) - Nissan Motor Co. Ltd said Monday it plans to lease an electric car in Japan next spring that can travel more than 200 kms (124 miles) in urban traffic before the battery must be recharged.
The ``Prairie Joy EV,'' which can seat four passengers, uses a lithium-ion battery developed with Sony Corp. that is three times more dense than common lead-acid batteries.
Nissan plans to lease the vehicles to local governments and fleet users, a spokeswoman said. The car will include technology that may lead to recharging without direct plug connections, she added.
Nissan has been leasing electric cars since 1993. The vehicles have proven popular with the government and electric companies, though the number in use is very small.
Nissan is planning to introduce another newly developed electric car with lithium-ion batteries in early 1998 in California.
GM & Boston Edison Join Forces
By Michael Ellis BOSTON, June 27 (Reuter) - General Motors Corp and Boston Edison Corp said Thursday they agreed to jointly develop an infrastructure to support electric vehicles in the Northeast states and to market the cars and trucks to utilities and governments in the region.
The two companies will work together to install Delco Electronics chargers in the nine Northeast states, which includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the six New England states.
"As a result of that (joint agreement), we expect to see more electric cars on Massachusetts roads than anybody thought likely or even possible," Mass. Gov. William Weld said at a press conference in Boston.
In addition, Weld, long a supporter of electric vehicles, announced that he will require ten percent of all new vehicles purchased by the state this year to be electric. By 2001, 75 percent of all new vehicles purchased by the state will be electric, he said.
Weld also introduced legislation on Thursday which would give tax credits to people who buy alternative fuel vehicles and to businesses which build charging and servicing stations.
The legislation would also cut sales taxes for electric vehicles, associated equipment and fuel.
"We view the Northeast as one of the critical markets for electric vehicles," Robert Purcell, executive director of General Motors electric vehicle division, told the conference.
"The cold weather conditions here however create particular challenges in launching electric vehicles."
General Motors will launch its Chevrolet S 10 Electric pickup trucks, with a range of from 40 to 60 miles and a top speed of about 70 miles per hour, which run on lead acid batteries in the nine Northeast states in the spring of 1997. GM is targeting sales to government and utility fleets, Purcell said.
To deal with the cold Northeast winters, the pickups include a cabin heater to keep passengers comfortable and an engine heater for fuel efficiency, he said.
General Motors will launch its EV1 electric vehicle for the retail market in Southern California and Arizona later this year, but the car is not adapted for cold weather, he said.
Boston Edisonwill jointly market the S 10 in the Northeast and buy about a dozen of the pickups next year, said Thomas May, Chief Executive of Boston Edison.
Purcell said the infrastructure to support gasoline-powered vehicles, such as fuel stations and service centers, has been in place for 90 years, but has yet to be developed for electric vehicles.
Upcomming EVents
Local SEVA Activities
o Annual Picnic, Sunday, July 14th at 11am until ???
***NO Meeting on Saturday***
o Board Meeting, Monday, July 15th at 7pm.
o General Meeting, Saturday, August 10th at 10am.
o Board Meeting, Monday, August 12th at 7pm.
o General Meeting, Saturday, September 14th at 10am.
o Board Meeting, Monday, September 16th at 7pm
Bay Area/Modesto Activities
o East Bay EAA Yearly Rally, Saturday, August 10th.
National/International EV Activities
o Solar Splash (EV Boats), Milwaukee, WI., June 20th to June 23rd.
o Cleveland (Formula) Electric Classic, June 27th to June 29th.
o Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Colorado, July 4th.
o Sun Sprint of the Rockies, August 5th to August 13th.
o Beijing International EV Exhibition, September 20 to 26.
o 2nd Annual Monte Carlo EV Ralley in Monaco; Oct 17-20th.