EVA/DC Meeting Minutes
March 20, 2013, 7 – 9 PM
Silver Spring Library

1. Introductions.  Approximately 50 people in attendance, many new faces and new EVs, including a Ford C-MAX Energi and a 2013 Leaf.
2. Sport Chevrolet provided a nice overview of the Chevy Volt, and answered many questions.  Also discussed were other upcoming GM EVs including the Cadillac ELR and Chevy Spark EV.  Sport offered to host an upcoming meeting.  Thanks Sport!
3. Request to clarify GAO decision (Scott).  Bob B., Charlie and Scott met with Alex Stern of Senator Mikulski’s office, to ask that Sen. Mikulski formally request that the GAO revisit its ruling that appropriated funds cannot be used to purchase electric vehicle charging stations, nor setup a program allowing the reimbursement of funds from private parties for charging stations and electricity.  The requested clarification is that the ruling does not apply to 120V convenience outlets and existing federal agency reimbursement procedures.  EV owners are happy to pay for their electricity usage.  Alex Stern agreed to pass a copy of EVA/DC’s drafted letter to Senator Mikulski, for additional consideration.
4. Management meeting.  There will be an upcoming EVA/DC management meeting, which will discuss the organization’s tax status, bylaws, organization, web site, listserv, signup process, notifications, finances and other issues.  All EVA/DC members are welcome to attend.  Date and location TBD, target early-mid April.  Contact Eric C. for details.
5. Takoma Park charging – the group is somewhat surprised that there are no charging stations in Takoma Park, which would be a great location to have a station. Perhaps local merchants, such as the Green Commuter, should be approached for their support.
6. SCCA race.  The Sports Car Club of America is interested in an EV division for an upcoming Time, Speed and Distance (TSD) event.  At least three EVs are needed to participate.  The event will be April 26 in Ellicott City.  Contact Lanny for details.
7. EV Grand Prix.  Dave G. reported progress on the upcoming EV Grand Prix.  Nabil Bedewi is organizing this event, which will be held June 15 at a location TBD.  The goal is to get the most miles out a charge. Racing rules from electrathon will be used.  The high school teams are looking for mentors, contact Dave G.  There are ten high schools participating, including:
   1. Wheaton H.S.
   2. Phelps School of Architecture and Engineering
   3. Sidwell Friends
   4. School without Walls (at GWU)
   5. Clarksburg H.S.
   6. Hereford H.S.
   7. High Point H.S.
   8. Sandy Spring Friends
   9. Warwick H.S., in Virginia
   10. Rowante H.S., near Tidewater, Virginia
8. VA registration increase - registration of hybrid vehicles in Virginia is about to be increased by $100, pending the signature of Gov. McDonnell.
9. MD tax credit expired - the Maryland incentive of up to $2000 off the excise (sales) tax of the purchase of a new EV has expired.  Hopefully this will be renewed in an upcoming legislative session.
10. Previous Events
    1. Davidsonville Expo.  This was the 5th annual Davidsonville Green Fair.  Elvia coordinated the EV organization.  Dave D., Dennis, Bryan and Scott brought cars.  The event went well.
    2. Gaithersburg H2O Summit.  Dave G. reported on this summit, which included Leafs and Volts and had participation from Criswell.  The event went well.
11. Upcoming Events
    1. MD Volt meetup, April 6, at Walgreens on Connecticut Ave. near Van Ness Metro.  Come see the only ChaDEmo DC fast charge station within hundreds of miles!  See http://www.mdvolt.org/ or contact Lanny.
    2. Tesla informal meetup, April 7 at the Half Note Lounge in Bowie.  Contact Eric M.
    3. U.S. PTO Green Fair, April 11, 10-2 at PTO HQ.  Looking for vehicles and volunteers.  See http://evadc.org/events/event/u-s-pto-green-fair/ or contact Eric C.
    4. EPA National Sustainable Design Expo & P3, April 18-19 on the National Mall.  Looking for vehicles and volunteers.  See http://evadc.org/events/event/epa-p3-2013-national-sustainable-design-expo/ and contact Joe L.
    5. U.S. Geological Survey Earth Day, April 23 10:30 – 2:00 at USGS HQ in Reston.  See http://evadc.org/events/event/u-s-geological-survey-earth-day/ or contact Bruce L. for details.
    6. Rockville Science Day.  April 28 at Montgomery College in Rockville.  EVADC has supported this for many years, and this is a well-attended event, especially fun for kids.  Looking for vehicles, volunteers and a trail boss.  Contact Charlie.
    7. Loudon County Earth Day, April 28 from 10-4.  Looking for Chevy Volts. Contact Bruce L.
    8. Electric Sociability Run, May 27 (Memorial Day) in DC.  See www.pluginrally.org or contact Lanny.
    9. Fairfax County, June.  TBD.  Contact Dennis.

The meeting was held at Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA

Meeting started around 7:15

1) Introductions

2) Tesla/NYT Update

Summary from Brian Murtha, Q/A

Summary from Rob Neighbor

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EVA/DC Meeting Minutes

 January 16, 2013

7:00pm – 9:00pm

Silver Spring Library

1. Introductions

2. Jill Sorensen (BEVI) updated us on the status of the YES Corp, a summer intern program for college students.

3. Charlie Garlow discussed the junior solar sprints. The next competition will be at Dunloring Middle School in Va.

4. The gentleman from Estonia told us about his company called “Park Now” which allows users to pay for parking and EV charging via their cell phones.

5. Michael Krauthamer explained the eVgo charging network. Focus on L3 charging. First station in the area at Van Ness metro will open in three weeks.

6. Bob Bruninga stated the BW Medical Center has added four L1 charging stations.

7. Dave Goldstein and Eric Cardwell appealed to the club for cars to be shown in the DC Auto Show.

8. Jill Sorensen announced the Baltimore Auto Show and stated that Motor Trend is sponsoring an EV ride and drive.
9.  Dave Goldstein suggested that the club sell the Aztec. Members agreed. Bryan Murtha will contact an interested party from MIT. If they cannot work out a deal, the Aztec will list on ebay.

10. Elvia Thompson announced the Davidsonville Green Expo; appealed to the club to provide vehicles.

11. Lanny Hartmann announced the next MD Volt Meetup.

12. Jeffrey Jacobs announced the EVA/DC February meeting will be held in Dunloring, VA.

13. Jeffrey Jacobs announced that club members are putting a bulk purchase together for a home made SOC meter for the LEAF ($60-$90).

Minutes submitted by:
John Alder
Secretary

Doron Shalvi briefs the club on the new charging stations at NIH

About 25 people attended the EVA/DC meeting held on August 15, 2012 at the Silver Spring Library. Many of the attendees arrived in electric vehicles and the parking lot was full of Chevy Volts, Nissan LEAFs and a few other EVs. One person reported that he is expecting delivery of a Zero electric motorcycle within a few days. Another has a Tesla Model S scheduled to be delivered in October and shared his experience trying to find an insurance company willing to insure it.

Lanny Hartmann reported on the MD Volt Meetup at FedExField that was organized by Mark Czajka and hosted by Phil Ovitt of NRG Energy. 27 people and 21 electric vehicles came to the event and all ten eVgo charging stations were used.

Eric Cardwell gave the group his evaluation of the Ford Focus Electric that he drove at the MD Volt Meetup. He had driven a pre-production version in 2010 and he is impressed with the improvements Ford has made since then. Eric also wrote a Ford Focus Electric review.

Chip Gribben gave us the details on the upcoming 2012 Power of DC.

Joe Lado updated us on plans for National Plug In Day in front of the Capitol Building on September 23.

Jill Sorensen spoke about BEVI’s participation in the Maryland Customer Investment Fund (CIF) hearings.  BEVI submitted a proposal to fund electric vehicle fleet and infrastructure development in Maryland as part of the $113.5M available as a result of the Exelon merger with Constellation Energy Group.  BEVI’s was the only transportation-related proposal out of the 98 that the Public Service Commission received in response to its request for proposals.  Though the BEVI proposal was Not Recommended for funding, Jill reported that BEVI is pursuing its appeal to include transportation in how we define clean energy and energy efficiency, particularly through EVs and renewable energy sources that can power our EVs.  Click here to read Jill’s PSC Statement.

John Lippert is again organizing the Green Transportation Rally section of the Greenbelt Labor Day Parade. He said there are plans to include two Fisker Karmas

 in the parade.

Elvia Thompson told us of plans for EV Days in Annapolis. Volunteers who can bring cars on Saturday September 15 should contact Elvia.

Katherine Arredondo,  Director of Solar PPA at Clean Currents gave a presentation about green energy solutions for powering electric vehicles.

An announcement was made about a grand unveiling of charging stations for PMI Parking garage in Crystal City. The event will be sometime in September, possibly the 9th or 16th.

Doron Shalvi talked to the group about a pilot program at NIH to install charging stations to encourage commuters to use electric vehicles.

Dave Goldstein gave us an update on EV policy issues including a vote in U.S. Congress on a tax credit for certain electric vehicles and a General Motors plan to study Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology.

Submitted by Lanny Hartmann

EVA/DC Monthly Meeting held on July 18, 2012 at White Oak Library in Silver Spring, MD.

Jill Sorensen, Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative’s executive director, came out to talk about Maryland’s Youth Energy Service (YES) Corps internship program. Sorensen is the internship coordinator of 21 participants in the first year of the six week program. Interns are from Charles, Baltimore and Howard counties, Baltimore city, and are all high school and college age. Students are working on various projects, including developing posters promoting EV awareness and helping to plan a route across the country for an electric car to travel from the West to the East Coast and charge along the way. At the end of the program, students will receive a $500 stipend. If your company might be interested in hosting one or two interns next summer, visit www.b-evi.net/yes-corps/ or contact Jill .

Eric Rees, COO & CFO of Advanced Technology & Research Corp., gave a presentation about their Solar Power Pole with EV Chargers. ATR started as a robotics and automation engineering company 35 years ago, focusing on DoD, Postal Service and Commercial Customers. Today they have added solar and wind turbine products to their offerings. Of note are their sun-tracking solar products. One of these EV charging stations is based not far from White Flint Mall near a bank in Bethesda. Solar tracking chargers are 30-45% more efficient than solar canopies. For more information, visit www.atrsolartech.com. PowerPoint PDF

Robert Atkins, Co-Founder of Evatran, LLC, gave a presentation about their Plugless Power EV charging system. The system uses a centuries-old concept called inductive power transfer – the same technology used in both household products and electrical transformers around the world. Using magnetic fields, energy is transferred from the transmitting coil in the parking pad and converted into an electrical current by the receiving coil in the vehicle adapter. This system is currently being tested and will be available for the Volt and Leaf. Atkins said that Plugless Power technology has achieved over 90% efficiency as measured from your home’s 208/240V electrical outlet to your vehicle’s existing on-board battery charger. For more information, visit www.pluglesspower.com.

Al Lococo, the Secretary of both the Central Florida EVA and the Sun Coast EVA was a guest at our meeting. He came to the meeting in his Nissan LEAF that he brought all the way from Florida via the AutoTrain. Al gave out a few copies of his book, Turning Point in History, about Energy and Transportation and how they affect many areas of our lives. The book can be downloaded free from his website, www.evprogress.org

Submitted by Mark Czajka.