Last car show of the year, Bass Pro Shops

Two of our members, Mac McCauley and Wilson Hitchings, made it to the Bass Pro Shops "Last Saturdays" car show in Colorado Springs, CO. While on the smaller side in terms of attendees, it had good foot traffic.

New Member #84, Jeff Schmoyer

We have another Leaf owner to join us, Jeff Schmoyer from Colorado Springs. He has a 2013 Leaf SV, please make him welcome!

New member, #83, Tianyi Lu

Our latest member, Tianyi Lu, comes to us from Lone Tree, CO and the Denver Tesla Club. She has an Obsidian black "facelifted" MS 90D. Make her welcome when you meet her!

New Member #82, Susan DeHaan

Our newest member is Susan DeHaan, who has a 2016 Midnight Silver Tesla Model X. Please make her welcome!

Holiday Event Announced

Hello all members of the Colorado Springs Electric Vehicle Club (CSEVC)! 

Mac McCauley here!  NEWS!!

Fellow club member James Harrell has been wanting for us to have a Thanksgiving and Christmas party/meeting, maybe at Glen Eyrie Castle, here in Colorado Springs.  We, your club’s leadership, could not get our act together.  By the time we got organized, EVERY date in December had been booked.  Finally, today, we met with the Glen Eyrie events coordinator.  We decided that an evening event would cost far too much, so:

We will have our normal November meeting there!  We paid the required deposit for 30 people.  We are on the schedule!

You can view the Glen Eyrie website for further information on the castle here:

http://www.gleneyrie.org/

The monthly meeting of the Colorado Springs Electric Vehicle Club will be (second Saturday) November 12^th at 11:30 AM, INSIDE THE CASTLE in Glen Eyrie Castle, Colorado Springs. 

This will be a sandwich BUFFET, consisting of chips, potato salad, fresh fruit, sandwich bar with condiments, water and soda.  The cost, which we have already paid, is $17.32 per person, including tax.  So that I don’t have to make change for everyone, if you could just give me $20, we will put the other $2.68 toward making more club business cards, paying for the club web site, etc. 

Please note:  You should not just show up at the door expecting to get in.  You MIGHT get in, but maybe not.  You must let us know you will attend.  I will answer your email by saying you are IN!  Only then will your name will be on the list. 

Question:  What if less than 30 people show up?  Answer:  I will find people to make up the difference.  (And I probably will not do this again).

Question:  What if MORE than 30 people want to attend?  Answer:  As long as I know who is coming IN ADVANCE, we can change the number of attendees, so all is well.

CHECK YOUR CALENDAR!  If you can make it, just let me know who you are and how many people will be there.  Just click here to open an email to me:

mailto:mac.mccauley@csevc.com

Remember, it is not official until I answer your email and tell you that you are on the list.

DETAILS:  On November 12^th, you cannot enter prior to 11 AM.  The meal starts at Noon, the event is over at 1:00 PM.  The event will be in the King James Room, inside the castle.  Should you like to walk about the grounds, you are welcome to do so after the event.  Park near the castle, there is plenty of parking.  NOTE:  DO NOT PARK
NEXT TO THE HILL!  Bighorn sheep and mountain goats scramble about up there and knock down rocks on cars!  When we visited today, there was a HUGE wild bighorn sheep walking around the grounds!

I will send you a reminder and a more newsy email next week.

Be sure to check out YOUR club’s website, csevc.com:

http://www.csevc.com/

My undying thanks to Wilson Hitchings, our webmaster, who keeps the site so interesting!!

See you all next month!!!! 

Mac

Teslas in production now will have autonomous hardware installed

The big announcement is in - new Teslas will get autonomous driving sensors and computers.

https://chargedevs.com/newswire/teslas-now-being-produced-with-full-self-driving-hardware/

Thermal battery in an EV

What an interesting idea - put a thermal battery in an EV to store heat rather than use battery power to heat the cabin. Checkout https://youtu.be/CNHwQUuKwCo . I can see a use where the thermal battery gets charged at night during off-peak hours and the heat is applied to warm the cabin and/or battery.

New development in EV heating systems

Proposed resistance heating (ohmic) for EVs promises up to 30% energy savings, which we all would like. See https://chargedevs.com/newswire/aimplas-heating-system-for-evs-reduces-energy-consumption-by-30/ for details.

Another EV Fall Colors Tour - Guanella Pass, CO

So I made it to Guanella Pass, CO today looking for Fall Color. There was some, but not a significant amount of aspens turning colors. I made it from Colorado Springs to Georgetown, CO to the Summit back to Park Meadows Mall on one charge. I could've made it back to Colorado Springs without a top-up at Park Meadows but I needed a bio-break!
-Wilson Hitchings

EV Video

I received this message from our club member, David McNeill:

Wilson,

 

We met a lady at the CSEVC meeting today that wanted to share a link with the club, to a video on EV ownership, which was filmed in Orange County, CA. One of the vehicle owners interviewed is her son's father-in-law, Mike Manning. The link is: http://www.losaltv.org/?page_id=9 then scroll down to "Backstory - EV Rising". It is a 47 minute video with a very good 12 minute intro.

 

Thanks,

 

David

Yowsa! New Tesla owners beware!

Holy Smokes, I just got my licence plate renewal notice for my 1-year old Tesla. Nearly $1,300.00 to keep my plate. Does anyone know if there is a fee levied on EVs because we don't buy gas?
-Wilson Hitchings

Post Update from Tom Mealey:

I found this page in El Paso county web.  http://car.elpasoco.com/MotorVehicle/Pages/TaxesandFees.aspx

The first table is for sales tax when we bought our Tesla.

The second table is annual ownership tax.  This is where they nail us. It decreases based on vehicle age.

The third table is the actual license fees.

I did not see any fees for electric vehicles.   

Potential Leaf purchaser needs advice

I was contacted by Karla Crescenta a few days ago, asking if some current Nissan Leaf owners could get in touch with her. She's considering a Nissan Leaf purchase next year and would like to discuss moving from her Prius to a 100% EV. Please use this link to contact Karla if you're a Leaf owner and are able to assist her.
-Wilson Hitchings

Newest member, Scott Carter, #80

Scott Carter met many of our club members at the Drive Electric Week 2016 and has decided to join. He drives a rare Chevy Spark EV, so he'll be an interesting person to talk to.

Fall Colors Tour 2016 - Pictures

We had nine Teslas on our Fall Colors Tour, and met two new Tesla owners that will probably join. Thanks to the Denver Tesla Club for helping choose our route. We stopped several times along the drive for pictures, a pit stop at Deckers, CO and for charging/lunch in downtown Colorado Springs.