Electric vehicle article in the Gazette

 Thanks to Mike Witter for the PDF file from Tuesday's Gazette:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_myLW5ShZcaq8kvbWfUx_uR7ZNKCBViZ/view?usp=sharing

Mercedes Benz electric cars

 Go to page 10 of the Pikes Peak Mercedes Benz newsletter (below) to see some announcements from MB about their planed electric cars:

http://www.pikespeakmbca.org/pdfs/ppsjan21nltr.pdf

Electric quad builder teams up with Tesla

 The Tesla UK group has teamed up with Eco Charger quad builder:

https://destination-cms.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/eco-charger/pdfs/2020/EC-Winter-Newsletter-2020-(Digital-Version).pdf

View Pointe Assisted Living parade - Wednesday, 12/23/2020

 The CSEVC participated in a car parade at the View Pointe Assisted Living complex yesterday, Dec. 13. The residents went out on their balconies and waved at the cars looping around the buildings.

Colorado Springs Service Center

 Thanks to James Harrell for photos of the Tesla Service Center in Colorado Springs...

New member CJ Quattrone

 CJ Quattrone is our latest new member, he lives in Colorado Springs, CO and has a 2021 Tesla Model Y Long Range. Please make him welcome when you meet him!

The perfect all-season, all-weather tire?

 Is this the best year-round tire ever? https://youtu.be/PT2odY3C6Og

Review of the RAV4 Prime hybrid

 Check out the RAV4 hybrid: https://youtu.be/KfVpHWGO9CQ

Fully Charged review of Fiat 500e

 Check out a review of the now-available Fiat 500e: https://youtu.be/JsSAPAkTfT8

World's first electric forecourt

 Here is the future, folks, of vehicle charging. Why doesn't the USA have this?

https://youtu.be/FoN4WCpuxHY

Cadillac Dealers leave the business

GM has given an ultimatum to its Cadillac dealerships that they need to improve their facilities and training in order to start selling the new Cadillac EV, and many have opted to leave GM rather than comply: https://www.wsj.com/articles/about-150-u-s-cadillac-dealers-to-exit-brand-rather-than-sell-electric-cars-11607111494

The Morris van gets an update

The Morris van is going electric: https://youtu.be/TQWJT7Ozjmg

Botique car makers getting desperate

 Thanks to Robert G. for a link to an Astin Martin PR boondoggle:

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/12/01/aston-martin-linked-to-a-study-spreading-misinformation-about-evs/

Welcome Stephen Whiting to the club!

 Please welcome Stephen Whiting to the CSEVC, he has a 2020 Tesla Model 3 and lives in Colorado Springs, CO. Thanks for joining, Stephen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving, club members!

-Wilson Hitchings

CSEVC Web Admin

Get 'em while they're hot!

 I don't often recommend a product or service (we're not that kind of club!), but I just received my bi-monthly copy of Charged magazine. I learn a lot from this publication, and recommend it to all EV owners.

Buying a Tesla in New Mexico

 Thanks to David McNeil for this link to a Tesla purchaser's experience in New Mexico:

https://ev4corners.org/on-buying-a-tesla-in-new-mexico/

New members Mike and Ryan

 Please welcome our newest members, Mike Maday and Ryan Spradlin. Both live in Colorado Springs, CO. Mike drives a 2019 Nissan Leaf, and Ryan has a 2019 Tesla Model 3 and 2021 Tesla Model Y. We're glad to have you both!

New member Derek Gore

 Please welcome Derek Gore to the club, he drives a 2020 Tesla Model Y and lives in Colorado Springs, CO!

Here's Derek's email back to me, introducing himself:

Hi Wilson! I can’t really remember who gave me a CSEV card a few weeks back. Mine is a 2020 Model Y, two motor AWD, and long range battery pack. I picked it up in June at Littleton Tesla.

We just moved here May 2019. I had to go back to Louisiana to sell our five acre property and new house from 2015 there. We met the movers, put the boxes in the right rooms and my wife stayed here for six months while I was there prepping the house for sale and selling it. I had a full size Ford tractor, a rider with clippings cans in back, two push mowers, string trimmers to sell, as well as my Dodge Ram Diesel long bed, an HHR, and a Hyundai Elantra. So we came with her 2006 Subaru Baja, and my new 2019 Subaru Forester. Then we found the Model Y this year and we sold the Baja, my wife took the Forester and the Model Y is mine.

My carbon fiber dash and center console covers will be in this Friday. I had it clear wrapped this week too. Getting it ready for winter.

Unfortunately COVID has limited our social life to nothing. So we know only a few folks here. We have two other Tesla owners one street down. But until the virus gets put under control we are only going out for food and medical. I taught at the Academy here 1978-1981. Retired AF after 27 years. Been a bum ever since. 

Tesla Model 3 crash at Pikes Peak Hill Climb

 If you'd like to hear Randy Probst's explanation of his crash at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, take a gander: https://youtu.be/v3NJRgv8ThA

Good review of the new Hummer EV

 I follow this YouTube channel, Engineering Explained, and they did a preliminary review of the new GM Hummer EV: https://youtu.be/LkM0L4_W_pM

Reaction to Tesla FSD

 Here's a video (courtesy from our club member Robert G.) from a Tesla owner that just got Full Self Drive (beta): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0S_aa3-9Hw&feature=youtu.be

Scavenger Hunt with DMCC

 Here's a message I received from Julia Davila, who works with the Denver Metro Clean Cities:

I published the blog post I wrote about the Colorado Springs EV Club. Thank you again for speaking with me, and please let me know if you’d like me to make any changes or add anything to this post. I’ll be advertising it on social media for DEC channels as well.

Also, if you haven’t already joined, Drive Electric Colorado is hosting a Colorado-wide EV Experience Scavenger Hunt, where participants can complete missions like test drives or locating local chargers to become more aware of and knowledgeable of electric vehicles. This is a great way for people to learn about EVs and there are also prizes at stake, so I’d really appreciate if you could spread the word to your EV club! Here’s more information to pass along to your club, friends, and family.

 

Thanks,

Julia Davila 

New member Charles Paulsen

Our newest member, Charles Paulsen, lives in Pueblo, CO and has a 2002 Toyota Echo. He plans to buy an EV in 2021. Please make him welcome!

Golden, CO EV Event

Our new member, Harry Doby, recently visited the EV event in Golden, CO. 

The photos from the event are here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z434nthgivg272h/AADK3TuvzId82kwTXDecxAbwa?dl=0

Here are the pictures from yesterday's Electric Week event held at Golden Real Estate in Golden.  Their parking lot had two J1772 charging stations.  And they even invited everyone to bring styrofoam packaging materials to be recycled.

The turnout was pretty good.  As you can see from the pictures there were examples of just about every type of EV currently on the market.

I counted two Chevy Volts, two Chevy Bolts, two Hyundai Kona's, two Nissan Leafs, two Model S's, two Model Y's (what is this, Noah's Arc?), a Model X, an Audi eTron, Fiat 500e, a brand new Mini Cooper SE, and three Model 3's.

The red Model Y was a LR AWD with 20" turbine wheels.  The owner had just taken delivery about a week earlier (as had the white Model 3 next to it).  I couldn't believe how many different style adapters the Model Y owner had.  He was ready for any occasion! 

Sorry I didn't write down more details or people's names.  I had a constant stream of folks asking me about my Model Y, including a couple from Arizona looking to trade their RWD Model 3. Most were curious about the real world range, so I shared my experience with my 216 mile drive up Pikes Peak and back to north Denver with 94 miles of range left over. Several people asked how it rode with the 19" wheels, and how easy was it to get used to the center screen and the controls; was the white interior difficult to keep clean (not yet ;-)  The cavernous amount of room of the Y in the back with the seats folded down impressed even the Audi eTron owner!  The Model 3 owners from AZ liked the deeper frunk of the Y.

Hope the pictures are helpful!  Let me know if you have any problems accessing the pictures.

Harry

Thanks to Rob Bowers for the following pictures of the Echo EV at the Golden Show:

EV Trip data from Mark H

 I just got a great email from Mark Holzrichter about a trip he made recently, including energy usage. He's also the source of the trip data on our blog ( http://www.csevc.com/p/ev-trip-data.html ).

Here's his message:

Hi Wilson,

You were pleased to receive energy/mileage data from our trip years ago.  Here's another batch from last month.  I'm including odometer readings to brag about how much we've used our car.

Feel free to publish this in CSEVC.com, or ignore it.  It's certainly not as valuable now that there are so many Super Chargers, multiple EV trip planners, and the in-car navigator is smarter.

Again I used EVTripPlanner.com.  I used to donate each time we used it for a trip, but the donate button is gone.  I tried ABetterRoutePlanner.com but it thinks my car uses much more energy.  But it does have a nicer output.  Do you still use any trip planner besides the car's navigator?

By the way, we used Tesla Destination chargers in Ouray at KJ Wood Distillers, in Silverton at the Wyman Hotel, and ChargePoint chargers in Palisade and at the Montrose Recreational Center.  We love KJ Wood.  All four in Silverton were blocked by ICEs but I was able to back into an adjacent diagonal parking (maybe not a legal maneuver) to get the cord to reach.  There's no EV preference marking for the parking in Palisade, but the spots were open.  The charger in Montrose seemed even slower then most (204V 19A => 12 RMPH).

Driving over Red Mountain Pass and Monarch Pass made me feel like that's what the car was designed to do.  Such a joy.

Mark

DMCC Virtual Presentation this Saturday!

Sonja Meintsma of Denver Metro Clean Cities invites everyone to attend this Saturday's Virtual EV Ride & Drive at 9:00am - 10:30am. She says: " We’d love to have other EV drivers there on Saturday who can give their perspectives and we encourage everyone to invite people they know who don’t have EVs yet to join. This will be a fun, safe event." Please pre-register at:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwuc-6tpz0vGtYCcZ6EvXb85HE1Jd1ll4pz

Also we will be talking about our EV Experience Scavenger Hunt (take a look here: https://driveelectriccolorado.org/event/ev-scavenger-hunt) which is a fun way for people who are new to EVs to learn about them.

Tesla's battery day, explained

 Here is an excellent summary of Tesla's recent battery day: https://youtu.be/dlwlEEWSECs

New member Harry Doby

Our latest member, Harry G Doby, has a 2020 Tesla Model Y and lives in Denver, CO. Please make him welcome when you see him!

New member Darya Tongen

Darya Tongen is our latest new member! She has a 2020 Tesla model S Performance, please make her welcome!

NDEW Event

 Thanks to Dan Rosenblatt, James Harrell and Mike Witter for photos of today's National Drive Electric Week event in Colorado Springs, CO!