Drive Sustainable!

Drive Sustainable!
Our club members drive all kinds of EVs (Teslas, BMWs, Jaguars, Leafs, Bolts, Fords, Audis, electric bikes...)

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Need volunteers for the Ability Colorado Concours Show

Our club needs to have two volunteers for the Concours Show to help park cars the day of the event (June 11, 2017). You'll need to be there right when it opens, but your services are only required for a couple of hours the day of. Please contact me if you think you might be able to help the show...

-Wilson Hitchings

EV Rebates under threat?

I got this email today from our member Mike Sheley:

Wilson,

Just some gee-whiz info I thought might be interesting to the CSEVC.  Looks like the State Legislature is kicking around a bill to eliminate the $5K EV purchase rebate.  Details here: http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-188

Would seriously impact those planning on that rebate for a Model 3 or other EV.

Cheers,
Mike

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

New Member, Adrian Sanchez

Our latest member, Adrian Sanchez, is starting an EV conversion on a 2006 Chevy HHR LT. Please make him welcome when you see him.



Got Solar? Now you can!

I just heard about Google Project Sunroof. Click the link, enter your home address and it does the calculations for you to see if you can benefit from having solar PV panels on your roof...neato!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Scottish company compared to Tesla - again

This is more a personal post than an electric vehicle post. I follow several renewable energy YouTube channels, and this company (SUNAMP) is mentioned on many of them. They have developed a thermal battery that stores/absorbs heat. The truly interesting connection is that the SUNAMP "thermal store" technology is used to reduce the load on electric delivery vehicle batteries. Their thermal batteries handle heat storage/transfer better than adding a commensurate amount of lithium-ion batteries to power the delivery vehicle air conditioning equipment.

Please view an interesting article comparing SUNAMP to Tesla here.

-Wilson H.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Jaguar I-Pace review

I found a rather nice preliminary review of the Jaguar I-Pace, which looks remarkably like a Tesla Model S. I hope Jaguar starts production! View the video here.

-Wilson H

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Colorado Springs Sustain-a-Fest!

To All:

Our club is participating in the Colorado Springs Office of Sustainability’s “Sustain-a-Fest” event on April 22. They want electric vehicles on display for the event, and some for show & rides.

Since the event is in Colorado Springs, our club would like as diverse a display of EVs as possible. We’d like to limit the number of Teslas (one or two is sufficient) and rather feature electric bikes, BMW i3’s and Nissan Leafs. These vehicles can easily visit the exhibit and help show how many choices are available in electric vehicles.

We need to get an idea of how many of our members would be willing to display their vehicles for the event, and again we’re looking for non-Tesla vehicles primarily. Please reply to me personally with your RSVP. I’ll update the blog as we get more information as to the number of vehicles we can show.

Please visit http://www.csevc.com/p/sustain-fest-2017-april-22.html for more details.

-Wilson Hitchings
Wilson.Hitchings@csevc.com

New Member - Michael Johnson

Please say hello to our latest addition, Michael Johnson. He rides a Flx Trail Electric Bike (Touring Edition w/17Ah battery). He commutes from Monument to HPE (Rockrimmon) via the New Santa Fe Trail. Michael's coworker is a Tesla owner and member and mentioned the recent meeting at the GOG.


Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Plug-in America survey

Dear Plug In America Friends,

Calling all EV drivers in Colorado - the Colorado State Energy Office and the Regional Air Quality Council are in need of your help!

With new funding for charging infrastructure set to become available very soon (i.e. through Charge Ahead funds, Alt. Fuel Colorado funds, and VW Settlement funds), EV drivers are being asked to complete the survey that will help inform where the state should invest in additional charging stations, including DC fast charging stations (DCFC). Please take a moment to complete the brief survey.

Your participation will help to ensure that future charging stations are placed in the best locations for all EV drivers. The survey should take no more than 3-5 minutes to complete.
Thank you!

Katherine Stainken

Policy Director, Plug In America

Monday, March 6, 2017

Club Meeting - Saturday, March 11, 11:30am

This Saturday, March 11th at 11:30 AM. Location:  Garden of the Gods Trading Post, 324 Beckers Lane, Manitou Springs, CO.  Park in the Eastern parking lot, like usual. The map locator is here.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Jaguar EV announced for 2018

I got this email from fellow CSEVC member Chaz Clark:

Hello!

I just stumbled across Jaguar's new EV called the I-Pace, due to be for sale in mid/late 2018.  Thought some of the other CSEV members might be interested.  I attached the e-brochure for your reading pleasure!

Cheers,

Chaz

Here's the link: http://www.jaguarusa.com/all-models/i-pace-concept-car/index.html

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

TCO - Is an EV cheaper to operate than an ICE?

It's acronym heaven owning an EV, isn't it? I just saw a video from C/Net stating that by 2040 a large percentage of cars (35%) will have a plug and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) will be less than a gas car. I've been trying to prove that myself, but it's not looking good for EVs at the moment. Based upon $2 a gallon gas, 25mpg average mileage, I calculate a gas car costs (fuel only) $.08 a mile to operate. Based upon my Model S, 275 miles on 90 kW of energy at $.12 per kW, I get $.04 per mile to operate. This saves about $500 a year in gasoline costs based upon 12,000 miles driven per year. There is no way that little savings is going to offset any EV.

Has anyone else done a similar calculation?

Here's the C/Net video: https://youtu.be/apzabFqDPMo

Note that Tony Seba is predicting faster adoption of EVs: https://youtu.be/E7Jg1IJ68_g

-Wilson H.