EAASV Meetings

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Become a Member of the EAA
(membership & donations are tax deductible)

Donate to the Silicon Valley EAA Chapter
(select "Silicon Valley Chapter" aka "SVLY")

Regular meetings on
3rd Saturday of each month, 10am - noon

All meetings open to the public
(membership is not required )

Normal meeting location is
HP at 3000 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94034
Directions

(Any changes to the meeting location or times will be noted with the individual meeting topics below)

July 17, 2010 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Kaneshka Salehi, founder of AE Motor Corp.

Kaneshia will talk about the EVs that his startup is developing. They are a new player in the EV market, should be interesting.

August 21, 2010 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Tim Collins, founder of KleenSpeed Technologies.

Tim will talk about the EV racecars and drive-train components that they developing. This promises to be something a little different from the normal consumer vehicle.

Past Meeting Summary

June 19, 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars.org.

Felix has been the champion of the Plug-In hybrid concept which is finally being accepted by the major automakers who once rejected the idea. Toyota has announced a Plug-in Prius, and GM is finalizing the plug-in Chevy Volt.

So CalCars declared SUCCESS and is now focusing on another plug-in direction. Felix will be talking about CalCars' "Big Fix" campaign, and his latest proposal to Washington for a "Drive Star" program to jumpstart a global conversion industry.

More details are at the following two webpages:
Drive-star and CalCars News.

May 15, 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Michael Worry, Founder, OptaMotive.

To date, only 1/3 of the teams which began in the X-Prize have survived to qualify for the 'shake down' phase of the competition. Of these, OptaMotive is the only one that has a background building combat robots. Their robot "Ziggy" has been the undefeated champion for four years running.

The founders switched to building EVs because "while building the RoboGames robots is extremely fun and rewarding", has much greater social impact".

Michael will talk about how the E.Rex re-purposes the existing design of the Canadian 3-wheeled Campaigna T-Rex using off the shelf parts, but also has a unique battery management system which optimizes performance. If time allows, there will be rides in the E.Rex vehicle. Ziggy will also be on display.

April 17, 2010

* NO MEETING - Due to many Earth Day events this month.

Show your support for the environment by attending other local events in April, check out our Events page for some ideas. Thank you.

March 20, 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Jim Castelaz, CEO, Motiv Power Systems.

Jim will talk about Power Management systems for electric-drive trucks and buses made by his company.

February 27, 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Special Venue: All-chapter meeting, Electric Auto Association.

This meeting is the annual all-chapter meeting of the EAA with audio hook-up with chapters from accross the country. Summary of past year's activities of EAA world-wide organization and awards will be given to recognize the efforts of key individuals towards the EAA mission.

February 20, 2010

* NO MEETING due to time conflicts.

January 16, 2010 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Warren Winovich.

Warren will speak about the performance of Tesla roadsters using published data and his analysis based on many years of experience with EVs. It should an interesting look at current technology in this high-end EV.

Also the annual election of officers for the Silicon Valley chapter. Please attend to show your support of the current officers and to cast your vote for 2010 candidates. Volunteers to run for positions will be accepted at the meeting.

December 19, 2009 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: None - Holidays Movie Matinee

And now for something completely differentt!! A morning of movies and popcorn. Take a break from holiday shopping and join us for some EV-related videos.

The first video will be an episode of American Chopper on The Learning Channel. The show is about the adventures of a grumpy old motorcycle builder, Paul Teutul, Sr. and his sons in the family business. This time they are building an electric motorcycle. Their customer is Siemens (Europe's answer to General Electric) who has a windmill factory here in the US. They show some nice footage during the factory tour and there is an impressive line-up of flatbed rail cars outside the plant with a long windmill blade on each one.

The second video is from a website called EV-TV featuring and a "mature gentleman", Jack Rickard who has a very nice work shop, lots of EV know-how and he even wears Crocs like Jerry Pohorsky (don't hold that against him). He has a weekly show discussing some very nice EV conversions, technical info about use of Lithium batteries in EVs, etc. He drives a Porsche 356 EV convertible and is also converting a MiniCooper Clubman. We are hoping to have the episode where he takes apart a ThunderSky battery so we can see what's inside the case.

Please contact jerry Pohorsky if you can bring popcorn or other treats. Other ideas for videos are appreciated also, we will play whatever the crowd wants to see, join us for some holiday fun (educational too).

November 21, 2009 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* First Guest Speaker: Eric & Steve Schmidt.

Eric & Steve will briefly discuss the Lithium Battery Booster which they built to charge individual cells in their traction battery pack. It is a form of DC-to-DC converter than can be used on the road when their battery monitor indicates a low voltage in one of the cells of their converted MG.

* Second Guest Speaker: Peter Holoyda, Renewably First.

Peter will briefly discuss the mission of Renewably First, a 501(C) 3 not-for-profit organization. Primarily, Renewably First is interested in getting zero emission vehicles and the infrastructure to support them on the road. Their goal is to go further than advocacy to aggregate orders and reduce costs to get more vehicles on the road.

* Third Guest Speaker: Doug Schwartz, ELV Motors.

Doug will discuss Electric Light Vehicle products sold by ELV Motors at their store in Santa Clara and through their web site. This includes Electric Bicycles, Electric Scooters, Electric Motorcycles, and others. We will wrap up the meeting with test rides of some Vehicles in the parking lot.

October 17, 2009 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Jerry Pohorsky, eeVee Motors.

Jerry will discuss High End EV Conversions. Most EV Conversions use a DC motor and lead acid batteries. While this is the most affordable combination of components, the performance leaves a lot to be desired. Some conversions use Lithium batteries and a DC motor while others use and AC motor with Lead Acid batteries.

It is relatively rare to find a conversion with both Lithium batteries and an AC motor. This combination gives the best range and offers regenerative braking - the same features typically found in the best commercially produced EVs.

EeVee Motors was started by a small group of EAA members to offer this type of conversion EV to the public. Jerry Pohorsky is a part of this group and will give more details about the conversion and the design decisions the team made during the process. Particular attention will be given to the eLithion battery management system used in this conversion.

The eeVee Motors 2001 Honda Civic will be on display after the meeting.

September 19, 2009 - No Meeting

The normal monthly meeting for September was cancelled due to conflicts with other events.

August 15, 2009 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: None

This meeting will be used for final planning of the 2009 EV Rally. Organizers and other volunteers helping with the Rally should plan to attend. Thank you for your support.

July 18, 2009 10am - noon at HP, Palo Alto

* Guest Speaker: Mark Z. Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University.

Professor Jacobson will speak on "Evaluation of Energy Solutions to Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Security"

This study reviews and ranks major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, wildlife, resource availability, thermal pollution, water chemical pollution, and nuclear proliferation. Nine electric power sources and two liquid fuel options are considered.

The electricity sources include solar-photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage technology. The liquid fuel options include corn-ethanol (E85) and cellulosic E85.

To place the electric and liquid fuel sources on an equal footing, his examines their comparative abilities to address the problems mentioned by powering new-technology vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles , and flex-fuel vehicles run on E85.

A paper on this work is available here.

June 20, 2009 - NO MEETING

The normal monthly meeting for June was cancelled.

May 16, 2009 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Rob Means and Brian Howell,
Electro Ride Bikes and Scooters.

As gas prices approached their true cost last year, interest in Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) spiked. Twelve-year veteran of the LEV industry, Rob Means, and his associate Brian Howell will provide an overview of LEVs ranging from electric bikes, scooters, Motorcycles, NEVs (traditional and new 35mph vehicles), up to three-wheeled commuter cars including the innovative, Freeway-capable TriTrack that is scheduled for delivery later this year.

Electro Ride Bikes and Scooters
1421 Yellowstone Ave
Milpitas, CA 95035-6913
408-262-8975

April 18, 2009 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Hanif Gangji

Hanif Gangji has recently completed conversion of his 1990 Honda CRX to EV. The car is powered by 37 ThunderSky Li-ion batteries, 3.2v at 160Ah each using a battery management system of his own design with an individual BMS circuit board mounted on each battery. He will talk about details of the conversion project, the design of the BMS and experinece so far with the ThunderSky batteries.

March 21, 2009 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Glenn Forslin (President) and Adi Merschon (VP Sales), Automation Solar.

They will give a presentation about the basics of roof-mounted PV Solar Systems. Including Various technologies in common use, the essence of grid-tied NET Metering, discuss a case study with contribution to the environment and potential savings and Cash Flow for a typical system.

Automation Solar recently installed a home system for Jerry Pohorsky consisting of 28 Sharp panels (175 watt each) and 28 Enphase 240 VAC micro-inverters. The Enphase inverter is unique in that they mount under the panels on the roof, eliminating long runs of heavy DC wires to a convential inverter at the utility breaker panel. The output of this system can be monitored via a web page that will be demonstrated live at the meeting.

February 21, 2009 10am - noon

* Special Venue: All-chapter meeting, Electric Auto Association.

This meeting is the annual all-chapter meeting of the EAA with audio hook-up with chapters from accross the country. Summary of past year's activities of EAA world-wide organization and awards will be given to recognize the efforts of key individuals towards the EAA mission.

Dan Reuter (President of Ethical Approach Auto Sales) will bring some of his ZAP vehicles to the meeting. The cars will be displayed in the parking lot so people could see them after the meeting. Dan is the new ZAP dealer in San Jose on Stevens Creek near Saratoga Ave and he has been a vendor at our rally for the past 2 years.

January 17, 2009 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Ron Freund (Chairman of the Board), Electric Auto Association.

The guest speaker for our January meeting is Ron Freund who is Chairman of the Board for the Electric Auto Association. Ron will give a presentation on the topic of Electric Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G).

Since most cars are driven under 2 hours per day, V2G takes advantage of excess energy stored in the on-board battery while the electric car is parked and feeds it back into the power grid during times of peak demand. Enough power will be left in the vehicle to allow the driver to make it back home again if this is done while they are at work. It is envisioned that the driver will earn income from selling his excess battery power to the utility while the utility gains access to these energy reserves and so avoids the use of expensive "peaker" power plants.

The driver charges the car back up late at night when power demand and rates are low. Of course, thousands of cars need to be V2G equipped in order to make it worthwhile for all involved, but that is the direction the technology is moving.

Also at our January meeting, we will have an election for the 2009 officers for our Silicon Valley EAA Chapter. Nominations for President, Vice President and Treasurer will be solicited at the beginning of the meeting.

December 20, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speakers: Fraser Murison Smith (CEO) and Jon Derickson (CTO), ElectraDrive.

Winner of the Transportation Prize in the 2008 CA Clean Tech Open, ElectraDrive is commercializing an invention to enable existing cars and light trucks to be rapidly and inexpensively adapted to electric traction. The invention, ElectraMount, is designed to adjust and bolt to a vehicle's mounting attachments vacated by the gas engine and transmission, which are removed. ElectraMount represents a previously missing link between electric drive technologies and the mass market of existing vehicles.

ElectraDrive is initially targeting fleet customers with an integrated, extended-range electric drivetrain, bundled with ancillary services. With electric miles around one-sixth of the cost of gasoline miles, ElectraDrive carries very low operating costs. It enables the service life of existing vehicles to be extended, thereby also deferring significant energy and resource costs of vehicle manufacture.

The economics of ElectraDrive are similar to rooftop solar, although with a somewhat shorter payback, at no regulatory risk. ElectraDrive presently is raising investment for product development, with initial deliveries scheduled for Q4, 2009.

ElectraDrive is an EAA member.

November 15, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speakers: Jerry Pohorsky, EAASV.

Jerry will present video highlights from the October 2008, Kick Gas Festival at Barona Drag Strip near San Diego. This EVent was jointly sponsored by the EVAOSD (San Diego EAA chapter) and NEDRA (National Electric Drag Racing Association). www.kickgasfestival.com

Grand Marshall for the EVent was Chris Paine (Director of "Who Killed the Electric Car?"). Chris was there filming for his upcoming sequel tentatively titled: "Revenge of the Electric Car".

The Kick Gas Festival attracted a wide variety of vehicles - ranging from an electric ice chest to Dennis Berube's "QUICK EV", a lithium-powered S-10 that beat a Camaro. Also on hand was the first solar powered electric car as well as Jerry Asher's "Spirit of DC" plug-in hybrid that is visiting all the EAA chapters in America.

We will be presenting souvenir DVDs of the 2008 EAASV Electric Car Rally and Show to volunteers who helped organize that EVent. We gave away a few copies at our EAASV meeting last month, but not everyone was present. If you were a volunteer for the event and did not get your free copy last month, please come by and get yours this Saturday. Additional copies will be for sale at $5 each.

October 18, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speakers: Rolf Schreiber and Alec Proudfoot, RechargeIT.org.
They are part of Google's RechargeIT.org project that has a small demonstration fleet of plug-in vehicles.

Brief introduction to RechargeIT: how it started, what's been done, where it's going
Overview of their home-grown data logging system: hardware, data flow, website
Lessons learned from the data
They plan to bring a plug-in Prius to the meeting so you can see the system up-close after the presentation.

September 20, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Quin Garcia, Project Better Place.
Project Better Place is working to build an elecric car network, using technology available today. Founded by Shai Agassi in 2005 they have a bold plan to solve EV infrastructure in Israel, Denmark and elsewhere.

Quin will present thier vision and progress to make it real.

September 17, 2008 (Wednesday) 7pm - 9pm

* Guest speaker: Bill Lofft, CEO ZuumCraft.
Bill Lofft, CEO of ZuumCraft will tell us about their new product, the Zuumer. This three wheeled scooter is perfect for those short trips where you don't need a car and don't want to work up a sweat pedaling a bike or walking. You just step on it and go. The scooter has a unique leaning feature that allows is to slalom turn just like a two wheeled scooter but it stands up by itself when you are stopped. No need to put your foot down for balance.

Check out the video clips at their website

August 16, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Richard Lowenthal, Coulomb Technology.
Coulomb Technologies offers the ChargePoint(tm) Network, a family of products and services that provide a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles.

Richard will talk about their technology and company plans.

July 19, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Bernadette Guimarin, EVIN.
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Network, Inc. (EVIN) is a company developing infrastructure for extending the effective range of electric vehicles through a replaceable battery platform and a network of battery exchange stations. More information about the company can be found at their website, EVINNOW.

They are now converting a Saturn to an EV using their technology and plan to have the finished car at the meeting. They will talk about the conversion project and their vision for EVIN.

July 17, 2008 7pm - 9pm

* Guest speaker: Louis Palmer, Solartaxi.
This special meeting as he drives around the world on his mission to bring awareness to EV solution to global warming. See more on his travels on the Solartaxi page.

June 21, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Warren Winovich.
Warren will speak about calculating expected EV battery life.

May 17, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Jorg Brown, Google. Jorg is the owner of the second production Tango (serial number 002) from Commuter Cars. He will bring his Tango into the meeting and give a short presentation about his expeiences with the car so far. There may be rides for lucky members of the audience if time and sufficent charge permits.

A short video about the Tango, narrated by Rick Woodbury, CEO can be seen here.

April 19, 2008 - NO MEETING

There will be no regular meeting this month due to conflict with the "Get your Green On" event at the Los Gatos High School. See EVents for details. There are several events of interest in April. Please show your support at these events, thanks.

April 17, 2008, 7:00pm to 8:30pm - EV Conversion Overview Class

Doug Brentlinger and Jerry Pohorsky will be giving an EV conversion overview class at the Green Building Exchange, 305 Main Street, Redwood City, CA 94063.

Come learn what it takes to convert your vehicle to electric. This multimedia workshop overviews the process of converting a gasoline car to an electric vehicle. You will hear tips on selecting a conversion-ready vehicle, compare many of the trade-offs of different conversion options, and receive links to resources and information. The workshop also outlines financial incentives and other alternative vehicle options.

There is a $15 fee to attend the workshop which can be paid by check at the event or by online reservation for an entra $.99. See the Green Building Exchange website for more details. Click on Calender button on top of the home page and scroll down to the date to find workshop description and regristration.

March 15, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Warren Winovich. He will be talking about using batteries to provide emergency power at home. Warren was without power for over 3 days in February and used a 12 volt battery and a 400 Watt inverter to run his TV and some living room lamps. Warren was able to calculate how long the battery would power his equipment, using a formula for a given load.

Inverter prices are very low these days and just about everybody has a 12 volt battery in their car, so this exercise can benefit anyone in an upcoming emergency such as an earthquake.

Warren's formula is also useful to determine the range of an electric vehicle. Many of us with EVs never drive to the point where we are completely out of range and we may be curious to find out just how far our vehicle could go in case of an emergency.

February 16, 2008 10am - noon

Annual all-chapter meeting of the EAA with audio hook-up with chapters from across the country.

January 19, 2008 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Richard Hatfield, Lightning Motors. Those of you who were at the December meeting saw his Lithium powered Yamaha 1000 electric motorcycle. He will describe the design of this motorcycle which includes ThunderSky 90 Amp-hour Lithium Ferro Phosphate batteries and a Zivan charger. He'll also discuss Lightning Motors' plans to offer these bikes to 'beta testers' and their plans to offer AC drive conversion kits to those who prefer cars. Here is a related LA Times article that was reprinted in TreeHugger.

December 15, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Bill Dube, KillaCycle. Bill has the fastest electric motorcycle on the track (over 160 mph). The KillaCycle made drag racing history at Pomona in November when it became the first electric-powered vehicle to make a seven-second pass in the 1/4 mile. Watch the video here.

November 17, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Eric Fisher, U.S. distributor of Silicone Batteries. Eric has installed a set of these batteries in his Solectria Force and put them through over 2,000 miles of driving so far with good results. His commute has an elevation change of a couple thousand feet. These batteries solve some of the inherent problems with lead acid batteries. He will bring some sample batteries to the meeting.

October 20, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest speaker: Dr. Ron Morgan, Faraday Motor Works. He will discuss these topics.
Who is Faraday Motor Works Inc.
Some thoughts on habitat destruction
Description of our first vehicle
Design of the vehicle
Propulsion system
Power supply
Charging alternatives
Future direction of the company

September 15, 2007 10am - noon

* Tour the TechShop in Menlo Park. The TechShop is a fully-equipped open-access workshop and creative environment that lets you drop in any time and work on your own projects at your own pace. It is like a health club with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment...or a Kinko's for geeks.

Anyone can come in and build and make all kinds of things themselves using the TechShop tools, machines and equipment, and draw on the TechShop instructors and experts to help them with their projects.

TechShop is designed for everyone, regardless of their skill level. TechShop is perfect for inventors, "makers", hackers, tinkerers, artists, roboteers, families, entrepreneurs, youth groups, FIRST robotic teams, arts and crafts enthusiasts, and anyone else who wants to be able to make things that they dream up but don't have the tools, space or skills.

The TechShop workshop provides a wide variety of machinery and tools for the open and unlimited use of its members, including milling machines and lathes, welding stations and plasma cutters, sheet metal working equipment, drill presses and band saws, industrial sewing machines, hand tools, plastic working equipment, electronics design and fabrication facilities, tubing and metal bending machines, electrical supplies and tools, and pretty much everything you'd ever need to make just about anything all by yourself.

Special Meeting: Tuesday Aug 14th, 2007 at 7pm.

* Guest Speaker: Michael Kadie. Michael will show off and talk about his Electric 65 Coupe which he is taking on a US Tour and challenging White Zombie for the NEDRA Title. See ssi-racing.com for details of Michael's plans.
NOTE: This meeting will either be at the HP facility in Palo Alto (our regular meeting place), or the HP Cupertino Oak Room -- stay tuned for further details.

June 16, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Warren Winovich. Topic: Electric car efficiency study. Specifically Warren will talk about a member's AC Propulsion Saturn Coupe, which has performance similar to the EV1. AC Propulsion is well known for their tZero electric sports car and more recently for their e-Box Scion Xb conversion. Come find out more about this one-of-a-kind EV and see how Warren calculates the power consumption of the car under various driving conditions.

May 19, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Neal Saiki, Electricross, Inc. (http://www.electricross.com). Topic: Electric motorcycles intended for off road use and motocross racing events. Neal will bring one of the motorcycles to the meeting.

April 17, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest Speakers: Warren Winovich & Bill Palter. Topic: 40 years of the EAA. Come hear Warren and Bill share insights and a little history of the EAA. This is the 40th anniversary year for the EAA. The EAA was formed after an EV Symposium at San Jose State in 1967.

March 17, 2007 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Tom Gage, CEO AC Propulsion. Tom talked about their new lithium powered eBox among other topics. They recently delivered the first eBox to actor Tom Hanks. This is an encore presentation that Tom gave at the March 10 UCSC EV Symposium. See a copy of Tom's presentation.

Feb 24, 2007 10am - noon

This will be the annual meeting of the EAA, complete with audio hook-up with chapters from across the country.

Oct 21, 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Jim Larson, Clean Air Transportation Group, PG&E. Jim's topics will be the promise of VTG (Vehicle to Grid) technology and Plug in Partners. PG&E is a member of Plug in Partners, a group of utility companies that is lining up "soft orders" for EVs and PHEVs (Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) by offering financial incentives for customers. This is a win-win situation since it makes the purchase of the new technology vehicles more affordable for the consumer and also builds a network of vehicle battery packs that can be used to store off-peak electricity to help the utility. While this may sound like magic, there is solid engineering behind it and you can come to the meeting to find out more about how it works and how you can benefit.

* Review of the Sept 30 Rally

Nov 18 , 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Representatives from GreenEmotors. They will conduct an informal forum to find out what kind of electric vehicles our members and guests would like to see and buy in the near future. They are planning a trip to Taiwan and mainland China to visit with manufacturers and see what new Electric Vehicle products are available. Our input will help them pick and choose which vehicles to import. They already sell and service affordable 2 passenger scooters that were on display at our recent EV Rally and show, but they are not just a scooter supplier. If you want an enclosed electric vehicle that can go on the freeway, here's your chance to come and let them know. Few of us can afford a Tango or Tesla roadster, but there are other options being developed in Asia that will soon hit our shores and you can come and help determine which ones make it.

After the meeting, Brian Howell will be there with his new Myers NMG (Sparrow). Brian has developed a relationship with some Lithium battery suppliers and is working on boosting the range of this 1 passenger enclosed 3 wheeler to over 100 miles per charge. Brian was also a vendor at our recent Rally and Show and offers a line of custom electric recumbant bikes - some with Lithium batteries.

Dec 16 , 10am - noon

* Guest Speaker: Bill Dube. Bill has the fastest electric motorcycle on the track (over 150 mph), www.killacycle.com.

Jan 20 , 10am - noon

* We viewed highlights of the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?". The chapter has a copy of the DVD for members to borrow.

Map to Silicon Valley Chapter Meeting

See Summary of previous meetings

The Silicon Valley Chapter of the EAA (free and open to the public) meets on the third Saturday of each month from 10am to 12:30pm at Hewlett-Packard, 3000 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA, building 20 level A, Auditorium.

Directions: From 101, take Oregon Expressway West to El Camino Real. Oregon Expressway changes to Page Mill Rd after you cross El Camino Real. Continue west to Hanover and turn left. Make a right at the first driveway.

From 280, turn off at Page Mill Rd., continue East past Foothill Expressway. Continue on Page Mill Rd. to the bottom of the hill which will be Hanover. Turn right on to Hanover, turn right again at the next driveway.

-about 15 minutes of social and refreshment activities.
-about 15 minutes of chapter business including the chapter's treasurer's report.

Our featured speakers cover a wide range of topics that focus around electric cars. In the past we have had informative, technical speakers on EV chargers, batteries, controllers, and measuring devices. Speakers have also covered subjects that include vehicle laws and regulation, or web page access of electric vehicle sites.

- about11:30am the speaker concludes with a question and answer period.

- An EV discussion break out session, where members and visitors can form into groups of common interests (EV conversion, purchase, charging, further EV questions and answers with experienced EV builders, and/or the speaker may continue to discuss their topic).

- at around noon, we all slip outside and take a close look at the EVs (Electric Cars) owned by Silicon Valley and/or visiting EAA Chapter members.

- EV Rides are made available for public awareness and education. Please let us know if you are interested in rides. We'll see you at the monthly meetings.

Past Meeting Summary

Aug 5, 2006

JB Straubel, Chief Technical Officer of Tesla Motors, was our guest speaker. JB shared information about the new Tesla Roadster and brought one along to show the nearly 200 people in the audience. In case you missed this meeting, come to our Sept 30 EV Rally to see a Tesla Roadster up close, or check out some of these pictures from Tesla's July 2006 unveiling. Read more about it at: http://www.energybulletin.net/19430.html.

July 15, 2006

Ed Ang of Air Lab gave a presentation about a new EV power management solution, the GAIA I (Green AIR Lab Intelligent Array).

June 17, 2006

Brian Howell is pushing the envelope when it comes to electric bikes.
While many electric bikes have a top speed in the 10 to 20 MPH range, Brian's bikes can hit speeds of 35 MPH. He is working on a prototype bike that he hopes will do freeway speeds.

How does he do it? That was the subject of our June 17, 2006 Silicon Valley EAA meeting. Our audience of 28 was peppering Brian with non-stop questions, but he answered them all and gave us a great insight into what it takes to make bikes go fast.

One of his secrets is Chinese Lithium batteries. Another one is aerodynamics. He said that for electric bikes, wind resistance is much more significant than tire rolling resistance although he does use some special tire techniques. To minimize wind resistance, he uses a fairing (long windshield) on the front and a wedge-shaped tailsock on the rear.

Brian is a great believer in recumbent bikes and multiple motors. His fastest bikes have a hub motor on both the front and back wheels as well as a "mid-motor". He uses a chain drive to couple the mid-motor to the rear wheel. The bike pedals are also connected to the mid-motor. This gives the rider very good tactile feedback for how hard the motor is straining.

Surprisingly, although the motor does most of the work, electric bike riders often pedal - because the pedals are there. This extends the range of the batteries and also provides exercise for the rider. Brian has lost 30 pounds since getting his bikes. He has several different bikes and brought a few of them to the meeting along with a couple of electric scooters.

After the meeting we had fun riding the bikes and scooters in the parking lot outside. Brian said that not only has he lost weight from pedaling along with the electric motors, he feels much healthier and never gets sick anymore.

Rob Means is a distributor of electric bikes and scooters and assisted Brian with the presentation. Brian has modified the bikes extensively to achieve the higher performance he described at the meeting and is one of Rob's best customers.

Here are a few links for photos and further information.

April 15, 2006

Guest Speaker Ian Wright; topic: X1 Racing Car (www.wrightspeed.com). Great presentation and demonstration rides. DVDs available for $5 (includes shipping). Contact Jerry Pohorsky via email.

March 19, 2006

Guest Speaker Warren Winovich; topic: Electrathon Racers. These are the EV equivalent of a "soap box racer". In other words, there is a well defined set of regulations that define what is allowed and what is not allowed. This makes winning a race more a matter of ingenuity and clever design than merely using more batteries or a bigger motor. If you would like to see some pictures of these racers and other information, go to the website: http://www.cloudelectric.com/homepage.html& nbsp;and click on the "Electrathon Info" link on the left.

January 21, 2006

We got off to a great start this year with two guest speakers and a surprise guest.

Rich Hilleman arrived in his Spyder EV and gave a Power Point presentation about a new hybrid vehicle he is designing.His hybrid uses a novel concept based on an AC Propulsion drive train and a high speed turbine engine that will run on a variety of fuels. The hybrid can run in EV mode from onboard batteries for shorter trips while the turbine generates electricity for longer trips. Rich plans to use an existing 2 seater race car chassis for his design.

Next we heard from Lawrence Rhodes who arrived in his bio-diesel Mercedes. We saw a video of Lawrence taken by a local news broadcast showing him playing his bassoon and also working on and driving his EV truck. Lawrence brought one of his "Gemini" (twin) electric scooters that he modified by adding a second motor and controller to handle the hills of his San Francisco neighborhood. He also showed some photos of a Schwinn Stingray that he outfitted with a fork lift motor. We all enjoyed his happy-go-lucky approach to low cost EV conversions.

Our surprise guest was Ian Wright who arrived in his X1 racing car that has the AC Propulsion drive train. We saw a video of his car leaving a Ferrari and a Porsche in the dust at Infineon Raceway. Ian and his car will be back again as our guest speaker on April 15th. Ian's website is: www.wrightspeed.com and there is a link there to the video we showed.

We also held our chapter elections. Jerry Pohorsky was re-elected as President and Kim Rogers was re-elected as Vice President. Our newly elected treasurer is JoAnne Sarro. Congratulations and "welcome aboard" to JoAnne.

Many thanks to Michael Skinner for his service as treasurer in 2005. He will be participating with the San Jose EAA chapter in the future since that chapter is much closer to where he lives.

July 16, 2005

Bruce Katz from PolyPlus Battery Company gave a presentation about Li Batteries -- past, present, and future.

March 19, 2005

Tom spoke about what is going on at AC Propulsion and about the EV market in general. AC Propulsion is still planning to produce an EV - most likely based on the Scion platform. He shared the results of their survey to see what type of body style people want in an EV. Tom also explained why the project has been delayed and talked about the other cars they have worked on in the meanwhile. A couple of these cars won at the Michelin Bibendum challenge recently held in China. Tom also gave details about their Hybrid Jetta that has all electric drive and 30 miles of EV-only range. He has driven the car all the way from Los Angeles to Sacramento.

There was so much information given in his 2 hour talk that it can't be adequately covered here. Fortunately Tom made his slides available to us. The presentation was video taped and will be available on a DVD for a nominal cost. Please contact Jerry Pohorsky to order a copy.

January 15, 2005

Outgoing chapter president Will Beckett opened the meeting and announced that elections for officers would be held. As an incentive for new officers to step forward, Will made a motion that officers will not have to pay membership dues as long as they continue to serve. The motion was seconded by Chuck Olsen and approved by a majority of Silicon Valley Chapter members.

There were 25 men and one woman in the audience. Jerry Pohorsky was elected as chapter president and Kim Rogers was re-elected as Vice President. Michael Skinner was elected as Treasurer.

Al Atwood gave the outgoing treasurer's report - we are in very good shape financially. Many thanks to Al Atwood and Will Beckett for their tireless service to the EAA Silicon Valley Chapter.

After a few announcements and a brief report of the Consumer Electronics Show by Chip, a couple of videos were shown. One video was a program from TV station KVIE (http://www.newvalley.org) and featured segments on solar power, wind power and the biofuel, corn. You can even buy a stove that burns the corn kernels (http://www.burncorn.com/). Also featured on this video was a brief interview with Chico EAA president Chuck Aldrin. It showed him in his RAV4-EV and also showed an EV conversion he had.

The second video was from San Jose EAA vice president Mike Phillips. It showed his Max Wedge Robot fighting against other Radio Controlled robots in various competitions. The robot is microprocessor controlled, has two motors, and weighs 120 lbs including the 24 volt battery pack. The video of the robot combats was quite exciting and drew applause form the crowd.

For more details check out the following links:

Also a google search on "Mike Phillips Max Wedge robot" will give some more links. Mike agreed to bring his robot to an upcoming meeting.

After the meeting we went outside and popped the hood on a couple of recent EV purchases. Congratulations to Frank Chapman on his S-10 EV from www.evbones.com ($12K) and Jerry Pohorsky on his Escort EV ($2K) the former "MegaVolt" - http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/221.html

Our next meeting will be the national EAA members meeting in February (conference call).

Also the first 3 days in May will be the 5th annual EAA all chapter invitational meeting in Austin, Texas. Air Fare is under $250 round trip on American Airlines and free lodging is offered to visiting members. There will be a Texas-style BBQ and a bus excursion to San Antonio Texas to visit the "Green Building" event.

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