Attached are minutes of the July SF BayLEAFs meeting. Many thanks to linkim for doing his usual, excellent job. The next meeting will be held at Luscious Garage in San Francisco on August 5th (Sunday).
Thanks to Hewlett Packard (HP) for hosting the SF BayLEAFs; we had a very enjoyable meeting on July 14, 2012 at their facilities in Cupertino. Unfortunately, this will be the last time HP will be able to host the SF BayLEAFs meeting at this site. There were 55 BayLEAFs including 10 new members in attendance, along with about 36 LEAFs , one RAV4 EV, 2 Ford Focus EVs, 2 Volts, a Corbin Sparrow and a Honda Civic converted from ICE to EV in the parking lot.
New members from the Bay Area and beyond attended the meeting, with JeremyW making the trip in his LEAF from Folsom, about 150 miles one way. With an early morning start and a QC in San Ramon, he was able to arrive for coffee and bagels before the meeting started. Other driver came from Santa Rosa, Aptos and Gilroy, as well as further north along the peninsula towards San Francisco.
We also had special guests from TV Tokyo (tv-tokyo.co.jp))/DUO Creative Communications (Duocc.com), who videotaped the meeting for viewing in Japan. The crew is from TV Tokyo's “FUTURE CENTURY ZIPANGU“ (Zinpangu/Jipangu is another name for Japan, which is used in a myth or adventure story. Its metaphor is a rich and prospering country.). FUTURE CENTURY ZIPANGU is one of the most popular Science, Environment, and Technology programs in Japan. It is the Japanese equivalent of "NOVA", and the segment will air in September in Japan titled "Electric Cars in America" which focuses on the EV sales growth in the U.S. market, and will feature the SF BayLEAFs. As soon as we get a copy we will post it on the SF BayLEAFs website.
Gascant reported on the SF BayLEAF members efforts that resulted in Nissan’s implementation of an upgrade to CARWINGs that improved forecast of electricity consumption by the traction battery and prediction of vehicle range. Felix Kramer of Calcars and Rachel Schapira are leading an effort to improve EV driving experience in the Driving Electric Initiative. The aim is to post reports on the internet that describe EV driving experiences that others can read, and help them to enhance their own EV experience. The details are on their website (http://beta.drivingelectric.org/get-involved" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
.
To further promote EVs and the LEAF, gascant requested that anyone involved in EV events of interest should forward the information to
[email protected] so it can be included on the SF BayLEAF website (http://sfbayleafs.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
. To improve the type of information presented on the website, lemketron volunteered to provide information useful to new LEAF owners, and ElectricVehicle will provide updated charger status reports.
ElectricVehicle updated the audience on the status of Quick Charger installations in the Bay Area. He reported Nissan has developed two QCs – basic (about $10K, and advanced (starting at $15.5K). The advanced units are now being shipped. Besides the QCs sites at Stanford, Belmont and San Ramon, the Nissan dealer in Santa Rosa has installed a QC. In addition, Ecotality is under contract to install 8 more QCs in the Bay Area, which should come online in Sept. 2012.
Plug in America (PIA) has designed laminated cards where a cell phone contact is provided that can be placed on the dashboard that reads “CHARGE NEEDED” on one side and “OK TO UNPLUG” on the other side. The goal is to provide more information to reduce “charge anxiety” at public chargers. The information on the cards will be available for download from the PIA website (http://www.pluginamerica.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
.
Gascant led a recap discussion on Refuel 2012 held at Laguna Seca on July 1 where 5 LEAF owners raced their vehicles on the track with other EVs from Tesla, BMW and Volt, for example. psps’ daughter showed an interesting video clip so the rest of us could enjoy the activities. Nissan provide a portable QC that was powered by a diesel generator. There was some discussion whether it met the environmental standards set by CARB. JeremyW mentioned the LEAF did not suffer any technical issues such as were experienced with other EVs that experienced thermal problems. The fastest time for a LEAF on the 2.24 mile track was clocked by nader at 2:02.885 minutes, with a top speed of 83 mph. His time was better than some Tesla Roadsters, ActiveE and Coda vehicles. Nader had better tires for this event, and was able to shave nearly 12 secs from his time from last year. However, the downside is there is about a 30% hit to the range. Some of the rookie LEAF drivers, as well as the veterans, are looking forward to next year’s event.
The guest speaker was Paul Goldman, CEO, of juicedhybrid.com, which was launched in 2008 to supply HeV/EV accessories, primarily for HEVs (mainly Prius). Details of the company and available accessories are described on their website at
http://www.juicedhybrid.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. More recently, the company started stocking accessories for the LEAF such as floor mats, body side molding, car cover, heat shield – windshield visor, seat extensions, shark fin antenna and steering wheel cover. Paul asked for suggestions on other accessories that would be popular with LEAF owners, and he got an earful of suggestions, many of which are discussed on MNL forum and at the Dec. 3, 2011 meeting with Nissan at Google (for example, a few are sun visor extension, headrests in rear that allow better visibility, suspension mod, tires, wheels, seat covers, horn, inside air filter).
Turbo3 demonstrated the features of his new SOC meter (WattsLeft Monitor) which in not quite ready for commercial prime time but getting there. The instrument offers various options such as 4 energy usage screens, real-time display screens (% battery capacity, gids, discharge/regen power, charge/discharge time, battery voltage and current, motor rpm). The monitor is contained in an ABS box (95 x 48 x 38 mm) and utilizes a 2 x 16 character LCD display and uses a 8-pin header to connect to OBDII. A rotary selector is used to monitor the various display screens, and Bluetooth capability will be available.
The crew from TV Tokyo was quietly taking videos of the proceeding in the parking lot and during the meeting. In addition, they interviewed several LEAF owners, as well as drivers of other EVs (Ford, RAV4 and modified Honda). They were interested in a survey of questions relating to the environment, such as “How many LEAF owners purchased or leased the car for environmental reasons?”, “How many members have done non-solar eco-friendly improvements to their homes?”, “How many members have solar power?”, and “How many members think the LEAF is fun to drive?”, as well several other interesting questions. The final stop of their trip was a visit to Waidy’s home, which has over 40 kW of solar power and multiple L2 chargers in her garage. More interviews and discussion with many LEAF owners who drove from Cupertino took place.
The meeting ended with further discussion in the parking lot and a horn clinic with OrientExpress where one LEAF had a new horn installed.
Future meetings of interest:
July 21, 9 AM: EAASV Meeting, HP, Cupertino (demonstration vehicles will be on display)
July 31 Workshop: Mountain View Google, “Workplace Charging” sponsored by Cal START and Google), registration required
Aug. 5: Luscious Garage, San Francisco, Joint SF BayLEAFs/GGEVA meeting.
Aug. 23-4: SAP Palo Alto, “Charged 2012 EV Symposium”, registration required
Aug. 25-6: Sunnyvale Centennial Celebration, parade and LEAF booth volunteers needed
Sept. 23: San Francisco, National Plug-in Day