Eastern Washington state EV group (MCEVA)

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Petecomp1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 8, 2013
Messages
97
Location
Benton City, WA
Attention Eastern Washington Leaf Owners (and other EV / Plug-In owners, anyone running partially or fully electric):

This is to inform you that there is a new EV club in Eastern Washington, the land of hydro power and sunshine! Club HQ is loosely based in Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, and outlying areas like Benton City and West Richland) but we extend a warm invitation to any EV owners from anywhere in EW, such as Spokane, Ellensburg, Yakima, in short, anywhere within Washington State that is east of the Cascades.

Our club's mission is to facilitate social interaction between EW EV owners and to advance public awareness of the EV as a practical, useable vehicle. Towards these ends we plan to organize periodic owner meetings, presentations and other gatherings as appropriate, including joining with other EV clubs in the region as our members indicate their preferences moving forward.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MCEVA/ is the link to our online information store. Note that this is a "yahoo group" and as such it will be necessary to register with Yahoo (you can use any existing email address) before MCEVA group can be accessed. Club contact information is available either by replying to this post, or on the Yahoo Group MCEVA site.

We extend our warm invitation to all Eastern Washington state EV / PIEV owners and if you are on MNL (this forum) we'd love to hear from you.

Our next event is on Wednesday, August 28, 2013. 7:00 PM, at the Richland Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland, WA 99352. This will be an owner's meeting combined with a formal presentation by Dr. Michael Kintner-Meyer of Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, the topic is "EV's and the Smart Grid" Please plan to attend if able, thanks.
 
Pete: Thanks for the great write-up. The meeting was a great experience with lots of good information. Twelve EVs were on display (not a bad percentage of the 135 in Benton County), including one each of a Tesla, Smart EV, Ford Focus, and Think!. Of course, the remainder were Volts and Leafs. I think we'll definitely be seeing some new EV purchase after the meeting. More than 80 people showed up and there was lots of media coverage. Hey, even out here in the sticks this EVolution is happening.
 
Thanks G-man, but I'm disappointed that yours is the only reply to this thread so far; I wonder what it would take to get our local dealers to tell new Leafers about this forum when they pick up their cars.

BTW my buddy Ron just stopped by and gave me today's, Tri-City Herald, which I am sure you are aware of by now ("All Charged Up", front page, TCH Sunday Sept. 8). I thought the reporter did a very excellent article - very factual and well written. I think it will make many readers take notice - thanks mainly to your efforts, greatly appreciated!

EASTERN WASHINGTON LEAFERS - PLEASE REPLY TO THIS THREAD to let us know you are out there - Thanks!
Bill Peterson, V.P.
Mid-Columbia Electric Vehicle Ass'n.
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MCEVA/info
 
Attention all Leafers in Eastern WA: There will be a gathering of EV's and owners on Sunday, September 29 at the Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland, WA 99352.
Point of Contact: Bill Peterson - [email protected].

There will be a brief presentation at the library on the ins & outs of EV charging. If you would want to showcase your own EV, please plan to show up earlier (between 2:00 and 2:30 pm) and park your EV out front on the sidewalk just like the last time. For those interested, we might do an impromptu EV parade around Richland after the meeting, if enough folks want to do it.
 
New LEAF owner in Spokane here. I see this thread is rather dusty...
I'm interested in connecting to other local LEAF owners. Is the Yahoo group still active? Is there a parallel Facebook group?

So, "Hello!" to my Spokane-area LEAF-owning neighbors! :D

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Yes, this thread is a bit dusty (just like the area). Unfortunately, Eastern WA is pretty large, especially for a Leaf. Our group is located in the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco) and has limited activity due to the lower numbers of EVs in the area. Coincidentally, we are having our annual spring event (typically the last Saturday in April). Here's the information:

Electrathon Rally at CBC Pasco, April 30th, 2016
From 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM
Where: CBC Parking Lot
2600 N. 20th Avenue, Pasco, Washington 99301
Saraceno Way off of W. Argent (North side)
Contact: Todd Blackman
[email protected]
Phone: 509-539-8078

Just like last year, MCEVA is again teaming up with the CBC Sustainable Energy program for the Electrathon Rally (high school students racing their homemade electric vehicles). This year's event starts around 9am, Saturday, April 30th. We will have a few members showing their cars and answering questions to the generate public. We need as many EV owners to show up and display vehicles. Everyone is welcome, the only requirement for showing your vehicle is that it plugs into electricity. There are PEVs with electric travel ranging anywhere from 10 miles to 300 miles. All are welcome. This year we have several new PEVs that have been introduced. With luck we will have the Tesla Roadster and Model S, the new BMW i3, Energi, FFE, i-MiEV, Spark, Think, as well as a large number of Leafs and Volts. Also, we need volunteers to help set up the load/haul tires and set up the racing course around 7:00 am. I will have a small table display of EV information. Feel free to bring anything you think might be of interest to the public. Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

The race course opens at 9:00am (Saturday, April 30th) for testing and time trials. Actual racing commences very soon after that, 11am. We would like EVs parked on the sidewalk along the course by 9am. If you're later, that's ok, it's just a bit more difficult to snake vehicles to the sidewalk once the course is open for racing.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/03/10/3451444_tri-city-students-get-charged.html?rh=1
http://www.seenetwork.us/index.php/events
http://www.electricauto.org/events/event_details.asp?id=431815
 
I think Eastern Washington state will be pleasantly surprised with what is being planned for infrastructure.

The pieces are very quickly falling into place for a logical well-thought-out plan between Ellensburg and Tri-Cities, then Tri-Cities to Spokane, then back to Ellensburg.
 
TonyWilliams said:
I think Eastern Washington state will be pleasantly surprised with what is being planned for infrastructure.

The pieces are very quickly falling into place for a logical well-thought-out plan between Ellensburg and Tri-Cities, then Tri-Cities to Spokane, then back to Ellensburg.
Tony, were you at the Moses Lake meeting two weeks ago? Did QCP attend or are you hoping to have a hand in this? MCEVA was hoping to have someone attend, but it didn't work out. Jack Anderson (PNCW) was planning to be there, so I need to send him an email to get the summary. I talked with the Franklin PUD on Saturday and heard a bit about this. I'm hoping that MCEVA is allowed to provide some guidance as to locations. If you have input or info that you would like to share, please PM or email. Exciting times out here in the sticks. If I remember, I'll try to give you a call this weekend.
 
TonyWilliams said:
I think Eastern Washington state will be pleasantly surprised with what is being planned for infrastructure.

The pieces are very quickly falling into place for a logical well-thought-out plan between Ellensburg and Tri-Cities, then Tri-Cities to Spokane, then back to Ellensburg.

This is great news. I bought my LEAF in Bellevue and drove it back to Spokane. The lack of a quick charger between Wenatchee and Ritzville was a big bummer. I stopped and charged on a free public L2 in Moses Lake for about 40 minutes, adding about 4.5kWh, but it wasn't enough to get me to the DCFC in Ritzville -- I ended up pushing the LEAF a half mile to get it there.

Even with that miscalculation on my part, the trip was a fun little adventure. But it would/will be much easier with more quick chargers in the middle of the state. The RCW has something in it about making leasing opportunities for charging infrastructure available at rest stops. I think that's a fabulous idea.
 
The next public meeting of the Mid-Columbia Electric Vehicle Association will be held in conjunction with the National Drive Electric Week at the Richland Public Library located at 955 Northgate Drive, Richland WA from 12:00-4:30pm, Saturday, September 17, 2016. There will be various plug in electric vehicles displayed and a presentation about current and future electric vehicles. This Fall will be a pivotal time as several moderately-priced 200 mi EVs have been announced and will be available very soon. Come and learn about current new/used and future EV's in an informal Q&A session with owners. Everyone is welcome. For more information, go to www.driveelectricweek.org or follow the attached link:
https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=638.

If you can attend and are willing to help, perhaps even allow test drives, please sign up as a volunteer at the above website. Also, we need as many EV owners to show up and display vehicles. Please show up around 11:30 am Saturday so that we can park all the cars in a row. I will have a small table display of EV information. Feel free to bring anything you think might be of interest to the public, portable charging cables, etc. Also, please feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested. The more people that we can educate, the better. Thanks.

If you are coming from outside the Tri-Cities and/or need a boost charge, please let me know so that we can arrange. There are EVSE's in the Tri-Cities at the Nissan, Ford, BMW, and Mitsubishi dealerships as well as WSU-TC, Perfection Tire (view at http://www.plugshare.com) but these are NOT walking distance. There is a dual-headed unit at the Kadlec parking garage next to the library, but it's not signed properly and always ICEd. If you need a place to stay, I might be able to arrange something, but I have a very steep driveway so you may be stuck with 120 V L1. I will be sending emails to the news media and plan to post on the EVA website as well. Hopefully we can convince some of the local TV and radio stations to participate.
 
I know this is a very stale thread, but I will cross-post from ICEless in Seattle thread:

Feel free to show up for the DCQC grand opening (free food) at Noon, Thurs, Aug 2nd, 51 Firing Center Road, Yakima. From Ellensburg, drive the scenic highway 821 Yakima Canyon Rd to skip all the killer HILLS on I-82 and it drops you right at the intersection for the charging station. If you need/want a charge, plan on getting there at least an hour or two early. Be advised, it's HOT over here, so bring extra water. We always traveled with several frozen 2-liter bottles per person back in the days before A/C. Supposed to be 105F today, 107F tomorrow, but "cooling" to 95F by Thursday.

Also, PM me if you'd like to be added to my Eastern WA email list. There will additional grand openings later this summer/fall for the Richland, Pasco, Connell, Prosser, and North Bend stations. Once completed, rumor has it that the Governor will travel across the state in his Bolt EV.
 
Reddy said:
I know this is a very stale thread, but I will cross-post from ICEless in Seattle thread:

Feel free to show up for the DCQC grand opening (free food) at Noon, Thurs, Aug 2nd, 51 Firing Center Road, Yakima. From Ellensburg, drive the scenic highway 821 Yakima Canyon Rd to skip all the killer HILLS on I-82 and it drops you right at the intersection for the charging station. If you need/want a charge, plan on getting there at least an hour or two early. Be advised, it's HOT over here, so bring extra water. We always traveled with several frozen 2-liter bottles per person back in the days before A/C. Supposed to be 105F today, 107F tomorrow, but "cooling" to 95F by Thursday.

Also, PM me if you'd like to be added to my Eastern WA email list. There will additional grand openings later this summer/fall for the Richland, Pasco, Connell, Prosser, and North Bend stations. Once completed, rumor has it that the Governor will travel across the state in his Bolt EV.
Here's the next DCQC grand opening in Pasco:
You are invited to attend the Pasco Starbuck’s ribbon cutting event on Wednesday, August 29th at 11:00 a.m. at 2411 W. Court Street in Pasco for the electric vehicle charging station. Tom Logan, owner of the Starbuck’s, has a fabulous looking site including a solar canopy – quite a unique site for EVITA!
 
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