The Symposium is Sold Out – People Can Still Come for the Car Show

Get charged up at NEEVS, the ultimate gathering for EV enthusiasts, policy wonks, and all who seek cutting edge guidance on decarbonization.

Please join us at the first annual Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS) at Hotel Marcel in New Haven on September 9, 2023. EV enthusiasts, electrification and decarbonization advocates, sustainability volunteers and professionals, municipal employees, real estate owners and developers and policy wonks are invited to join us.

Bruce Becker is the lead architect and owner/developer of Hotel Marcel in New Haven, the country’s first zero emissions and Passive House hotel, and Chairman of the EV Club of CT. Bruce will welcome guests as they enjoy a light buffet lunch, and briefly share his approach to hotel e-mobility at Hotel Marcel. Guests have access to Tesla Superchargers, Level 2 chargers under a solar canopy and a custom electric shuttle van.

You will learn firsthand from expert guest speakers about:

1. Hotel Marcel’s guest experience in e-mobility,
2. The state of public EV charging and opportunities for improving it,
3. The latest updates in state and federal EV/EVSE incentives and V2G,
4. Best practices for transitioning vehicles and homes to all-electric,
5. How to move municipalities to 100% clean, renewable energy,
6. The societal and environmental benefits that proposed regulations for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles under Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) provide for Connecticut.
7. Zoning for EV readiness

Date: September 9, 2023

Hours: 12:00-4:30

Host: Hotel Marcel, 500 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT 06511

Organizer: EV Club of CT

Partner: Tesla Owners Club of CT

Thank You to Our Generous Sponsors: Hotel Marcel, Live Green CT, EV Connect, Chargepoint, Maxwell Vehicles, and the Greater New Haven Clean Cities Coalition.

Speaker Schedule:

2:05-2:30: Charles Rothenberger, Climate & Energy Attorney, Save the Sound will present highlights of the Regulations for Light, Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles under Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II). In July 2023, Connecticut became the latest state to initiate adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which will benefit society by requiring manufacturers to increase sales of electric and other zero-emission models within the state over time, culminating with 100% of new sales being ZEV in 2035.

2:30 – 3:00: Daphne Dixon, Co-founder and Executive Director, Live Green Connecticut and Director, Connecticut SWA Clean Cities Coalition, will present about Zoning for EV Readiness, a must attend for municipal decision makers.

Networking and Car Show 3:00-4:30: Enjoy beverages and food at the hotel bar while networking with other guests, and head outdoors to the lot adjacent to Hotel Marcel’s Superchargers to enjoy the car show while networking with EV owners that are members of Tesla Owners Club of CT, the EV Club of CT and the Westport Police Department.

Workplace Charging – An Underappreciated Part of EV Charging Infrastructure

UPDATE

This program featured panelists Ryan Boggio from Clean Cities, Marriott Dowden from United Illuminating, and Catherine Duncan from the CT Green Bank. Key discussion points:

• There are benefits with workplace charging that accrue to businesses, fleets, and employees.
• There are considerable financial incentives available to customers of Eversource and United Illuminating to offset the cost of the equipment and installation.
• The CT Green Bank offers affordable financing options, as well as the ability to participate in the state’s nascent carbon credit market and earn money every year for each charger that is installed.

The webinar has been posted on YouTube.

==========================================================================================

We need more EV chargers. Lots more. Significant progress is being made, courtesy of recent federal legislation in particular, but the majority of the firepower is concentrated in expanding DC fast charging along major highway corridors, and to a lesser extent, downtown areas. Workplace charging can fill a critical gap and meaningfully contribute to alleviating range anxiety concerns, along with being a big win for employees and their employers.

Workplace charging benefits:

• Creates charging access for employees who lack it where they live.
• Attract/retain employees.
• Can include charging in employee benefits portfolio.
• Induce employees to go electric when they get their next car (especially if it is part of a program that educates them about EVs).
• Company can be seen as an environmental leader and be part of the conversation locally about moving to net-zero.

For those interested in learning more, there is a webinar scheduled for June 29th at 12 PM for one hour, presented by CT Southwestern Area Clean Cities, CT Green Bank, United Illuminating, and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council covering:

• Introduction to workplace charging: understanding the importance of workplace charging infrastructure and its role in supporting the transition to electric mobility.
• Financing an EVSE project: learn from experts at the CT Green Bank and UI as they discuss financing options and opportunities to support workplaces in implementing their EVSE projects.
• Benefits of Workplace charging: discover how workplace charging positively impacts employees, businesses, and the surrounding community.
• Q&A session: engage with our panel of experts and get technical questions answered.

Free registration at this link.

Above photo by Paul Braren

Successful EV Showcase with Hotel Tours

Thanks to everyone who made this a successful event, with numerous EVs, including Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, Ford, Kia, Chevy, Polestar, and others.

The Westport Police brought their Tesla Model Y patrol car that went into service January of this year.

Tours of the hotel were given. This is the first net-zero hotel in the country, LEED Certified Platinum, Passive House Certified. The hotel has no fossil fuel connection. It is powered by solar, augmented with battery storage. Air-source high efficiency heat pumps provide the heating and cooling. The lighting is high efficiency Power over Ethernet. The elevators have regenerative braking. The kitchen uses induction. The envelope is so tight that if you are in a guest room, about one-tenth of a from I-95, it is totally quiet.

There are over 1000 solar panels on the hotel roof and the solar canopies. There is a bank of Tesla V3 Superchargers and, under the canopy, 12 level 2 chargers with J-1772 connectors. There is already in place infrastructure to install another 12. The level 2 chargers are part of the EV Connect network, though they can also be activated with a ChargePoint account.

This event was jointly produced by the EV Club of CT and the CT Tesla Owners Club. We thank the Tesla Club for its partnership.

Sandy Munro Unfiltered

Sandy Munro, famous for his willingness to express his (highly informed) opinions in a direct and unfiltered manner, joined the EV Club for a conversation on March 21st. The video has been posted on YouTube and is embedded below.

Munro clearly feels that mainstream press coverage of EV news is often ignorant and at times biased. This was his closing comment about why he holds these discussions with EV clubs and similarly interested audiences:

“My job, really, is to try and dispel as many of these silly rumors that are out there, and this is the only way to it because the normal press doesn’t want to have anything to do with the kind of discussion that we had here today.”

A few items contained in the video:

• On autonomous driving – “FSD is a myth by everybody until we move to Forward Looking Infrared. Lidar and cameras don’t reliably work. Only Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) can see through everything.” He also mentioned that FLIR is what the military uses and that about half of the work done by his engineering firm, Munro and Associates, is defense-related.
• On batteries – Pouch design does not hold up as well as cylindrical. The expansion and contraction kicks the daylights out of them. Solid state is the holy grail and will last indefinitely.
• The press over-sensationalizes Tesla issues because Tesla doesn’t buy ads. “If you don’t give us ads, we’re going to throw you under the bus.”
• The Tesla Gigacast will produce a body that is much stronger than any sheet metal currently in use.
• What did he find when he pulled out the floor of a Mustang Mach-E frunk?
• Should you be happy to see an ABB charger?

Automotive Engineer, Teardown Specialist, and Unlikely YouTube Rockstar, Sandy Munro, to Speak to EV Club.

Zoom meeting date and time: March 21st at 4 PM. Free registration at this link.

Munro has become well known for his “teardowns,” where he literally takes a vehicle apart in his facility and does a detailed engineering dissection. He has analyzed pretty much every EV in the market, along with many ICE vehicles.

Munro has been a longtime automotive engineer, having worked at Valiant Machine and Tool Company and Ford Motor Company before starting his own consultancy, Munro and Associates, specializing in lean design (according to his Wikipedia entry). Munro’s “design first” approach, attention to detail, and no-nonsense manner of communicating has enabled him to significantly reduce manufacturing cost for his clients, while improving product quality and consumer experience.

Many of us in the EV world became aware of him when he launched his YouTube channel in 2018, 30 years after the establishment of his consultancy, with a teardown of the then new Tesla Model 3. When the world pivoted to digital during the pandemic, his YouTube awareness greatly increased.

His teardowns and detailed reporting pre-date YouTube. A 2015 report on the BMW i3 ran 23,793 pages. As a stunt in 2020, Munro made the report available for ten bucks (original selling price at the time of publication was $89,000 according to Inside EVs. The download link is no longer live.)

The Munro Live YouTube channel is up to 358,000 subscribers. Join us for a conversation with Sandy Munro (CEO) and Cory Steuben (President). See you on the 21st!

Help Us Help You Promote Your EV Showcase Event and Get EV Owners to Exhibit

As consumer interest in electric vehicles has increased, so too, has the number of EV showcases being held around the state. Sometimes they are standalone EV events and other times EVs are part of a larger green fair event or larger automotive event. Sometimes they are official Drive Electric Week events, but others are produced independently by community organizations.

We receive a number of requests to help recruit EV owners to exhibit their vehicles and publicize these events.

The EV showcase season, beginning with Drive Electric Earth Day, commences next month. If you would like us to list your event on our event calendar, include it in email blasts, and ask for EV owner participation, please give us the following information:

• Event name
• Event organizer/sponsor
• Brief event description
• Date, start/end time
• Is it just a showcase or part of a green fair or other event
• Location including postal address
• Are you looking for EV owners to exhibit their vehicles?
• Email and phone contact info to be publicly displayed
• Website url
• Graphic/Photo (JPG, JPEG, PNG). Newer iPhones default to HEIC, which WordPress does not accept. Please convert them before sending to us. 2MB maximum size, but smaller is preferred. If you send us a photo with recognizable individuals, please make sure they are ok with our posting it. A photo from a prior year event works, or the photo can be generic as long as it works. Let us know if you need help. 16:9 aspect ratio preferred. The visual is important in making the listing pop.
• Is there a charge for the general public to attend?
• We only accept events where EV owners who exhibit are not charged to do so.
• If you require a hold harmless form, we can link to it if it is online.
• Other items you think we should know about

We understand if you don’t have all of these items. The more you can provide, the better the listing.

We have already begun to receive notifications. Please give us 6-8 weeks notice if you can.

EV Owners Wanted for Fairfield First Responder Training

The EV club has worked with the fire departments in Westport and Wilton in the past. The photo at the top is from Wilton. They have an EV component to first responder training, where the instructor goes over where the cables and battery are for some vehicles and reviews what to do in the event of a serious accident.

The Town of Fairfield is scheduling first responder training on March 17, 20, 21, and 22. They are looking for vehicles to be there from 11-12 and 1-2 on each of these days, so 8 sessions in all. We are looking for EV owner volunteers for as many or few sessions as you can do. Even if all you can do is 1 session, it is greatly appreciated.

Any EV, whether BEV or PHEV, is welcome.

These sessions happen to be a lot of fun. While the trainer has an agenda, the attendees have a lot of general EV questions. They are an engaged and intellectually curious audience. You needn’t worry about being an expert. Just speak to your experience and what you know.

If you can help out, please go to EVClubCT.com/contact and leave a message. We will coordinate with the Fairfield Fire Department.

UPDATE: This event is postponed to Sunday, 11/13, same time, due to forecast for inclement weather.

A team of students from Lafayette College are planning an electric airplane flyover during a football game on Saturday, 11/19. Lehigh University is the opponent and the game is being held at Lafayette in Easton, PA.

The Pipistrel Alpha Electro airplane that will be used is based in Hartford and, according to a Facebook post by Remi Oktay, one of the Lafayette students, will need to make 3 charging stops to get there. The first two stops are in CT – Waterbury-Oxford Airport at 6:15 AM, followed by the Danbury Municipal Airport at 8:30 AM. We understand that spectators will be accommodated.

None of these airports has charging facilities, so in what might be the coolest part of this, Ford F-150 Lightning owners are being recruited to use the vehicle’s bi-directional charging capability to “refuel” the aircraft.

We wish them the best!

Share Your EV Knowledge and Get Paid

The Electric Car Guest Drive program that is run by the publisher of Electric Car Insider is returning to this general area with 2 September dates, the 23rd and 24th, Friday and Saturday, in Pearl River, NY (Rockland County).

EV owners bring their vehicles for test drives (guest drives) with the owner in the passenger seat. The drive is over a pre-planned route that is between 1.5 and 2 miles. The event is taking place at 1 Blue Hill Plaza, which is an office complex and the home of the sponsoring utility, Orange and Rockland Electric. They have held events there in the past. The route is mostly the perimeter road of the parking lot with a short stretch on a local road as the parking does not completely surround the building.

Participation can be for 1 or 2 days and an honorarium of $300 is paid for each day. Lunch is provided. So is an optional dinner at a good restaurant with the staff and other EV owners.

Please arrive on site by 9:30 am. The event concludes at 4 pm.

The drives themselves are casual with no dealerships or salespeople involved in the event. EV owners just explain the basics of driving the vehicle, describe the drive-electric lifestyle, and answer questions. No sales pressure of any kind is involved. These events have a demonstrated track record of driving EV conversions. (It is not necessary to be an authority on the complicated new federal EV incentive.)

Vaccinated owners preferred. The event follows local public health guidelines as of the date of the event. Masks are not currently mandated. However, if an owner wishes to have masked guests, that will be honored.

Registration Info

A web page from Electric Car Insider describing details can be found here.

Register here.

You can also feel free to contact the Electric Car Insider publisher, Chris Alan, directly at Chris@electric-car-insider.com

Feel free to tell them that you were referred by the EV Club.

Eversource UI - Commercial EV Charging for EV Club of CT 5.2022 FINAL