V2B

Vehicle to Band

Heard at the NorthEast Electric Vehicle Symposium, dateline September 16, 2024…

An important partner for the EV Club is the PACE organization (People’s Action for Clean Energy). PACE president, Mark Sculley, plays in a band, Temporary Sanity, that had an outdoor gig at Burlington Tavern Day over the weekend. Since there was no power near the stage, a gas generator was used, which unfortunately, ran out of gas midway through the set. Talk about range anxiety!

However, the band’s sound tech drives a Rivian R1T, so no problem! They just plugged the equipment into the vehicle. It worked seamlessly and barely made a dent in the battery state of charge. Let’s think about this – what would use more energy, powering an electric guitar or moving a 7,148 pound vehicle?

It’s not quite “Where’s Waldo,” but the truck is a little hard to spot – it is on the right side of the photo, powering zero-emission tunes.

EVs are hard to beat, but they also have a good beat and you can dance to them.

New Rivian Test Drive Center

Rivian recently opened a service and test drive center in Blauvelt, New York. Blauvelt is just across the Mario Cuomo (Tappan Zee) Bridge in Rockland County. The recently opened service center in Shelton does not offer test-drives. That is why it was a treat to have them join us at the Symposium to offer test-drives locally.

Truck-Powered Presentations

For those of you who saw the Sunday presentations delivered from the bed of a Ford F150 Lightning pickup, the mic and PA were powered by the truck, courtesy of our sponsor, Earthlight Technology. Below is Bryce Jones of Pirelli Tires speaking about what goes into an EV tire.

It was nice harmony that we were able to have a representative from Pirelli Tires present at the Hotel Marcel, which in a previous life served as a Pirelli manufacturing facility and headquarters.

Out of Spec Dave presenting at NorthEast Electric Vehicle Symposium from the bed of a Ford F150 Lightning

Bryce Jones of Pirelli Tires presenting 0n the bed of a Ford F-150 Lightning under a solar canopy.

Photo: Shawn O’Sullivan

Hotel Marcel and solar canopies

Hotel Marcel, formerly Pirelli Tires HQ, with solar canopies in foreground.