Monthly NTEAA Meeting

Date : Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location : Joel’s House

Website : http://holidayexpressridingtrain.com

Address : 156 Hidden Circle Richardson, TX 75081   Google Map

We had a pretty informal meeting at Joel’s house this year.  We had a few new people show up and ask questions and hopefully they learned a lot.  Joel ran the train around some giving rides.  Nothing like seeing a whole bunch of grownups riding around on the train with EV grins.  If anyone got a picture of that, please send that to the officers so we can post that picture.  We did a few changes to the train while we were there to help Joel’s train run a little smoother and longer.  But in general it was a pretty informal meeting and just had fun chatting and playing with the train.  Hopefully everyone saw all of the updates that Joel did to the train this year because it was a huge success with the kids.  Thank you all for coming and we hope you can make it to more meeting in 2012!

Date : Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Time : 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (MakerSpace will stay open until people stop coming)

Location : Makerspace

Address : 2995 Ladybird Lane Dallas, TX 75229 (off Monroe and Walnut Hill)

Website : http://dallasmakerspace.org/blog/

All monthly meetings are free to attend and open to the public.

We moved our monthly meeting to a new date and time to accommodate the open house for Dallas Makerspace.   Dallas Makerspace is a membership based, not-for-profit, shared community workshop and laboratory, commonly known as a hackerspace.   They are an organized group of local artists, engineers, makers, creators, and thinkers who work together to collect tools and resources for their membership, whom could not otherwise afford, store, or use them individually.  They use these resources to collaborate on individual and community projects in order to promote science and technology, while working and experimenting on innovative ideas to encourage learning within our community.

Thanks to everyone that came Saturday for the Makerspace event.  Great turnout for NTEAA and lots of great interest in the cars. We had 4 cars, Rons Leaf, Mike’s Ford pickup, Mark’s NMG and Neal’s VW Golf.  The Makerspace folks had a great event, lots of things going on from DNA, robotics, photography, laser cutters, CNC machines, 3D Printers, craft projects, Metal and Wood shop stuff, and even R2-D2 showed up!.   A nice new big space for some great projects.  There’s a rumor that there might be an EV there to work on….. Let’s see if that can happen, maybe our first club car build?  It was a great day and a lot to learn here.  Thanks again to all who came out.

If you got any pictures that we could post, please send them to the officer email (nteaa dot org at gmail dot com).

DFW Solar Home Tour

Date : Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Location : Entire DFW Area

Website : http://www.dfwsolarhometour.org/

Website : http://nationalsolartour.org/content/dfw-solar-home-tour-ntreg-txses

NTEAA was part of NTREG (North Texas Renewable Energy Group)  DFW Solar Home Tour.  The turn out at the homes were great and we were told that the number of visitors from last year were doubled.  That is a lot of people interested in Renewable Energy.  Of course several people’s bubbles were burst when they found out some of the costs behind solar PV.  But once they find out that doing upfront upgrades and changes to the house makes a big difference on how much solar PV you need.  It is a huge savings doing some cost savings up front when it comes to solar PV.  Here are some pictures from a few houses with EVs at them.

Date : Saturday, September 10th, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location : Irving Main Street Festival

Address : Heritage Park  217 S. Main St, Irving Tx 75060

Website : http://www.manifoldsonmain.org/

We had our monthly meeting at the Irving Main Street Festival.  We had 4 electric cars, which most was a Nissan Leaf.  Several people thought that we were a Nissan representatives because they were mostly Nissan Leafs there.  But it was a good turn out for NTEAA members and since it was a Festival, there were a lot of people walking by and checking out the EVs.  Got to meet several very interesting people.  We had a quick 20 minute monthly meeting talking about the upcoming events in Sept and Oct.   Details of those events will be sent out to the NTEAA Yahoo Group.  While we were there we go several good questions about the cars and I (Jared) think several people were ready to buy the cars.  It turned out to be a great weather and not too hot to stay out side.  There was a lot of things to do around the Festival and the car show had a ton of entries.  While we were there at the event I (Jared) pointed out to the group that the light polls in that area were all Solar Powered.  That was very cool to see that type of technology being used by the city of Irving.  We hope a lot of you that had some great questions come out to another monthly meeting where we can have a more one on one experience and actually take the cars for a test spin.

Jared’s Electric Vehicle Channel

For other pictures and details, you can always check out his website :

ElectricFormula.com

Date : Saturday, August 6th, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Location : Bankston Nissan of Dallas

Address : 4707 Lyndon B Johnson Freeway  Dallas, TX 75244

We had our monthly meeting on the 1st Saturday of the month this time and we still had a good turn out at Bankston Nissan.  Bankston Nissan provided us all with some great BBQ lunch.  They had both Nissan Leaf’s and a GM Volt there at this monthly meeting.  We also had several of our Electric Car Conversions there.

We were able to use Bankston’s meeting room so we could stay out of the 100 degree heat.  We tried to get the movie “What is an Electric Car” to play in the TV that was in the room but it was not working.  So we will have to schedule another time to watch that movie.

So we just had our normal monthly meeting inside.  Went around the room introducing our selves, doing show and tell and hearing about projects people were working on like Bob’s Fiero Conversion and peoples experiences with the Nissan Leaf.  We even talked about some benefits to Leaf owners that people were seeing by charging on Level 1 chargers in the Texas heat (since it had been hitting 100 degrees for the past 30 days).  The conclusion was that the Level 2 charger was creating too much heat in an already high temperature environment (charging in the sun in a parking lot or even a hot garage) and not quite leaving the batteries 100 percent charged.  Even a Nissan Tech told one of our members to use the Level 1 charger in high heat conditions.  Anyways, we had some great discussions about the electric car and some ideas for conversions.  Afterwards we went out side and ate some great BBQ that was provided by Bankston Nissan and prepared by TX TN Custom Bar-B-Q.

Then we just hovered around the Electric Cars, did test drives, checking out some of the custom work that Mike H. has done on his truck and just generally having fun around the electric vehicles.

As usual charging was provided by Bankston Nissan and we had members taking advantage of that opportunity.

Bankston has been gracious enough to provide us with their amenities and we think they have a great location.  Thanks again Bankston Nissan.

Date : Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location : Green Spot Market and Fuels

Address : 702 N. Buckner Blvd., Dallas, TX 75218

All monthly meetings are free to attend and open to the public.

On July 9^th  we had the rare opportunity to christen a new pair of Blink charge stations at the Green Spot in East Dallas. This was among 5 new stations that just went on-line in the DFW area from Blink and Ecotality.

Close to White Rock Lake, the Green Spot has been a local pioneer in alternative energy and healthy living. They are one of the few places in town that offers Bio-Diesel. Their store offers healthy snacks, drinks and a variety of locally produced products.

The White Rock Local Market, we attended, is a bi-monthly outdoor event designed to promote local artist and food producers from around the North Texas area.

Dave Aasheim was there from Blink with his Chevy Volt to answer questions about their charging network and the Ecotality EV Project program. The EV Project  is a federal government funding intuitive to create new charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) across the US. You can learn more, suggest charge station locations and sign up for your own Blink network access card at ecotality.com. The Blink system access is currently free.

Norris Lauer brought over his Eclipse and Mike Barkley drove down with the modified plug in Prius. Neal Farris brought his VW Golf to round out the conversions. We had two white Nissan Leafs belonging to members Paul Shaffer and Ron Swanson.

There were lots of really interested people with great questions. Once again the demographic of the East Dallas area makes for an eclectic crowd with many varied interest, including EVs. People are really talking about how an EV would work for them. It is such a refreshing change to hear about where the EV is going rather than wondering when it will get here!

With all the activity at the Green Spot we held our own with individuals and whole families looking at the cars with great interest. There was one family that I saw talking to Norris, I made the comment that the wife and kids could go look at the other things at the Market and the mom said to me that they all wanted to see how an electric car works. Wow!

As always we had a great showing and appreciate the support of the folks at the Green Spot. You can stop by and pick up a charge for free, even if you don’t have a Blink card, the staff will turn on the station. And of course don’t forget to recharge yourself with a drink or snack.

By Neal Farris

Date : Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Time : 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Location : REI / Bankston Nissan

Address : 4515 LBJ Fwy, Dallas, TX 75244 Map It

Website : http://www.rei.com/stores/45

Website : http://www.bankstonnissan.com/

Website : https://www.evgonetwork.com/

The Future of Transportation

Our June meeting was held at REI with the North Texas Renewable Energy Group. We also had our first Leaf reunion at Bankston Nissan, which is just down the street from REI. This helped to bring out one of the biggest groups we have had in some time. A show of hands had our group evenly split on those who came for NTREG and NTEAA.  Thanks to NTREG for inviting us, and for hosting the REI meeting.

Ron Swanson and Neal Farris presented the program “ Future of Transportation”. This presentation was originally created by member Paul Shaffer. Ron and Neal gave the same presentation at the Living Green event in Plano. This audience was very eager to hear the facts and information about different electric vehicles past, present and future.   Ron has posted this program on the website if anyone would like to have a copy (of course it does not include the informational and humorous ranting of Ron and yours truly).

The real party started when we moved from REI to Bankston Nissan to see the Leafs and other conversion cars that were on display. By the end of the day we had 5 Leafs, Jared’s Fiero, Mike’s plug-in Prius and Mark’s NMG.

The guys and gals at Bankston were great host. A very special thanks goes to Caroline Finley at Bankston for helping to arranging the event.  They gave us upfront parking by the charge stations and even had a catered lunch for all who came. Lots of new faces were there as well as half a dozen folks who are expecting their new Leafs to arrive soon.

Jason Buckland was there from EVGO to help answer questions and lend support for those who had questions about vehicle charging and cost. He also supplied much needed shade from the summer sun with his new EVGO tent!

The Leafs included Neal’s red SL, Paul’s white SV, and Ron’s White SL ETEC with the quick charge port. We had another red and a late arrival of a blue. The ocean blue was driven my new member Jim Hosch. He had just taken delivery that week.

I had more people to talk to than I could handle, thank goodness we had 4 cars there for everyone to see. It was great to feel the excitement of the soon to be owners finally getting to have a hands on with the Leaf. Of course seeing the other conversions there gave them an opportunity to see from where these cars have come and the complex features hidden by a production car.

This was one of those events that made me feel we had “taken it to the street” and spent some time with a great group of real people that are interested in alternative transportation and the possibilities that it holds for all of us. Once that everyone sees that EVs are not some type of experimental vehicle and realize that these cars are viable, we will see many new converts. I am surprised myself how great the Leaf has been to drive, as nice, if not nicer, than any car I have driven.

Now if my wife would just let me drive the darn thing!

Author Neal F.

Lake Wood Stock Neighborhood Festival

Date : Saturday, May 15th, 2011

Time : 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Location : Lakewood Village Shopping Center (Gaston & Abrams)

Address : 6400 Gaston Avenue Dallas, TX 75214-4022

Website : http://www.lakewoodstock.com/

This year we took our EVs  to the Rock N Roll Blvd. at this year’s Lakewoodstock on May 15^th 12 – 8pm.  This is our second year to attend this great neighborhood event. They set aside a car area that we shared with vintage American cars. Unfortunately we were so overrun with spectators that I never even got to see the other cars.

We had Mike Harris’ Ford pickup conversion, Mark’s NMG, Neal Farris’ VW Golf conversion and Neal’s Nissan Leaf, driven by Ron Swanson.

The NMG is a great draw at any event, but to have the Leaf at the same show made for some busy times. We had lots of really interested folks. The demographic of the East Dallas area makes for an eclectic crowd with many varied interest, including EVs. I talked to quite a few people who have ordered or about to order a Leaf. We all talked to many that wanted to do a conversion or find someone that could do it for them.

The Lakewood event is more music and arts than green tech, but it has that feeling of more earthy roots. We barely had time to eat lunch or sit down. That is a good thing, but Mike left us for some time and that made for a lot of work for three guys and 4 cars. Luckily Mike’s car is well labeled so that made for easier explanations.

People can’t stay away from Mark’s NMG! That car has more photos taken of it than any other car in town! Of course the Leaf got lots of surprised looks. Most had never seen one and were excited to see the first full scale production EV in this century. The VW Golf always draws interest and had many lookers.

Our display area was near the Lakewood Theatre stage, so we got to hear some great music for the entire day. We stayed until 5 and left as the real music party was just starting.

Great showing and we hope to be back for more next year with more Leafs and who knows what else!

Author Neal F.

Monthly NTEAA Meeting

Date : Saturday, May 14th, 2011

Time : 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Location : West Irving Public Library

Address : 4444 W. Rochelle Rd., Irving, TX  75062

All monthly meetings are free to attend and open to the public.

We had our monthly meeting at the West Irving Public Library this month.  Its one thing to see pictures and their online videos of the building but seeing it in person makes it really impressive.  As soon as you pull up into their driveway you can see the huge solar array with parking underneaths them.

So you get covered parking, which is really nice but even better is they have 110 volt outlets on every pole.  So electric cars can plug in while visiting the library, so that is really awesome.  When you walk to the building you can see the landscape is well though out using native Texas plants that are use to the dryer weather so that they are very drought tolerant.

Then when you get inside you see it is a state of the art building with lots of features and amenities.  I gotta tell you, a lot of through and design was put into this projects to make it very useful, green and zero carbon foot print on their power.  So it is a building that you should check out some time.

Norris, you can't take it home with you. We see you back there.

We had 9 or 10 people show up along with a Irving City Councilmen.  We had several discussions going on and not very one was part of each discussion.  We heard from the Richardson school doing another Electrothon and entering a new vehicle into the challenge.  He brought pictures showing the new EV, they expect to have it done in the next few weeks.  It was great to get an update on what the Richardson School is working on.   (if you have a picture of the EV, please send it to the NTEAA officers so it can be posted here)    We also discussed the Lake Wood Event that was happening the next day and made sure everyone knew where and when to meet and how many vehicles were going to be able to make it.  We ran into a hand full of new people in passing by hearing what we were talking about at the library and asked some questions.  We asked for a quick tour and info of the library while we were there so one of the librarians gave us a tour and told us a lot about the library.  There were a lot of people there at the library as we were walking around trying to keep quite but asking questions.  Afterwards we went out to the EVs under the solar panel arrays and had a few more random discussions and ran into a few more people asking questions.