Saturday, September 8, 2007 3:15 – 4:45
Hey folks,
We’ve got some important events coming up as summer heads into autumn and our typically busiest season, including our annual trip to Fredericksburg for the Renewable Energy Roundup.
Before that though, we’ve got a couple things on the radar.
First is the next AustinEV meeting. On the agenda for the meeting, in addition to regular organizational business, is that relatively new entry into EV discussions these days, Plug-in Hybrids (PHEVs). We’ll have 2 on display, from Austin Energy and also one converted by James Philippi from Houston. James’ conversion of his car is documented pretty much entirely within a single 11-page forum thread, here:
The next item, which James will also be present to discuss, is the Maker Faire on Oct 20-21, for which he is looking for our help. A Toyota Prius (belonging to one very brave Darren Overby, from California no less) has been provided for conversion to PHEV during the course of the 2-day event. Darren and James will be at the meeting to go over the details of the plan and request help from any AustinEV folks interested in donating some elbow grease.
The meeting will be a month from now, Saturday Sept 9 at the Terrazas branch of the Austin Public Library:
[click “Get directions” for a Google map]
The meeting will start at 3:15 and we’ve been told we need to be out by 4:45. We’ll most likely (perhaps already by that point) reconvene in the parking lot, around the cars.
In my opinion, PHEVs are one of the sources (along with gas prices, and NEDRA drag racing) of one of the biggest groundswells of popular support for electric grid-powered transportation in recent memory. I hope we can put together a big group for the meeting, to learn more about the PHEV concept for those who are new to it, and support what promises in October to be an important PR event that will be attended by thousands and will be seen, through subsequent articles and blogging, by people all over the world.
Mark your calendars!
—
Christopher Robison
