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« Stealth mode Austin Li Battery company gets BIG VC $$$ | Discussing ROI for conversions (and solar) on AustinEV »

AustinEV meeting, unexpected but fun (if you like hearing me ramble)

I decided to swing by today’s AustinEV meeting and it turned out to be a good thing… there was some confusion about the date and I was the only EV owner there for an hour.  We had a big crowd of EV curious (hopefuls?) and I love a stage!  Each meeting seems to bring out more and better informed enthusiasts. I hope some of them decide to take the plunge.

It looks like production EVs are about 3 years off so the urge for conversions will *probably* start to decrease.  If that happens, I suspect we’ll go from a conversion club to an driving experience focus.

Brian “Lasso” Lasseter rescued the meeting and we expanded the topics beyond just conversions to larger market trends.  I also got to see the excellent job he did with his Saturn SL conversion.  Very clean!  He chose 18 batteries (and gets 50 mile range) and also included an AC compressor.

Looking at the RAVolt   Brian “Lasso” Lasseter

Brian’s rear batter pack - a very clean job!   Looking under the Saturn’s hood

This entry was posted on August 9, 2008 at 11:38 pm and is filed under EVents, Electric Vehicles, Pictures, AustinEV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “AustinEV meeting, unexpected but fun (if you like hearing me ramble)”

  1. John T says:
    August 10, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Rob,
    I was at the meeting yesterday but had a previous engagement and had to leave early. Some good points were made and I appreciate your time and comments. In my personal opinion I think there is going to be a lag time before costs come down and EVs become affordable. With the current uncertainty of the economy I’m not sure that sales by the big three will take off as expected. In the beginning I’m sure there will be a waiting period. Once those intial orders are satisifed, sales will probably be flat until there is a major price reduction and some significant infrastructure has been put in place to recharge vehicles on major highways. The range just isn’t there to make an all electric practical to replace the main source of transportation for most families. Thank you for the informative meeting yesterday and I look forward to attending in the future. My wife and I will be attending the conversion workshop and “EV ralley” in Cuppertino next month. I will share our experiences at the next meeting.

  2. Staltus says:
    August 10, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    Rob,

    Thanks for taking the time to bring your RAV down. It shows a different approach than most of the ones I had seen. It was good talking with you and I appreciate your insight. That and I think the wife might have killed me if we had driven two hours to get there and I didn’t get to talk EV’s.

    Steve

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