MREA energy fair 2017

[Daox]

I got invited up to the MREA energy fair by Ben Nelson this past weekend. It was a blast as always. It was really great to go there as I haven't been there in the past few years. I also got to meet up with a few friends I don't see often like Ryland. There were Lots of awesome sustainable projects, products, and vendors to visit, and of course the car show area. They had it all from ethanol conversions, to a 2000 Honda Insight (yay, but not mine), to basically every modern EV that is being made. They had an I-MiEV, 1st and 2nd gen Volts, a few Leafs, C-max energi, a few Bolts, a couple Prius Primes, a Focus EV, and just a few Teslas.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.













Here is a great little dual hub motor bike trailer.





Did I mention just a FEW Teslas? JB Straubel, Tesla's CTO was there to do a presentation that night.

[MetroMPG]

Tesla exec - this must be a pretty big fair?

What was your favourite thing?

I like that bike bench seat pusher trailer.

[Daox]

I'm pretty sure the MREA fair is the largest of its kind in the midwest. Its a pretty big deal. Also, JB is apparently originally from Wisconsin. It was pretty cool to hear his story. Hes just a car / EV nerd like us here at Ecomodder. He talked about how he did a DIY EV conversion of an older Porsche with lead acid batteries when he was in college. Hah, I found it on EValbum. It looks like he built is own controller too.

My favorite thing was just hanging out and talking with people. They have so many cool ideas of things they want to do. Renewable energy, while it is somewhat developed, is still so open to new ideas, products, and things that are really interesting to me. For example, they had outdoor wood burning boilers, rocket stoves, masonary stoves, little foldable stoves for camping / hiking (with secondary air injection for clean & efficient burning), and that is just a few of the stove they had! Almost all of these are small companies, so you get to talk with the owner and designer of the product which is so much fun. There is a lot of passion in those people as they really believe in what they do, and they also really enjoy it. I also got to talk with a bunch of the owners of EVs which is always interesting. Its really cool when someone already knows about Ecomodder (cause I had to wear my EM t-shirt ), and there were a few. The guy with the bicycle trailer deal knew about Ecomodder and immediately asked about how much eliminating the alternator was good for mileage wise.

[JRMichler]

I was there on Saturday. It's everything that Daox said. And more.

[MetroMPG]

Its really cool when someone already knows about Ecomodder (cause I had to wear my EM t-shirt ), and there were a few. The guy with the bicycle trailer deal knew about Ecomodder and immediately asked about how much eliminating the alternator was good for mileage wise.

Ha! That made my day!

It's been a while since I talked to someone I didn't already know who's familiar with EM.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Daox

JB is apparently originally from Wisconsin. It was pretty cool to hear his story. Hes just a car / EV nerd like us here at Ecomodder. He talked about how he did a DIY EV conversion of an older Porsche with lead acid batteries when he was in college. Hah, I found it on EValbum. It looks like he built is own controller too.

That's funny - I actually remember looking at the EV album entry for that car years ago. The above pic is what tweaked my memory. Those low-hanging batteries made an impression.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by JRMichler

I was there on Saturday. It's everything that Daox said. And more.

Doh. I knew I should have posted that I was going so I could meet up with some other Ecomodders. Sadly, I didn't make the decision to go until Friday afternoon so it wouldn't have given much prep time. I would have loved to meet you, and anyone else from EM. Next year hopefully!

[JRMichler]

Next year, we need to start a "Who's going to MREA thread" ahead of time.