Got to meet Ed Begley Jr.(he drives solar-electric)

[aerohead]

Saturday,I car-pooled with a couple of friends to Plano,Texas for their Green-Living Expo.Ed Begley Jr. was the keynote speaker.He's the real deal! He was informative,knowledgeable,inspirational and has been dancing the dance since 1970.He has one of 700 Toyota Rav-4 plug-in EVs manufactured,that he re-charges from his home's rooftop PV array.We can read that totally zero emissions!I got to visit with him briefly on the side about traffic light synchronization and he was very generous to share some his time.Great guy.------------- Also met North Texas Electric Automobile Association folks,saw their own personal EVs,and I'll be able to lean on them in the future when it comes time to do the Karmann-Ghia,of which they had an example of at the expo.A very good Saturday!

[SVOboy]

Shouldn't you be saying Ed Begley Jr. got to meet Phil Knox!?

[Daox]

Hahaha, Ben.

Very cool meet up Phil. So, when are you gonna make an EV?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Shouldn't you be saying Ed Begley Jr. got to meet Phil Knox!?

Ed is a little bit my senior and got a jump on me timewise,so I'll be paying homage to him.He's also already "at" a place I'm working to get to.It's way okay with me,and a big comfort knowing there are actually a few like him out there.P.S. Bill Nye "the science guy" was here at U.N.T. about a month ago.By the time I heard about it,his presentation was sold out.Maybe next time!

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Daox

Hahaha, Ben.

Very cool meet up Phil. So, when are you gonna make an EV?

Hopefully sooner than later.I've accumulated enough projects to keep me busy beyond a normal lifespan.Since the T-100 is my daily driver,and it has clocked over 300,000 miles now,I'm a bit anxious to pull the boat-tail trailer together and road-test that rig before the truck plays out.It could run a long time but I don't want to presume that it will.The trailer will answer once and for all,my suspicions about gaining mpg while pulling a trailer.-------- I want to pour some concrete and improve my "shop" situation here.That will help protect the projects from the elements.---------- And that will allow me to juggle projects,slipping in bits of time as time permits,without major threat of loss.The truck got slammed by tennis ball size hail and some of it will have to be re-constructed.----------- The positive thing about having the Ghia,is that it's a complete vehicle.After losing the I.C. components,the adaptor-plate and other hardware for the conversion I can do here.I'll be low-tech,like Ed started out,and refine over time.At 6-miles from town,I won't need a lot of batteries,and I've already got PV and charge controller.My birthday is this month,and I could take early retirement in 5-years.I just need to keep chipping away.I do have a solar scooter which is a hoot to ride around the property.The car is going to be a riot!

[MetroMPG]

Glad to read you're still thinking EV, Phil.

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Shouldn't you be saying Ed Begley Jr. got to meet Phil Knox!?

True!

Ed may have reached more people, but around these parts, Phil's influence (inspirational and educational) has been bigger. I'm sure most members would agree.