Green Drive Expo, 2010, Madison, WI
 

Tonight, I got to hang out with some of the Tesla Roadster owners.

Very nice guys showing me how the charging system works.

Also, Chelsea Sexton, known for her role in WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR, was the keynote speaker at Green Drive Expo.

She signed one of my BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC CAR DVDs.

More later - late and tired right now, but I will try posting some video clips later! :D

It was a great show this year. There were so many great cars:

Focus BEV
PHEV Prius (got to drove that one)
EV-1
Tesla Roadsters (three of them)
Hybrids galore (insights, prius, fusion, escape, etc.)
Team Foursight (x prize team)

It was very cool to meet Robert Smalls, and an insight central owner (hopefully will make his way over here) MN Driver.

There was also a very interesting new site that I think I'll post about since some here will likely be interested. drivegreenalternatives.com is a mapping website for finding filling stations for alternatives fuels. It covers everything, from E85 to biodiesel to electric charging stations to CNG stations and more. Very cool idea, and users can update the maps.

I didn't take too many pics, but I did get an awesome shot of the rear end of the EV-1. It looks very similar to Darin's boat tail I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm4i1YX-kx8


The rest of the shots were of a nice comparison of the 2nd and 3rd gen Prius bits. Here are a few of the power split device (PSD) on the Prius. This really is the thing that makes HSD superior to IMA. If Honda was able to use this in combination with a lean burn engine... oh my the possibilities.

2nd generation

http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/psd_1.JPG

http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/psd_2.JPG



3rd generation

http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/psd_3.JPG

http://www.tercelreference.com/downloads/psd_4.JPG

Note the Ecomodder t-shirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwnJXqAvXw

Also, the really cool thing was that Chelsea Sexton was there, and the University of Wisconsin has an EV-1, which they fixed up. It's not quite stock anymore (but pretty close) and is drivable on private roads.

It was arranged for Chelsea to take a ride in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl5XEULmxSM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XwPQeG49w


I also got to hand out with the Tesla owners after dinner.
They showed me how the charging system on the car works. There's a lot of neat aspects to it. The LED ring around the charging port changes color and the rate it pulses at to indicate what it's doing and the state of charge. The display screen in the middle says how many miles you are ready for on the current charge. (I think the one I was looking at said 216 miles!)

The charging system can also heat or cool the batteries, so that they are always at the proper temperature. The black car was charging at 40 amps, and the radiator kicked on for a couple of seconds at one point, the regulate the heat of charging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qBMfmMdk0w

Is Wisconsin like the hub of green living?? Seriously, there seems to be an inordinate amount of Geo Metros there, and the expo that had 3 Teslas and an EV1!! If we had an expo in Oklahoma, it would be lined with pickups and maybe a Prius might show up. I still have yet to see an EV1 in person....

At the banquet Saturday night, Chelsea Sexton called Green Drive Expo the "Ground Zero for the True Believers".

I was thrilled that there were three Teslas there. Madison, WI is within (Tesla) driving distance of Chicago. All the Teslas had Illinois license plates.

Love the video title, Ben: "Non-crushed EV1 driving around". :D

I think climbing around the EV1 would have been the highlight of the event for me.

The guy who got out of the EV-1 looks a lot like Matt?

It's hard to drive a crushed EV-1. Not enough leg room.

I think the guy in the one video is the Ecomodder user "RobertSmalls". I think his name is Matt. He drives a modded Insight.

Yes. Madison, WI is a notable hub of progressives and environmentalists in the Midwest. It's also one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country, and it's on the short list of places I'd rather live than than in Buffalo.

Guilty. I'll post pics of me sitting in the EV1 with a hand on the wheel and a big grin on my face, once I get back to Buffalo.

I got to meet MNDriver, Daox (learned how to pronouce Daox, too), Bennelson, billy (long time Insight enthusiast and expert hypermiler), and a few others.