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.

Can I say I hate you all? :)

Not until I post pics of the vintage EV1 brochures and poster I was given - including a good shot of the 183MPH EcoModded Impact in profile at Fort Stockton.

But my Insight seats two... if you want to tag along next year, I could use a hand driving.

Did anyone get pictures of the Ford Focus BEV? I would love to see it.

I didn't get photos of the Ford BEV, but it was the one that was on the Jay Leno Show.

Apparently, they actually had two on that show, but this was one of them.

Ooohh.. sweet. The BEV should come in a hatchback style.

Nope, I didn't take any pics of it here either. They had no specs on it or anything, kind of disappointing. You couldn't even open the doors to peek inside. They did have the hood popped open though.

I didn't get any pics of the car, but I snapped this one. The only specs we got are surely subject to change: Single-speed gear reduction, 5.4:1. Also, a 23KWh battery pack with 7 modules of 14 cells. Obviously, battery capacity and vehicle price can't be set until Ford has a better idea of what battery prices will be in 2013-2015.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/...25aef2de_b.jpg

First post, I'm going to have to get used to this "To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts." though until I can find worthy things to post on as I refuse to post***** myself.

I like that title, it's like a cult, "One of us, one of us, one of us"

It was one of the coolest things to do there, IMHO. Maybe it will be there next year, that would be cool.

It didn't seem that way just 10 miles outside of Madison as I pulled off the road at an exit and waited awhile at a stop light as I watched 20 SUVs and pickup trucks go by for every car. Inside of Madison, the ratio was better though.

I'll have to take this as an invite and a first post advance welcome to the site. :) I'm happy to be here.

Absolutely!


...and for my opinion on what I saw.

My opinion on the Electric Focus that I saw: I'm not too enthusiastic about it, I prefer the smallest, lightest, and most aerodynamic car that fits my needs for utility. If I ever own electric I'd prefer to go all out with efficiency to allow for least use of the battery(and perhaps a smaller and therefore less expensive battery for a given range).

My opinion of the test drive of the Fusion Hybrid: Powerful bugger, even in its full-electric reverse it was incredibly smooth and quick to get going even with the slight uphill I was reversing into. Not quite the most efficient design as it was inclined to background charge to hang at 50% from the 40% it dropped to rather quickly accelerating twice. The regen seems to be tied to a pressure transducer and when I was pulling full indicated regen current, it was also digging a little into the friction brakes too and I was getting less reduction in speed than my Insight provides and the SOC gauge wasn't climbing too quick either. It seems to be a good car for the person who wants a performance hybrid and isn't paying too much attention to fuel economy. Not a car I would buy but seemed pretty nice.

I'm going to hold off my opinion on the Team Foursight X-Prize modified Insight since its electric motor was in their other car at the time but it was crazy to see an empty engine bay from the bottom with a Smart diesel in the back with a relocated rearward separator(or "Tom Mix" bar, or whatever you want to call it).

My opinion on the Prius plug-in test drive: The guy didn't let me exceed 7mph and told me no new information about the Prius than I already knew even after asking questions that he couldn't answer. I didn't experience a fast acceleration and the guy, at first, refused to let me turn off the air conditioning so I could listen to the car operate without the engine. The test drive and information provided was nothing different than if I were to test drive a Prius. Will I ever own a Plug-in Prius? 99% sure I will never own one.

My opinion of the Tesla Roadsters: Cool car, if I wanted a sports car and had gobs of money, I'd be all over it, the Model S looks promising for those who can afford it, but I might eventually get a used 'Bluestar', which is their planned 3rd generation which is supposed to be the model that errs on the side of affordability. Who knows, maybe I'll find a killer deal on a Model S 10-20 years down the road after its released.

My opinion on the EV1: *drools on keyboard*

I originally sat in the EV1 back in the day when my family was on a vacation, it was back when the car was being leased out still and the display was actually GMs display and I thought it was really cool then. I'm not sure if it was the 1st Gen(lead-acid) or 2nd Gen(NiMh) car or what exact year it was, I'm pretty sure it was the 1st Gen though. So this was like a reunion to sit in the car again and have a good stare at it.

The literature from the 1st Generation EV1 says the following "How much is it? The M.S.R.P. of the vehicle is $33,995. The monthly lease payment ranges from $399 to $549, depending on the government incentives available in the region. The lease is for 3 years, 36,000 miles and includes the cost of the charger" I'm going to hang the included poster on my wall!

Too bad they never sold one or I would gladly pay $33,995 today for the 1997 version even if it came with lead-acid batteries when it arrived(assuming they were new). I'd swap them out with lithium as soon as they crapped out though. If there ever is an Impact/EV1 replica kitcar or a kitcar available that is suitable as an EV and decently crash worthy, lightweight, and aerodynamic, I'd consider building it. 183MPH Impact/EV1-style Boat tail included, please.

HARD CORE! I'm so in for that. I've driven a CVT Insight, and both CVT and 5MT versions of the Civic Hybrid-I (The 5sp is still for sale, and I want it, but it has a bad battery pack).

I think I could do you proud without TOO much coaching. :D

I found a GREAT site of coverage of Green Drive Expo by an attendee.

It includes photos of my Electro-Metro and Carl's Tesla!

See it HERE

Woops, it seems MN Driver's first post got auto-moderated. Sorry about that.

I was getting ready to send a PM to a moderator about that since it was coming up on a week since I posted #18 on the 22nd. It's cool though, happy to be here. I'm about to post my first new thread here, of course if I don't get moderated.

Edit: I didn't get moderated, sweet! All right on to that first thread.

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