[ausev] AustinEV meeting September 9, and more

[Christopher Robison]

Hey folks,

We've got some important events coming up as summer heads into autumn
and our typically busiest season, including our annual trip to
Fredericksburg for the Renewable Energy Roundup.

Before that though, we've got a couple things on the radar. 

First is the next AustinEV meeting.  On the agenda for the meeting, in
addition to regular organizational business, is that relatively new
entry into EV discussions these days, Plug-in Hybrids (PHEVs). We'll
have 2 on display, from Austin Energy and also one converted by James
Philippi from Houston.  James' conversion of his car is documented
pretty much entirely within a single 11-page forum thread, here:

http://priuschat.com/My-official-Prius-Plus-mods-thread-t26951.html


The next item, which James will also be present to discuss, is the Maker
Faire on Oct 20-21, for which he is looking for our help. A Toyota Prius
(belonging to one very brave Darren Overby, from California no less) has
been provided for conversion to PHEV during the course of the 2-day
event. Darren and James will be at the meeting to go over the details of
the plan and request help from any AustinEV folks interested in donating
some elbow grease.


The meeting will be a month from now, Saturday Sept 9 at the Terrazas
branch of the Austin Public Library:

http://www.austinlibrary.com/apllocations.cfm?acronym=atb
(click "Get directions" for a Google map)

The meeting will start at 3:15 and we've been told we need to be out by
4:45. We'll most likely (perhaps already by that point) reconvene in the
parking lot, around the cars. 

In my opinion, PHEVs are one of the sources (along with gas prices, and
NEDRA drag racing) of one of the biggest groundswells of popular support
for electric grid-powered transportation in recent memory. I hope we can
put together a big group for the meeting, to learn more about the PHEV
concept for those who are new to it, and support what promises in
October to be an important PR event that will be attended by thousands
and will be seen, through subsequent articles and blogging, by people
all over the world.

Mark your calendars!

-- 
Christopher Robison
chris at ohmbre.org
http://ohmbre.org          <-- 1999 Isuzu Hombre + Z2K + Warp13!