The April 2019 meeting of the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association was staged in conjunction with GreenFest 2019 at Downtown Summerlin on April 20th from 10 AM to 5 PM, where the LVEVA staged two exhibit booths within the Clean Energy Drive Zone:
Continue reading “Highlights of GreenFest 2019 and Drive Electric Earth Day in Downtown Summerlin”
The Electric Drive Transportation Association has been tracking U.S. Sales of plug-in electric cars since 2010, when the first Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt mass-market cars were introduced:
https://electricdrive.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/20952/pid/20952
President Barack Obama during his 2011 State-of-the-Union address challenged the nation to put one million plug-in electric cars on U.S. roads during his term.
It took a little longer, but the benchmark was achieved during October 2018, when 9,465 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 24,638 battery-electric vehicles were sold.
Total sales since 2010 were estimated at 1,015,980 at the end of October 2018.
NEVA blog posted by Stan Hanel, Outreach Coordinator
Electrify America, a non-profit organization funded by Volkswagen to install multiple DC Fast Charge stations on highways and roadways across America, has begun installing these systems in Nevada.
The Premium Outlet Malls South is a shopping district near Las Vegas Blvd and Warm Springs Road, just south of the Las Vegas Strip. The company is hosting six DC Fast Charge stations with 12 charging ports of various power-delivery capabilities for different model EVs equipped with different levels of fast-charge battery packs.
Two of the stations will carry “ultra fast” plug connectors capable of delivering electricity at a maximum power-transfer rate of 350 kilowatts. At this time, no plug-in electric car battery pack has been equipped to handle this combined amount of voltage and current flow from a DC Ultra Fast Charger. However, the installation of these systems will future-proof these DC Fast Charge systems near Las Vegas Blvd., so that newer vehicles with ultra-fast charging rates that will be developed over the next ten years, will still be able to use this site.
The plug-in connectors on these charging stations are based on the SAE International standard for DC Fast Charging, known as the Combined Charging System, or CCS. The latest CCS version 2.0 coincidentally has a maximum power rating of 350 kilowatts, that can be achieved through a combination of voltage and current settings. Voltage can be adjusted from 200 – 1000 Volts DC, while current flow can reach a maximum of 500 Amps.
Three of the six stations at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet South shopping district will be also use a similar CCS connector, but have a maximum power-transfer capability of 150 kilowatts.
The last DC Fast Charge station has two different connectors. One is a CCS-compatible plug rated at 150 kilowatts while the second plug is a CHAdeMo standard plug rated at 50 kilowatts. CHAdeMo is an older DC Fast Charge standard developed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and implemented more than a decade ago. It has been used by Japanese automotive manufacturers in the Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi i-MiEV that were sold in the US during 2012 and beyond.
Each CHAdeMo-equipped vehicle had two separate charging ports, one for the standard SAE J1772 Level 1 and 2 AC charging systems, as well as a separate CHAdeMo port for DC Fast Charge systems.
All six DC Fast Charge stations have been provided by ABB, a worldwide manufacturer of electric vehicle supply equipment for the automotive industry.
Currently, the Tesla Supercharger network of DC Fast Charge stations are rated at 120 kilowatts to enable Tesla Models S, X and 3 to travel cross-country and recharge a 250-mile range pack in about forty minutes. Tesla owners can purchase an optional CHAdeMo adapter cable but at 50 kilowatts, charging time is closer to two hours to top off a Tesla model battery pack.
A 150-kilowatt DC Fast Charger should reduce the time required to refill an electric car’s battery cells to about 35 minutes, while a 350-kilowatt Ultra Fast DC Charger should be able to recharge a compatible battery pack in about ten minutes.
Implementing this EV technology roadmap to enable an electric car future may have some speed bumps over the next ten years.
Building out the necessary charging station infrastructure to safely deliver electricity at the same rates as high-voltage transmission lines will still be a tremendous challenge to designers, installers, product managers, maintenance people and even first responders to a traffic accident or DC Fast Charge station malfunction.
A lot of “real world” testing will be required with each new level of DC Fast
Charge technologies over the next decade.
Already, Electrify America has experienced a recall of 350-kilowatt DC Fast Charge cables after recent testing found a problem in some of the units. Retrofits to the original cable designs were required to systems that have already been installed.
An onboard card reader can process all major credit cards for the purchase of electric power, as well as process payments through Apple Pay and Android Pay.
NV Energy hosted an electric car Ride ān Drive event in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 27 2018 from 10 AM to 4 PM. The event was located in the parking lot of the Pearson Building campus at 6226 W. Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89146.
Over 200 attendees were able to test drive plug-in electric cars from multiple automotive manufacturers, including Tesla, GM, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Fiat Chrysler, and BMW.
These included Tesla Models 3, S, and X, as well as the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, BMW i3, Nissan LEAF, Fiat 500e, and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
Interested participants could reserve one hour of time to drive up to three different models by registering online at the Electric Car Guest Drive website:
http://www.electriccarguestdrive.com/lasvegas
The test drive route circled the NV Energy campus by going west up the hill on West Sahara Avenue to Torrey Pines Drive, right on Torrey Pines Drive to Oakey Avenue, right on Oakey Avenue to Jones Blvd., right on Jones, then right again on W. Sahara to return to the NV Energy campus parking lot.
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association and Las Vegas Tesla Owners Group provided support for the event that was coordinated by the staff of Electric Car Insider magazine from San Diego, California.
A static display of a Tesla Model X, Chevrolet Volt, Tesla Model 3, and Nissan LEAF allowed attendees to talk in more detail about each of these vehicles with the owners of the electric cars.
Some local members of the San Diego chapter of the EAA also provided their vehicles in support of the event, so it was fun to meet other members of this EAA chapter from southern California.
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association was given booth space at no cost by NV Energy to provide local information about electric vehicles and EV charging stations. About 25 new attendees signed up to be on the LVEVA mailing list, in order to attend future meetings and events.
Local LVEVA members who worked the Electric Car Guest Drive during the day included President Lloyd Reece, Vice-President Justin Steele, Secretary Stan Hanel, Board of Directors member Brad Appelgren, and Ed Malkewiscz.
The New American Road Trip, led by two Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars, arrived at the Luxor Hotel & Casino on Sunday, 9/16, from 3 PM to 6 PM and staged a celebration that included food, music, entertainment and guests speakers who sought to bring more attention to climate change issues:
An electric car caravan drove from San Francisco to New York City between Sept. 14 – 26th, stopping along the way to promote climate change awareness before arriving at the United Nation for the One Planet Summit at the UN on Sept. 26th.
The Las Vegas stop during this event took place in the valet parking lot of the Luxor resort on the corner of S. Las Vegas Blvd and Mandalay Bay Rd. and the party started at 3pm.
Speakers during these three hours were Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City as special UN Envoy, Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts, and Antonique Smith, actress and grammy-nominated singer.
Electric car ride ‘n drives were available from local dealerships, that included the 2018 Nissan LEAF electric sedan, 2019 Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, and 2019 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Food, music, guest speakers, and celebratory events rounded out the presentation.
Followers helped promote the New American Road Trip through these social media channels, as drivers of the Chevrolet Bolt EVs traveled cross-country:
Twitter: @NewAmericanRT #NewAmericanRoadTrip
Instagram: @NewAmericanRoadTrip #NewAmericanRoadTrip
Facebook: New-American-Road-Trip
NEVA blog posted by Stan Hanel, Outreach Coordinator
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association co-hosted a kickoff event for National Drive Electric Week on Saturday, September 8th at the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89107 from 10 AM to 2 PM:
https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1276
Partners and exhibitors for this event included NV Energy Renewable Generations and PowerShift programs, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, Nevada Electric Vehicle Accelerator (NEVA) program from REA250, Drive Clean Energy program from Green Alliance of Nevada, Nevada Conservation League, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, FIRST Nevada Robotics Team from Clark High School, Net Zero Brokers, and University of Nevada-Las Vegas Formula SAE race team.
Pictures of the event are shown below:
Mark Larsen, an annual visitor and long-distance traveler from St. George, Utah, also posted pictures and video on his website at this link:
The Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association supported GreenFest 2018 at Downtown Summerlin on Saturday, April 21st from 9 AM to 5 PM. The event celebrated Earth Day.
The LVEVA participated in a Green Procession to kick off the event. LVEVA member Ed Malkewicz and his brother, Ray participated. Ed drove a Zero electric motorcycle while Ray drove his new Tesla Model 3, that he brought all the way from Austin, Texas.
LVEVA President LLoyd Reece, Board of Director Members Stan Hanel and Jim Katzen, Rob Lipener, and Lily and Henry also exhibited electric vehicles on Clean Energy Drive while answering questions at an informational booth: http://www.greenfestlv.com
Lloyd exhibited his Nissan LEAF electric car, as well as a 1974 FiberFab Aztec 7 kit car that had been restored by LVEVA members. Rob Lipiner also showed off his customized electric bicycle.
Other electric vehicles exhibited at Clean Energy Drive included Panamera S e-hybrids and a Cayenne e-hybrid from Gaudin Porsche, Chevrolet Bolt EV and Chevrolet Volt from Findlay Chevrolet, an electric ATV and a Sentinel Personal Mobility Vehicle from Xtreme Green Vehicles in Las Vegas.
Jeffrey Price from the Las Vegas Tesla Owners club also exhibited his Tesla Model S while other members of the Tesla club, like Dan Wettlauer, participated in the Green Vehicle Procession.
Over 120 other booths at GreenFest 2018 featured information about how to live a sustainable lifestyle in the Mojave Desert, as well as family-friendly activities like bounce houses, rock climbing, pet adoption, music and Beer Garten refreshments during GreenFest 2018.
Al D’inzillo, one of the original founders of the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association, passed away during 2017. His family graciously donated Al’s 1970 FIAT 850 Sport Spider to the LVEVA to restore and make roadworthy again as an EV conversion project. Al and LVEVA co-founder Bill Kuehl originally designed and built the “Omanyd” electric car project (“dynamo” spelled backwards) during 1996.
From the 21st Official Newsletter of the LVEVA July 1996 (Gail Lucas, Editor):
“Thanks for the opportunity to tell my Omanyd story. It was a gratifying moment for me when arriving for last month’s Thursday meeting at D.R.I., in my new born Omanyd Electric, to be met by an unexpected mini accolade of applause by member friends. I thank them much, the moment is as much theirs as mine, for it was their encouragement to me and commitment to the environmental worth of the Electrics that led this 76 year young man to break down a 1970 classic and convert it to a 1996 Electric; Thanks to Al Sawyer, Jan Himber, Bill Yule, Bill Kuehl, (non member Bob Guthrie), Frank Timbers and my understanding wife Mary.”
“With prior arrangements made, on April 6, 1996, I drove my 1970 Fiat 850 Sport Spider for it’s last I.C.E. ride to Bill Kuehl’s excellent facilities in North Las Vegas (some 200 ft. above downtown). His shop includes a deep working bay and keeps a well fed family of wild rabbits and bunnies in the grounds, they are a pleasure to watch.”
Al and his FIAT 850 Sport Spider were featured in the online EV Album database of electric car conversions:
http://www.evalbum.com/401
LVEVA members Lloyd Reece, Stan Hanel and Jim Katzen were able to arrange transportation of the vehicle to Lloyd’s house, where new tires were installed. The LVEVA is currently seeking sponsorship for ten 12-volt deep cycle batteries that can be used to provide power to the Advanced DC Motor and Curtis 1221B Controller that are part of the original electric drive train that Al designed.
To fit the electric motor and batteries into the small trunk section, Al D’Inzillo designed and custom-built a belt drive system, where the DC motor was inverted and mounted vertically above the transmission and drive shaft. The Curtis 1221B controller was modified by Stan Hanel during 2002. The original electronic components were replaced with more powerful MOSFET transistors and fast-recovery diodes that allowed more current to flow to the DC motor.
Al also experimented with his own designs for battery charging regulators, developing prototype printed circuit boards and capacitor modifications for the 120-volt DC battery system.
DC Solar has installed 19 portable trailers around the Las Vegas valley that are equipped with ChargePoint AC Level 2 charging stations to provide electricity at no cost to electric car owners.
The electric power for the ChargePoint station on each trailer can be generated by three portable resources: adjustable photovoltaic solar panels, a battery backup storage system, and a biodiesel generator.
Each DC Solar charging station trailer also has digital LED display screens on both the ChargePoint station control panel and alongside the full length of the trailer that can be leased to businesses to provide advertising announcements. Advertising revenue can be used to offset any maintenance or biodiesel costs incurred by DC Solar while providing free electrons to electric car drivers.
DC Solar portable ChargePoint stations installed in the Las Vegas valley are located at:
1. 5965 W. Sahara Avenue
2. 4030 W. Charleston Avenue
3. 1555 E. Flamingo Road
4. 2151 N. Rancho Drive
5. 4880 W. Oquendo Road
6. Charleston Boulevard and Art Way
7. 9111 Las Vegas Boulevard South
8. 1094 S. Buffalo Drive
9. 276 N. Jones Boulevard
10. 1019 S. Decatur Boulevard
11. 2169 E. Tropicana Avenue
12. 3070 W. Sahara Avenue
13. 6730 Las Vegas Boulevard South
14. 3965 E. Charleston Boulevard
15. 5115 W. Spring Mountain Road
16. 1007 E. Cheyenne Avenue
17. 3100 Fremont Street
18. 7730 S. Jones Boulevard
19. 889 S. Valley View Boulevard
Locations of more than 300 ChargePoint stations in the Las Vegas valley and throughout the rest of Nevada can also be found through a map app provided by ChargePoint at this link:
https://na.chargepoint.com/charge_point
The Nevada Electric Vehicle Accelerator (NEVA) website also includes the Plugshare.com mapping service, that can be used to locate both ChargePoint and non-ChargePoint EVSE charging station sites throughout the state and around the country:
http://nevadaeva.org/evse-locator-map/
For more information about DC Solar and their innovative portable electric power solutions, visit the company website at:
http://www.dcsolarsolutionsmfg.com/
Update: During March 2018, DC Solar removed its trailers from all locations due to a billboard permitting requirement requested by the City of Las Vegas. The company will re-install its trailers at the original sites once the permitting requirement has been resolved.
The September general meeting of the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association coincided with National Drive Electric Week celebrations being staged in 270 cities worldwide during the week of September 9 – 17, 2017.
https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=983
The LVEVA co-hosted an electric car rally at Springs Preserve museum parking lot from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, September 9th, located at: 333 S Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89107
The electric car gathering was staged beneath a canopy of photovoltaic solar cell panels.
Two ChargePoint stations with three SAE J1772 AC Level 2 plugs were available for electric vehicles to recharge from energy generated by the sun.
About 150 attendees and 40 vehicles visited the event during the day.
Vendor and non-profit organizations provided information about electric car technologies and support infrastructure to visitors. Plug-in electric car models were on display from Tesla, GM Chevrolet, Nissan, Ford, Fiat, BMW, Daimler and other automotive manufacturers throughout the day.
Sponsors included Nissan, NV Energy, Plug-in America, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, Citizens Climate Lobby, Verdek, ChargePoint, Las Vegas Tesla Owners group, the Nevada Electric Vehicle Accelerator (NEVA) program from REA250, and the Drive Clean Energy Las Vegas program from Green Alliance of Nevada.
Jane Feldman from Sierra Club Toiyabe chapter shared a video of the NDEW event on her Facebook page:
NV Energy supplied a walk-through “Renewable Generations” trailer exhibit that showcased solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and wind generation technologies.
Mark Larsen drove his Nissan LEAF from St. George, Utah to the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas and back over the weekend, chronicling his journey both ways, as well as his visit to the NDEW gathering: http://bit.ly/ndewvegas
“A good time was had by all!”
