The Electric Vehicle
Association (EVA) announced that their 2024 Annual Meeting would
again take place at the ApteraHeadquarters in
nearby Carlsbad, California. I renewed my EVA membership for $55 allowing me
to attend their meeting on January 26-28, 2024.Additionally, this
year I attended the suggested San Diego County locations on Friday,
January 26, and the taco dinner at the National President's home in
Cardiff, San Diego County, California.
This report on
the Friday, January 26, 2024, conference activities includes University
of California San Diego (UCSD) Sustainability Efforts, La Jolla,
California; optional visit to the Meditation Gardens at 215 W. K
Street, Encinitas, California; and Taco dinner for EVA conference
attendees in Cardiff, California. I stayed overnight at Tamarack
Beach Resort, 3200 Carlsbad Blvd., Carlsbad, California.
This report on the Saturday, January 27, 2024, tour of the Aptera"Autocycle" Headquarters
includes: Photos of the black and white Aptera vehicle
"SOL" and 3 other versions; Videos of Jay Leno's and Sandy
Munro's evaluation of the Aptera;
and photos of Aptera
CEO Chris Anthony at the EVA Annual Meeting.
What drew
me to renew ($55) with the Electric
Vehicle Association and attend their 2024 annual meeting was the fact
that the meeting would again be held at the Aptera
"factory" in Carlsbad, California, a little over an hour's drive from
my home in Orange County, California. I would be able to put our
2020 RWD Tesla 3 in Autopilot on freeways 91, 241 and 5 upon leaving
home and not turning it off until the exit in San Diego County for the
carpool location for the Friday activities. Carlsbad is also
where we own a timeshare on the beach at the Tamarack Beach Resort
where I stayed on a Beach Break on Friday night. Friday suggested
activities were of interest to me as well as other out-of-town guests
so I attended the pre-conference day, Friday, for those activities..
(Click on any image for a larger copy.)
Three models of Apteras greeted EVA members at their facility in
Carlsbad, California.
Kashif Sohail of San San Ramon was kind enough to take my
photo next to "SOL".
I believe this is "Alpha" the first model produced. Solar
panels can be seen on the fronk lid and roof.
(Above and below) This was the white and black "Sol" in the
center above.
This third to the right, grey, Aptera showed a few solar panels on the
rear deck.
EVs driven to the conference meeting at Aptera, Left Ford Mach-E, Above
Tesla S driven by the EVA President.
Our 2020 Model 3 on Hwy. 101 at South Carlsbad State Beach, Carlsbad, CA
Inside Aptera headquarters, EVA members awaiting entry to meeting
area.
The blue line is their future assembly line.
Panorama of the assembly area (left) around to the meeting area on the
right.
Chris Anthony, CEO Aptera
Battery for smallest pack, longer for other 2 battery packs.
Right, 4 copper-backed solar panels, bendable, even breakable and still
works. White lines are reflection of room in meeting area.
Another Aptera inside by the meeting area which I was able to sit in.
This is the Aptera and driver who took lottery-drawn rides around
the outside lot. (videos later of those rides)
Right, view behind the 2 seats for driver and passenger.
Driver's view with screen in middle like Tesla 3 and Y.
Foot petals. No need to use the negative with regenerative
braking on the + pedal.
Left, view of door raised and front left wheel from driver's
seat. Right, open back hatch.
Me, last year, squeezing into an Aptera at the same facility.
Note
in the assembly videos that there is no paint booth, cutting possible
emissions, all body parts are carbon fiber. But you can wrap your
Aptera and they will give you the cut pattern for wrapping it.
EVA logo
One important feature of EVA is their listing of current Battery
Electric Vehicles (BEV) and their price and range from $26,500 to
$98,490.
IV. University
of California San Diego (UCSD) Sustainability Efforts, La Jolla,
California, Friday, January 26,
2024
A Friday, pre-conference visit was the UCSD Sustainability Effort which I attended.
Because of limited parking on the UCSD campus we were encouraged to
carpool from the Birmingham Park and Ride at 749-818 Birmingham Dr.
Cardiff, CA. I was able to get specific directions about the
carpool from member Nick who also helped me finally get registered
since the registration website had not let me renew my membership
before this day.
EVA President, Elaine Borseth, met us at the carpool location and helped us form carpools for the trip to UCSD.
(Remember: Click on any image for a larger copy.)
Mike and
Jessica May from Las Vegas (https://www.electricroute66.com/)
graciously allowed Yours Truly and Murray from Tulsa, to ride along to
the
La Jolla UCSD campus. Jessica dutifully paid the $4.25 campus
parking
fee.
The troupe proceeded to meet our UCSD host.
Although Kevin Norris, LEED-AP, Building Commissioning and
Sustainability (knorris@ucsd.edu) introduced himself as a substitute
tour leader for the day, his expertise in the Sustainability efforts at
UCSD was excellent. His assistant was Taylor Kempf -
takempf@ucsd.edu Kevin said that the UCSD campus uses CCS
connectors.
Kevin said UCSD has 300 charging ports and 2,000 users.
NACS (formerly Tesla connector) vs. CCS: What's the Difference?
Unlike gas-powered cars, EVs don't all use the same recharging system.
The two most widely used setups are NACS and CCS, which have notable
differences.
Full article in US news: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/nacs-vs-ccs
We met near the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) pumps where a campus bus was fueling at a Gas Equivalent price of $3.00/gallon.
Nearby were 2 EV 1 ChargePoint chargers no longer being used because of
the evolution of charging capabilities on campus since 2011.
Several San Diego Red Trolleys passed and I noticed a nearby campus
stop. Right, Several ocean-going containers had been repurposed
as battery storage.
Newer ChargePoint EV-4 Chargers were being used for a couple of the 500
electric carts owned by the University. They also have 200 buses
for student transportation running on CNG which are being converted
to/or replaced by electric vehicles. Chargepoint charger upper
right says, "Tap your phone or Chargepoint card below."
I think these are the "carts " Kevin referred to, being charged on EV 4 Chargepoint chargers.
A Tesla (with an NACS to CCS adapter) and a VW were charging on the EV-4 CCS Chargepoint Chargers.
The
(Vehicle to Grid) V2G research is a renewed concept to take advantage
of all the large mobile batteries (EVs) during high demand on the grid.
New construction on the right is for battery research.
Jessica May said, "It's nice to see the Leafs changing." UCSD has
a number of older, limited range Leafs they plan to let students use so
they can charge at home and drive to campus, then charge at campus and
drive home. UCSD also has a building downtown they plan to use
for student housing and the student can use the Red Trolley to commute
to the La Jolla campus and back home.
We walked to this new parking structure, 6th floor, to see the new PowerFlex EV-12 system.
There were two banks of EV-12 chargers this size. Each charger is
individually wired so it can control the charging for best use of the
12 hr. limit that some employees or students need.
"Active charging only" was added to keep EVs from parking and not
charging because of limited distant parking spots. Since some EV
users could not return to their car in the former 4-hr limit, this was
a good solution by PowerFlex.com rather than ChargePoint.
View from 6th floor of parking structure where EV-12 chargers are located.
View from 6th floor of new parking structure with EV-12 chargers.
Since the suggested afternoon activities were at our own pace, I took lunch at the Fish Market near the Del Mar Racetrack.
(Return to Table of Contents)
Also during my lunch break I charged at the Solana Beach Tesla Supercharger. Tesla Superchargers used in Solana Beach and Vista, California.
The restroom (grey doors on left) at this center are just a few steps
from the chargers (right in photo). Get the key from the Pet Vet
further into the center.
Before returning home on Saturday, I picked the Carlsbad, CA, Van Allen Way Tesla Supercharger.
You may have seen the sign of the stores on the north side of Hwy. 78 near Vista.
Judging from the landscaping I think this is a new, large installation. (Return to Table of Contents) Meditation Gardens in Encinitas, California
Another suggested activity was to go to the Torrey Pines Gliderport
,which I was very interested in for photography purposes, however
because of the nearby Torrey Pines Golf Tournament, I could not find a
parking spot. So I proceeded to the Meditation Gardens for a time
of meditation after unsuccessful visit to the Gliderport.
Lots and lots of steps to get to the gardens, but the view from the former temple steps was perfect.
Many side paths with meditation benches with ocean or gardens view.
(Return to Table of Contents) Members BBQ taco dinner in Cardiff, California
Member's BBQ at 4 pm at the EVA President's home in Cardiff, a few houses from this Pacific Ocean view as I was leaving.
Only home I've seen with its own Tesla model car turf race track!
I
enjoyed talking with EVA member Robert Bulecek,
RBulechek@Energy-Man.com, Tucson, about the Teslas he manages on
Turo.com and his Tesla camping adventures charging at campsites.
The back of his business card says: Solving Climate Disruption is
simple: 1. Don't invest in any more fossil fuel
devices. 2. Start getting rid of the ones you have.
(I feel like I'm on the way by our family selling 3 ICE cars and buying
2 Teslas and as soon as the Canoo is available we will sell our
Chrysler Town and Country. By the way I had a 1956 Chevy since
1998 and made $500 per year appreciation making more than 50% down
payment on our Tesla Model 3 in 2020.
