EVCCON 2012 Conference Update

This has been an action packed conference so far.  I have seen several familiar faces in the group as well as some new comers.  There are several more cars here this year and it's been great to be one of those attendees that has one on the show floor.

Talking about the car with a couple conference goers (that's an ariel atom replica next to me)

Lots of electric Porsche (that's 5 in this picture)

Over the last couple days there have been some exciting announcements both here at the conference as well as in the EV community as a whole.  On the public front Tesla announced their Super Charger network this week which is exciting news for new Model S owners who live in California.  This is a network of fast chargers that will allow long range travel across the state of California and some surrounding states of the west.  The Super Chargers utilize solar energy to store and charge cars under a solar panel car port.  It will be exciting to see where this takes us in the future.  From within EVCCON Netgain Controls announced an exciting new charger/controller/DCtoDC converter everything box that will be available shortly to the builder community.  This system called the pulsar will be capable of 500 amps and will include a built in charger which will utilize the J1772 standard as well as have capability for DC fast charging.  It also includes a built in 50amp DC to DC converter and several other useful features not currently found today.  This would make for a very simple clean conversion using just one combo device as a kind of central brain and control unit.  You would essentially only need an accelerator, batteries and a motor/adaptor plate and you could have a running car with this system.  Very exciting!

Tesla Super Charger Network

New Netgain Controls all-in-one! 

Today was our day to hit the track I took full advantage and ran the quarter mile (too slow to note :) and then pounded the autocross circuit that was setup.  I did much better at this then the straightaway race.  My car weighs in under 2000 pounds and has a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution front to back and side to side.  I was able to take on the slalom like nobodies business!

Getting ready for my first run! (I should have gone for number 53...)

Check out the high resolution version on YouTube!

We will be in for another great day tomorrow with a picnic in the afternoon and a public car show followed by a parade.  Check back for more soon!