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!

EVCCON Reception Opening Day

It's been a great day at the opening reception for EVCCON 2012.  We started the day off with some breakfast at the Drury Lodge before heading over to the Show Me center for a walk around campus.  After all that time in the car over the last several days we needed some outside time.  Fortunately the weather held out for us.  The rain did eventually come in the afternoon but it was after we had gotten to the reception. We headed over to Jack's garage and checked in to get our badges and show the Beetle with other conference attendees that were arriving.

Great Ice Sculpture!

There were a lot of familiar faces around the garage from last years convention.  It was a different experience having a car this year.  I got a lot of questions and had a great time sharing the car with the group.

BMW 2002

Massive thunderstorms and rain outside

Tesla Roadster charging in the rain

Day Four, Journey to EVCCON

We're here!  It's been a long road but we made it.  Our original plan was to camp one more night before coming into the Cape but we looked at the forecast again and it was almost certainly going to be a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms.  We opted to stay an extra night at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau rather then risk a sleepless night in the tent (or the car more likely).

Missouri welcomes us!

This morning we hit the road a little later then yesterday.  We left the Miami University campus around 7:45 AM and headed through Indiana, Illinois and eventually into Missouri.  We got about an hour into our trip this morning and took our usual morning breakfast break.  We found a nice park next to what appeared to be a large elevated man made lake.  We sat down and had our cereal and proceded to go for a little swing before getting back in the car for several hundred more miles.  Most of the driving away from the University was on back roads and through fields and fields and fields.  It seemed like forever before we hit an actual two lane highway.  The roads seemed to turn only when the property line of one farm wasn't square with he next and we had to drive around the edge a bit.

Weeeeee!  It seemed like the thing to do at the time

Getting ready to leave our breakfast spot

A couple hours worth of narrow farm roads to get back to the highway

Once we hit the highway again we drove as far as Terre Haute, Indiana and stopped at a Ruby Tuesday for lunch.  This is really my go to restaurant as I find it hard to resist the rubies mini's!  We got back ont he highway and headed further to Mt. Vernon.  In our original plan we thought we might camp out the night and drive the extra couple hours to the Cape in the morning.  With the weather looking questionable at best we opted to endure the remaining two hours and pick up an extra night in the hotel.  This was really the best option for us and we are glad we spent the extra time on the road rather then pitching a tent only to tear it all down in the morning and get into our hotel.

When we got into Cape Girardeau I showed my girlfriend around a little but pointing out Jack Richards house and then we swung by the EVTV shop and headquarters.  There were several conference goer's already hanging out and we got a chance to say hi to Jack and show a few others the car.  After the quick visit we came back to our hotel to check in and unload the beetle before heading to dinner.  Its a long day and we are looking forward to a nice nights sleep and a long walk in the morning to get our legs back under us from all the hours in the car.

A little peak in the car by the EVCCON 2012 sign!

Oh good nothing fell out on the way here!

Tomorrow's update will come with some content and pictures from the opening reception of EVCCON 2012!