I decided to drive my eDatsun to Woodburn, about 23.x miles according
to MapQuest. I wanted to test my old, tired Optimas. I learned
that they are a little more tired than I thought.
Since I've been running in the mode of babying them, I stopped
on the way down and ran my generator a while to top them up before
making the final leg into the drag strip.
Once there, there wasn't as much AC available as I had thought,
so I ran the generator a while until Ralph Merwin was nice enough
to move his mostly-recharged Prizm (see his posting about how
wonderful the PFC-50 was). Once I got my PFC-20 hooked up to
real AC, I could relax a little and not worry about keeping the
generator fueled. I ended up not quite fully charged, but had
enough to head home. I was the last EV off the AC.
The interesting thing for me was to stop at the rest stop not
too far up the freeway. As I parked, an attendant was picking
up trash. I asked about the electrical box we were standing
next to. After starting to say that I should talk to his boss,
he realized the box was right there and said I could plug in.
So I did. Started getting about 12 amps into my 156V pack off
the 20A AC circuit.
Turns out that a guy had seen the sign on my tailgate ("BREATHE
EASY - YOU'RE FOLLOWING AN ELECTRIC" just over the OEM "DATSUN")
and followed me in to see what was up. So, I spent the first
20 minutes or so showing the truck, including under the hood.
We discussed what can be done and he and a buddy seemed to leave
wide-eyed and better informed.
While I was there, Don "Father Time" Crabtree stopped on his
way back towards Seattle and visited a while. I read while the
pack drank thankfully. Overall a very pleasant stop.
One thing that made it pleasant was the fact that there were
no hassles about just plugging in. As I understand Oregon's
position, there's implicit permission to do this, but this is
the first time I'd tried it.
Since the last 3 miles of my trip home is up a noticeable hill,
I plugged in at work while my wife Vera came down in the Prius
so we could go eat. After all that the pack seemed happy, though
somewhat tired.
I've suspected that the open PU box is not very aerodynamic,
and I think this really shows it. I've driven nearly that distance
at somewhat lower speeds with less problems. Either the pack
has weakened greatly in the 6 or so weeks since then, or the
slightly higher speeds really increase drag. One thing I want
to try is a tonneau cover. Hopefully, Sheer will post about
his observations on this subject based on his trip from/to Seattle.
As for Woodburn itself, it was great! For me, it was mostly
visiting with the attendees. I got to meet a lot that I'd only
known from list postings. Also talked to many people who've
not seen working EVs before.
As others have (and hopefully will) posted, even the Jr. Dragsters
were impressed by the electric racers.
Funny that, while they were really neat, the races themselves
were not the high point of my day. I watched as much as I could,
but the action was in the pits. And on the road to/from.
Thanks to all who attended. Each helped make it a worthwhile
EVent.
Eric Johnson
Portland, OR (not too far from Woodburn)
1982 eDatsun PU
MY02 Prius that is winning my wife over
