[Adding-to/embellishing-on what Lee posted ... ] As a person who has sieved through the media' s news releases (newswires) for decades, EAA Chapters and non-EA-aligned EV groups have been in and are in news stories, mainly when they put on an EVent, like the recent National Plug In Day, celebrated in the U.S and Canada.
The EAA national has aligned or networked itself with several related special groups. To name a few, see: http://www.electricauto.org/?page=chapters#SPECIAL nedra.com calcars.org DrivingElectric.org drivingelectric.org PlugInAmerica.org (+more) Similar to not seeing the paddling feet of a duck in water, yet it is moving in a planned direction, is the networked efforts of the EAA with its Chapters, plus aligned and non-aligned groups. True, those efforts do not have the money, power, and might of huge automaker and oil lobbyists, and they may not hit you in the face with their media efforts, but they are getting things done. I do not say this because I was formally an EAA Board member, their webmaster, a Chapter officer, (and the list goes on ...), waving the 'EAA is great' banner. Currently, others have those duties, and most of any EAA promotion I do is like when I yakked about the Silicon Valley EAA Chapter's Rally (I am now doing several other good-EV-deeds). BTW, if what I am seeing on farming network/media outlets is a fair example of a farmer's life, their younger/new generation farmers have kicked it up a notch. There are many that use the Internet and technology to their farming advantage: the formally 'out there alone', older yet successful farmers, now have the younger/new generation connected to today's tech (they do not have-to be alone any more, and many are not). There are evdl members that farm (i.e.Willie) that are much more knowledgeable on this point, and may want to post comments and or corrections. Bob Rice did many, many really good things. And there are several others that have also, but they have not gotten mentioned. An EVangel's work is its own reward, there are many of us out there around the world that do a lot of good-EV-deeds that go untold. I liken it to those pioneers' acts to help the crossing of the U.S. in westward wagon trains. Initially, the trails were very rough, and hazardous. But little by little (trees cut and stumps removed, boulders moved, new safer routes and shallower water-crossing points were found, etc.), with each use the trail, they became better, changing eventually into roads, and some into highways. With each driver's little efforts, come great over-all improvements. No one knows the names of all those who did this, nor the count of exactly how many trains made the trip. IMO Because there are so many conversions out in the world, it is not that important to know a count. It would be a moving target, always changing. I feel it is safe to say that where there is a will, these conversions are going on, and will go on even as Production-plugins are being sold. While the amount of conversions being preformed may be less in percentage than in areas of the world that do not have the money that other parts do, those with the conversion and parts-sourcing knowledge should be available to those that want that information (one of those sources of EV knowledge being the evdl). As a person who has to deal with the media's onslaught of negative (on the verge of evil) efforts to hurt the EV-cause, I say do not focus on the here and now, or on the media's vulture-feeding-frenzy (that is what sells media ad space). That is the negative side of freedom-of-speech we allow and have to deal with to have keep it. I do not condone it, but understand it is a human behavior/trait we have allowed for a very long time, same as bullying in schools is just now being addressed (if you look at history, humans have abused each other like in a pecking order, not unlike the way an ape group or monkey troop beats on each other). I do not like that negative animal side of human behavior, but it happens. I take solace that the media frenzy will be eventually over. If you remember what happened when the Volt or Karma pih, or Airbus issues/fires cropped up, the media vultures pounced. But those points are fairly forgotten (media has a short memory). The key is to weather the storm, get the actual facts out in the open, and move forward from there. Should not knuckle-under like Ford did decades ago when their prototype sodium battery had a fire the media played-up and they cancelled their EV R&D. I posted the accident because it needs to be known by the plugin community. There are EVangels that are constantly harassed by co-workers of these negative media pieces (like in the movies where drunk cowboys hang or shoot first, and ask questions later), that need the heads-up. As the harassment will not stop or let-up, we need to keep a cool-head as more of the actual facts come in (as Steven has posted). We as EVangels/plugin-driver-ambassadors, need to be-calm in the knowledge that we are better than that negative animal side that wants to beat-up the new-kid in school, and with everyone taking their turn to kick them while thy are down. Be patient as the adult, while the bratty-media child goes wild ... {brucedp.150m.com} - On Fri, Oct 4, 2013, at 09:08 AM, Lee Hart wrote: > Electric Blue auto convertions wrote: > > How many conversions are out there still running? I dont think no one knows. > > That's right. EV hobbyists are like farmers; each one is out standing > alone in his field. There is no national registration, no lobby, no > organization that represents a majority of EV hobbyists. Other hobbies > have their spokesmen, that the media knows of and can call on for an > opinion. But not EVs. > > The EAA (Electric Auto Association) could be such an organization, but I > don't think they represent even 10% of EV drivers. They also don't > really have any voice in the media or do any serious lobbying. > > > The converters are a very, very small group of builders, and you say > > WE had an impact on what the auto makers are doing now? > > Yes! Management of course knows absolutely nothing about existing EV > work (Not Invented Here syndrome). But their engineers read the > journals, go to car shows, and see the reports of hobby EVs, prototypes > from tiny companies, and school EV projects. They know it can be done! > And it influences what they propose to their bosses, and what they can > make happen. "That looks like fun. What if we..." > > When some pundit says, "It can't be done", all it takes is one lone guy > in the back row to put the lie to the claim. They say: > > - "Well, my neighbor has been driving his homebuilt EV to work every > day for years." > - "My kid built this EV in school, and they raced it." > - "But I saw this EV at a car show; it was gorgeous." > - "I saw this drag race on the internet, and that EV whomped the ICE." > > Bob Rice was an excellent demonstration of this. *Everyone* in the EV > industry knew Bob! He was a truly unforgettable EVangelist. I have no > idea how many EVs he was responsible for; but it must be thousands. > > Would Tesla have been building EVs with thousands of laptop cells if AC > Propulsion hadn't done it first in the Tzero, to prove it could be done? > Would AC Propulsion have existed without Alan Cocconi, working alone on > his kitchen table to create the inverter for the Impact (which became > the GM EV1)? > > We need pioneers, out there in the wilderness, going at it alone, > blazing the trail, to prove that it CAN be done. EV hobbyists provide > these pioneers. > > > But as you wrote, one EV has a fire and the world goes in to panic... > > Exactly. There are scheming lobbyists, just waiting for any tiny bit of > bad new that they can distort and exaggerate to suit their purposes. > > > Cycles of development are real, and when they crash they come back, > > but they come back higher than before > > Yes, that that is the hopeful part of it. On each cycle, EVs and their > components get better and better. The improvements are coming at a rapid > rate, far faster than improvements in ICE vehicles. - -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Accessible with your email software or over the web _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
