Hi everyone, There have been a few questions on what vehicles and also which politicians we are expecting at BBB, so I'll try to answer those questions as best we can, given the information we've got at this point, now 6 days out.
First, having participated in this event each year over the last 4 years, let me just say that this year is shaping up to be by far the best one ever and a quantum leap over previous years in terms of quantity, quality, and just the overall caliber and professionalism of the event, with a lot of good corporate, institutional, business, OEM, and governmental participation and sponsorship this year. It's going to be an absolute blowout, stellar event, so if you haven't made your plans to come yet, and to bring your EV if you have one, please do; it will be well worth the trip! We've had a very wide blast distribution publicity campaign and have gotten tremendous interest in the event already, and that's before our radio marketing campaign kicks in this coming week, where we've got a hundred spots of our on-air ads running on 5 South Florida radio stations during the 5 days leading up to the event, plus a live radio broadcast at the beginning of the event itself, from 10am to noon Saturday morning. We're expecting as many as several thousand people at the event over the course of the weekend and upwards of 80 EVs, including: A couple Tesla Roadsters. At least 3 A123/Hymotion plug-in Priuses -- one from FP&L, a second one from Sumter Electric Co-op (SECO Energy), and a third from our FLEAA North Florida Director, Fran Sullivan-Fahs, on her EVI tour. An AC Propulsion/Kokam lithium-powered Porsche from Suncoast Electric Vehicles. An AC Propulsion eBox. 3 Toyota RAV4-EVs. A Rennaisance Motors Tropica. A couple Corbin Sparrows. Dozens of converted electric cars and trucks. High school EVs from all over the Southeastern US. Two 90-100 year old antique electric cars, still running! -- a Detroit Electric and a Milburn Electric. Two plug-in hybrid bucket trucks from FP&L. A 40-foot hybrid bus from Palm Tran (Palm Beach County's bus operator). Electric motorcycles from Vectrix and Patterson Cycles, as well as converted motorcycles. Zenn MSEVs. GEM NEVs. Dozens of electric scooters. High school electrathon racers from all over Florida. **** Clipper Creek, the only 208-240V charging infrastructure manufacturer, will be demonstrating their charging stations by charging the Tesla Roadsters at the event. Coulomb Technologies, a 120V charging infrastructure manufacturer, will be demonstrating their 120V charging posts by charging the GEMs at the event. **** With major EV incentives legislation now being introduced in the state legislature, we are also expecting a number of prominent politicians at the event, including: Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, an EV supporter, will be speaking around 9:30am on Saturday morning. Majority Leader Adam Hasner will be kicking off the introduction of his EV incentives legislation to the public, speaking around 3:30pm Sunday afternoon. Leader Hasner will be bringing with him Florida Congressman Adam Putnam, who is the third ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is also a good chance that they might be joined by Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, who will be down here in West Palm Beach for another event Saturday evening. Congressman Cantor, the Republican Whip, is the second ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the second and third ranking members, Congressmen Cantor and Putnam are two of the most powerful politicians in the entire country. There is also a good chance that Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Ron Klein will make appearances at the event, as well as Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater, in whose district FAU Jupiter lies. Several other US Congressmen and women from Florida have been invited and may show up, as well as dozens of other Florida state representatives and state senators. Dozens of local elected officials from South and Central Florida have also been invited, including mayors, city commissioners, and county commissioners. Governor Charlie Crist has also been invited and may show up, but I would probably call that a longshot at the moment. If any of you would like to contact the Governor's office yourself and urge Gov. Crist to come to the event, that would be very helpful! Folks, we want to really impress all of these politicians with how serious, how real, and how big the EV movement is becoming. The best way to do that is with sheer numbers -- numbers of vehicles and numbers of people; the more the better. There is definitely great strength in numbers. So please, make the effort to come out and bring your EV to the event! Finally, I would like recognize the tremendous, amazing, heroic, Herculean effort that our Florida EAA President, Shawn Waggoner, has done and is doing to organize and put on this event. While it is a team effort, with support from the other members of the organizing team, including Andrew Roddy, Matt Graham, Lowell Simmons, Bob Fuerstenau, and myself, on the other hand, from my humble perspective and what I have observed, I would have to say that 80% of the work has been and is being done by Shawn, and therefore that Shawn deserves 80% of the credit for what is going to be, as I said here at the outset, just an absolute blowout, stellar event! Look forward to seeing everyone there! Thanks, Charles Whalen Florida EAA _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
