Baton Rouge EV Rally 9-20-2014

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Aug 27, 2014
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Sorry to be posting this so late, but here's the info for those who can attend.
https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=188

So far just 3 vehicles are signed up, but I bet the Nissan dealership sends their promo Leaf anyway. The "Other Plug-In Vehicle" is me. Don't know who the Tesla and Volt owners are, new friends I hope.

I will also bring my two e-bikes and a friend will be bringing his e-scooter and an e-motorcycle -all home-built.
 
Yay, 2 more vehicles signed up to make 5 cars and 4 bikes -at least. Not much, but it's the most Baton Rouge has even seen in one spot.

33 people have registered as attendees, but foot traffic was never an issue since the E-vent is in a Whole Foods parking lot, on a Saturday, with no rain.
 
Hooray, media coverage:
http://theadvocate.com/news/10309435-123/baton-rouge-area-residents-check

OK, so the guy got a couple little facts wrong and he didn't mention how many cars were there -probably to be nice since most people would consider 8 cars and a couple bikes to be a poor turnout.

In attendance there were 3 Nissan Leafs (though two were promotional cars from the dealership), 1 Chevy Volt, 1 Toyota Prius, 1 Tesla Model S, Ed's Chevy S-10, my Ford Escort, 2 of my electric bikes, and midcitybikesbrla's scooter. Also, a solar power company showed up with a powered trailer and charged a couple of the cars.

I took just a few bad pictures because the sun made it impossible to view my phone's screen.
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Here is the Advocate's article because the link above will only work for a couple weeks:

Baton Rouge area residents check out electric vehicles at event
La. offers financial incentives for environmentally friendly vehicles
BY RYAN BROUSSARD| RYBROUSSARD@THEADVOCATE.COM
Sept. 21, 2014
As the allure of electric vehicles grows in the United States, advocates of the battery-powered automobiles gathered in Baton Rouge on Saturday as part of National Drive Electric Week to tout the advantages over the old gas guzzlers.
Lauren Lambert-Tompkins, a Clean Cities co-coordinator with Louisiana Clean Fuels, said Saturday’s gathering in the Whole Foods parking lot was one of several across the country Saturday by groups spreading the gospel of zero-emissions electric vehicles. Louisiana Clean Fuels also promotes natural gas and propane-powered vehicles.
“They’re getting a lot more popular,” Lambert-Tompkins said of electric vehicles, pointing out that they are five times cheaper to fuel than normal automobiles and that people don’t worry about the hassle of upkeep and maintenance like changing the oil or changing fluids.
“Anything that’s new and unfamiliar, people are going to look at you crazy, but the facts are there” to support buying electric vehicles, Lambert-Tompkins said.
There are other financial incentives of going electric: Louisiana offers 50 percent in income tax credits for buying or converting to an electric car and a 10 percent tax credit on the cost of the vehicle, up to $3,000, for registering an electric vehicle in the state, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Lambert-Tompkins said there are about 200,000 electric-powered vehicles in the country, though she was unsure how many are on the road in Louisiana
Onlookers wandering through the Whole Foods parking lot checked out the sleek white Tesla Model S that was sandwiched between a 1992 Ford station wagon its owner had converted to battery power and a Chevrolet Volt.
Susan Miller, 54, of Baton Rouge, answered questions from several curious observers about her Tesla.
“It does get a lot of oohs and aahs,” she said of the $70,000 electric sports car she purchased last September.
Miller said most people assume an electric car with zero emissions drives like a golf cart, but her Tesla is “fun to drive.”
The watermelon-sized motor sits between the car’s two rear tires, giving Miller ample storage space in the trunk and under the hood for long trips, like the 2,700-mile roundtrip she recently took to Michigan.
The trip took some planning, she said, because of the lack of widespread charging stations across the country. But said she can charge the car at any outlet that generates at least 110 volts.
“It’s definitely doable now and its only going to get better,” she said.
Next to the Tesla, Alan Dominque, 30, of Baton Rouge, was telling a group checking out his 1992 Ford station wagon how he went about converting it to an electric vehicle.
Dominque has in-depth knowledge of electrical wiring and circuitry, so the conversion to electric was not so much about saving the world but more about turning the car into something he could fix himself if anything broke.
The car’s 48 cells sit in the trunk, but he has ample space under the hood to add extra cells if he ever decides to. No one knows that the white Ford wagon is electric until he pops the hood or plugs it into an outlet, Dominque said.
Dominque said he’s had the car for about a year, since his old electric pickup truck was totaled on Interstate 110 in December.
 
way cool. your escort came from irvine after it was converted by your friend with the solar house? were you able to salvage the DC motor from the truck? how scary is riding a bike there? i graduated from LSU in a previous life and wonder how many ride bikes there and how safe it is. way cool.
 
I'm not sure Brian Pawlak lives in Irvine, just somewhere in AZ. I have tried to contact the guy, but haven't been successful yet.

Yes, I salvaged the DC, series wound motor from my truck. I gave it to midcitybikesbrla whose working on a BMW. I didn't want to use that motor again mostly because I wanted to switch to BLDC or induction, and also because I couldn't trust it after the crash and an incident before the crash where the armature crashed into the outer walls. So I gave it and the trans to my friend to get him motivated on his project and get a big piece of garage space freed-up.

It is definitely scary to bike in Baton Rouge, but it is getting better. First, the economy getting better in the 80s and 90s meant that almost every college student could afford at least a crappy used car. So, the percentage that biked to school and work dropped down to less than 1%. Even though the economy has declined, the percentage has not recovered as much of the current generation doesn't consider biking an option -a sort of a catch 22. The city and state politicians have made some small strides towards making biking a bit better with increased bike paths -spearheaded by a mayor and a state legislator who bike commute occasionally. However, I was struck by a car in 2010 because the asshole wanted to pass me in a no passing zone with no shoulder, oncoming traffic, and narrow lanes. I was on a 480 W e-bike at the time, but at the 25 MPH I was going, it was all leg power at this point -the motor and batteries were just extra weight. I had a full set of DOT approved lights including turn signals, so the guy didn't claim that he couldn't see me, just that he came too close and "bumped me". I had a broken collar bone, a few broke ribs, and a shattered elbow that needed hardware -but that asshole got no ticket, no fine, and was penniless so I couldn't even sue him! Still, he's not our biggest problem in Baton Rouge, drunk drivers are. Every pedestrian and cyclist killed here has been by a drunk driver :(

In better news, I'm fine now (even got all the hardware removed) and my car is OK. Next I plan to convert a large truck or SUV with 4WD. My wife said that I can't convert another small truck because if we're going to spend that kind of money, the truck better be able to tow a 2-horse trailer across country! That's the kind of item I want to see on my "honey-do" list! Yes ma'am, one 5000 lbs hybrid on the way!
 
last time I was there, I had a busted flat, then had to wait for a train - was feeling nearly faded as my jeans. My friend Bobby thumbed a diesel down and we hitch hiked all the way to New Orleans.
 
last time I was there, I had a busted flat

Yeah, the roads in Louisiana are terrible. Nature is partly to blame with soggy conditions, but some civil engineering friends have all pointed the finger at our state governments practice of building roads too thin, then patching inevitable holes with asphalt patch atop asphalt patch. Anyone who has driven on I-10 from Texas knows that you don't need a sign to tell you when you cross the state border, your car's suspension bottoming out will let you know! SUVs are popular for good reason around here.
 
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