Welcome

Ron Erb and myself (Lance Johnson) were on the local Saint Louis Fox 2 news last week talking about our electric conversions. Ron’s truck has been completed for awhile now and I am still in the process of converting mine. Check out the story here. Thanks to Paul Schankman from Fox 2 for putting it together.

The first few monthly meetings of 2009 have been great for Gateway EV. In January we instituted a type of ‘On The Job Training’ program aimed at getting EV builders and members that would like to get experience building together to help each other out. In February we had John Rosenbaum of Battery Plus stop by and provide an insightful discussion on battery technology and how Battery Plus can help our custom EV builders satisfy their battery needs. In the April meeting Dan Armstrong gave an overview of Rocky Mountain Institute’s Project Get Ready initiative around improving electrical distribution infrastructure in our major cities. Thanks to all the members and guests that attended. We look forward to all these great partnerships in the future.

Make sure you check out all the exciting events Gateway EV will be attending this summer. Check out the Events section for more information.

Thanks to everyone that attended our December monthly meeting. It was a great opportunity to meet with members and guest to talk about EVs and our club. Charlton Jones gave a introductory presentation on EV wiring and his power point is available below. We would also like to express our gratitude to Schlafly for allowing the use of the room at their Bottleworks location. Nothing beats beer, friends, and EV technology discussion..

• An Introduction to EV Wiring

We have acquired a venue for our monthly meetings. Starting in December our meetings will be held the first Sunday of each month at Schlafly Bottleworks and will start at 2:00 pm. You do not need to be a member to attend these meetings.

          Schlafly Bottleworks
          7260 Southwest Ave.
          Maplewood, MO 63143

These meetings are a great way to get together and talk about electric cars, the group, or just about anything else. Look forward to seeing you all there.

Our members and their EVs have reached the Saint Louis media once again. Charlton Jones and Ron Erb were highlighted in the business section of the Tuesday December 2nd edition of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. For those that missed the paper, you can see the writeup and a short video of Charlton at their STLToday.com website
here.

We are excited to announce a new way of keeping in touch with fellow EV enthusiasts. The www.GatewayEV.org website has recently added a user forum section. Please visit this section and ‘register’ a new account to start posting messages. This is a great place to ask questions of our members and others about anything related to electric vehicles from upcoming production vehicles to instructions for installing a motor in your custom EV conversion.

The event on Saturday was a huge success. We had 6 EVs on display that attracted a lot of attention from the festival attendees. Gateway EV members were on hand to talk about their cars and their experiences converting them. Later in the day Charlton Jones lead an informative seminar on how to convert an ICE vehicle to an EV. Thanks to all members and guests that attended. We can’t wait to attend next year’s Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival.

[View with PicLens]

Below is Charlton’s document from his presentation at the festival.

• Building an Electric Car

Thanks to everyone that attended the Green Drinks ‘Green Car Show’ event at Schlafly Bottleworks on Tuesday. There was a Toyota RAV4-EV, a Smart Car, a Hymotion Plug-In Prius, a VW Diesel using Biofuel (free used vegetable oil) and others. The owners of these cars where available to answer questions the attendees had. We hope that this event and others being held in the future will increase awareness of all alternative fuel vehicles but especially EVs.

Gas prices are soaring and cheaper transportation is big news. It was good to see our local Saint Louis news channels are paying attention to some solutions right in their own backyard. Two of our members, Jeff Rosenthal and Ron Erb, had their EVs highlighted on two separate news casts.

• Fox 2 had Jeff Rosenthal’s 1996 Ford Ranger custom EV. You can view the article and video here.
• Channel 5 had Ron Erb’s 1996 Ford Ranger custom EV. You can view the article and video here.

Great job Jeff and Ron, not only on the hard work you put into your trucks but at raising awareness about the benefits of EVs.