Last week I was at the 23rd International Electric Vehicle Symposium, otherwise known as EVS23. Last year I helped organize volunteers for the Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference (EDTA) coming from EVA/DC and found the experience so enlightening that this year I told myself that I would be at EVS23, which, by chance, was going to be run by my friends at EDTA. What I hoped and planned was to just be an attendant at EVS23 so I could see more of the panel discussions and spend more time talking to people and learning about what people are doing and where the industry was going. The best laid plans of mice and men.
In the intervening year between the EDTA conference and EVS23 I have been busy. I have been organizing demonstrations of electric and plug-in vehicles at places such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Power of DC, the Washington, DC Green Festival, etc. I also made friends with Mike Harvey who had joined our local electric vehicle club who immediately became busy converting cars to EVs and making BugE Blue Sky Design kits into drivable electric vehicles. After successfully building an award winning EV, a comfortable, drivable BugE kit and learning how to do the CalCars Prius PHEV conversion, Mike got the idea that he could make a business out of his newly acquired skills. I had made a promise to my readers that anyone who was going to put enough effort and money behind making EVs that I would be there too. I never thought it would be so convenient as to be in my part of the country and that the person would have been a member of my EV club, but there was the opportunity right in front of me. So, I decided that I would help. Mike turned around and put out a press release letting the world know that Harvey Coachworks and EV were ready to take orders for ready to drive BugEs. After that an odd thing happened.
The first people to contact us after the press release was a group out in Hollywood that organized celebrity gift rooms. Gift rooms are mainly to have celebrities handling or showing off products that they receive, giving the companies that supplied these products an opportunity to take their pictures with the product. Connected, the organization that had contacted us, had been looking for something green and something charitable to attract celebrities to their room, which had been timed to correspond with the American Music Awards. We couldn’t give each celebrity a BugE, so what we came up with was to have the celebrities sign a BugE that we had specially built for this event, and then we would then auction it off for a charity. We first thought of helping a variety of charities but later thought better of it and settled on Autism Speaks, a charity close to Mike’s heart for personal reasons. Connected was completely on board with how we wanted to handle things and put their support behind our efforts to make it happen.
What followed next was Mike and I screaming across the country from the right coast to the left in a mini-box truck with the BugE inside. We were desperately trying to make it to Los Angeles in time for a demonstration by CalCars on a fast Prius plug-in conversion. It meant that we would have to make the trek in only 2 and a half days. We just made the end of the event after all the media and fanfare was gone, but as luck would have it Chelsea Sexton and Linda Nicholes of Who Killed the Electric Car? showed up just after we did. Mike and I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to have two EV stars sign the vehicle, so we asked Linda and Chels to sign and they graciously obliged.
The following day we were off to Hollywood to the Sofitel hotel for the Connected gift room date where we were placed just outside the entrance in between the registration table and the gift room. I couldn’t have found a more perfect location for the vehicle. Every celebrity had to pass in front of our vehicle to register for the event after which they were asked to sign the vehicle to be auctioned off for Autism Speaks. Every celebrity enthusiastically signed. They were excited by the cause, they were excited by the vehicle. It seemed to establish a really good feeling about the event and what was to go on beyond that. For me the event took on special meaning once I saw Earnest Borgnine sign. Earnest Borgnine’s body of work on the silver screen and off is unparallel. That he was willing to lend his support made all of our efforts worth while. The event went on, with big name stars that many times I could only identify by their roles in the movies or on television. Some were famous comedians. Some of the biggest stars were of course from music, such as John Legend, Chris Daughtry and two members of the Cheetah Girls. The first day we got more than 50 signatures, the second day we got less, but it was still very good. Lots of eyes on the BugE and lots of signatures and lots of pictures of Celebes, it was a big success.
After the event we took the BugE to Paul Scott’s house and parked it for safe keeping. We did a quick look at the LA auto show, visited Santa Monica and other sites in the area and then flew home. Once home we got it into our head that we needed to get more publicity for the celebrity signed BugE and someone suggested that we get it on the floor of EVS23. So I asked my friends at EDTA and they said YES!!!
I was all set up to go to EVS23, having paid my way myself since my experience at the EDTA conference had been so positive the year before. My entire purpose for going to EVS23 was to learn as much as possible. Now, I was not only going to represent myself but also represent Autism Speaks and Harvey Coachworks and EV. Even more, I had to coordinate people to bring the BugE to the event and then find a place to put it after the event. It all came together wonderfully with the angelic generosity of a number of people, the most important being Michelle Harris and Lynnecia Johnson from EDTA who provided everything to get us on the floor of EVS23, Keith Vansickle, who helped coordinate the movements of the BugE to and from the event and used his charm and family to make things run smoothly, and as if that weren’t enough took the vehicle to his home after the event, Jessie Meza at All Points Motorcycle Towing of Lomita, California, who towed the BugE to the event for free just to help out Autism Speaks, Paul Scott, who housed the vehicle for the time in between the events and Jerry Asher, who offered guidance and moral support throughout the event.
The Harvey Coachworks and EV’s version of the BugE garnered quite a following at EVS23. I heard from an engineer at Johnson Controls that the BugE was all they could talk about at their booth. Feedback was very encouraging.
Now it is your part. We need you, and that means all of you, to bid on the BugE. The more people bid the greater the amount it will be sold for. The greater amount that the vehicle will be sold for, the more money we raise for Autism Speaks. Tell your friends. Send them the link and if they are interested in helping, have them bid.
Ebay number 160189478545
