EVCCON 2012

EVCCON is a four day event focused on Lithium battery powered Electric Vehicle conversions sponsored by Jack Rickard of EVTV. I attended last year with the eBugeye, and this year brought my newly minted evTD. What a thrill to meet and chat with the guys and gals who are making a difference and building their own alternative transportation, and also meeting the vendors who make it possible. It's an indescribably great weekend, but my friend Mike Brown did a great job of it on his blog, http://porsche914e.blogspot.com. Scroll down a bit for the EVCCON coverage as life goes on and new posts are coming along. Also check out Andrew McClary's summary video here:

I will post some of the fun stuff we did during the course of the conference. The previous blog post showed a couple views of the evTD on the show floor at the Show Me Center. Of course there were presentations and instructional sessions throughout the three days of the conference. Dad says he learned things about electronics and motors he wished he'd known years ago.

The exhibit area was constantly busy. Dad has always had a way with the ladies, and here's one he picked up along the way:

She's Netgain President George Hamstra's grand-daughter, and her Mama said she took to Dad because he had silver hair like her Grandpa. A real doll!

Here's Dad posing with another beauty at the drag strip:

There was a weigh in area just before the entry to the drag strip. The evTD weighed in at just over 2000 pounds, about 200 more than the eBugeye, but still a very light car.

Photo Courtesy of Mike Brown

My first match was with the Sun Jag. Here we are in the staging area trying to psych each other out about how slow we'll be.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Lumpp

Moving into position:

Photo courtesy of Tim Catellier

Here's Mike Brown taking the helm:

The last day included a public car show in Capaha Park.

During the car show, we gathered all the father-son teams for a group photo with Jack Rickard:

Jack said he had pictured 37 year old fathers bonding with their 17 year old sons through projects like this, but he never imagined it would be the 60 year old guys bringing their 80 year old Dads. We just want to salute the "Greatest Generation".

The car show was followed by the Electric Vehicle Parade:

After the parade we all gathered for a group portrait:

The conference closed with a gala banquet featuring hand carved smoked prime rib and Jack's amazing wine selections and closing remarks. 

A huge thank you to Jack and his team for staging another fabulous conference. EVCCON recharges my personal battery pack and inspires the work we do.

Among the award winners was the evTD, which took home a trophy for "Best Paint"!

The first thing I did when I got home was present the trophy to Robert Juarez who actually did all the body work and paint. He deserves it for the fabulous job he did for me and for taking such a personal interest in my project.

The best prize of all was spending a week with the guy who gave me his name and staked his reputation on the notion I might turn out OK. The guy who let me "help" rebuild his 55 Chevy when I was 12 years old and who really helped me keep some pretty tattered old cars on the road in my younger days (rusty TR4 anyone?) Restored a real MG TD years ago and a handful of MGB's, uses the 56 Chevy he restored as his daily driver and is currently restoring a Model A Ford that was built the year he was born. 

Sharing this special time together was priceless.

Thanks, Dad!