Link to previous San Diego EVent on April 20, 2013 CHANGE OF VENUE AND TIME !!!!! To get on (or off) the San Diego EVent email list, send an email to: [email protected] Saturday, June 8, 2013, 10am-1pm I'm planning to move the event to 577 South Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA for a whole bunch of reasons. 1. For all the folks coming from "up north" (OC, LA and Ventura), it's only 60 miles south of Irvine (versus 80 miles at the old site) 2. Everybody in San Diego can easily get here 3. There are two Blink charging stations on site in addition to 25 parking spots. Lots of overflow parking in every direction 4. Solace restaurant has a semi-private room for about 30, with overflow. Address: 25 East E Street, Encinitas, CA 92024 Phone760) 753-2433 5. It will be far cooler than Poway in the summer 6. Most people like the beach 7. You can take the train!!! (yes, really, the station is right there) 8. I am unabashedly promoting the future site of the EVoasis charging plaza at 577 South Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, CA 9. For the extremely thrifty minded, unfortunately it will cost more to eat. 10. We can start slightly later so that folks who are driving a long distance and need charging don't have to leave when it's still dark 11. Yes, we still have trains, just like in Poway (except these are "big boy" trains) *********************************** CHARGING LOCATIONS - click here: In addition to the two Blink L2's (Blink card required) at our meeting location at Encinitas Station, there are 3 additional Blink J1772 L2's nearby at the San Diego Botanical Garden. We can arrange a ride to/from there. It may only be open during the times the garden is open. The Botanical Garden's three L2's are in the parking lot at the corner of Ecke Ranch and Quail Gardens, NOT actually at the botanical garden main parking lot. That' the lower parking lot to the San Dieguito Heritage Museum. About 1.7 miles away, and opens at 9am daily. Need Blink card. The Scripps hospital at 353 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, CA has three L2's (free) in two separate locations. Again, we can arrange a pickup, but it's close enough to walk; about 0.7 miles. No card required. A local Tesla driver can offer his new home charger (J1772 or Tesla HPC?), plus he also has a NEMA 14-50. It is located near La Costa Avenue, only about 7 miles away. You can charge while the meeting is on, and grab a ride to/from the meetings with him as well. No card required. *********************************** Expect to spend $20: Solace Restaurant Encinitas, CA Starter served FAMILY STYLE: Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls w/ Cream Cheese Frosting Please CHOOSE ONE: Cheesy Scrambled Eggs w/ Brown Sugar Slab Bacon, Two Eggs, Grits Biscuits and Gravy w/ Niman Ranch Pork Gouda Sausage and Fresh Fruit Natural Hanger Steak OR Cremini Mushroom Benedict on our Cheddar Chive Biscuits, Sautéed Organic Baby Spinach, Ancho-Chili Hollandaise EBLT: Toasted Egg Bread, Lemon Thyme Aioli, Sliced Tomato, Bibb lettuce, 2 Fried Eggs, Sugar Slab Bacon For the KIDS please Choose ONE: Cheesy Scrambled Egg, Bacon & Fruit Butter-Pecan French Toast, Sausage & Fruit Please no Substitutions! 16.50 per guest plus tax & gratuity, drinks not included Children 5 and above 12.00 ****************************** Previous meeting on April 20, 2013:
Tony: Second picture: Randy told me he wanted to lick my car because of all the dust in the parking lot.:wink: Now he's supposed to have his own Multi-coat Red, which he picked up at the Fremont factory 5/2. David
I saw the pic posted on the San Diego Facebook page of Randy's car in Fremont, with the "P85" on the red car. Randy started these bimonthly meetings here in San Diego in October 2010 with the impending arrival of his Nissan LEAF. We have an ever growing family of current and former LEAF drivers who now have the Model S. I hope to have mine next spring, when the lease expires on our Infiniti G37 convertible (<<<<--my wife LOVES that car). I sent out a blast mail recently asking for a new place to meet closer to the coast, and north of Del Mar. Any San Diego county production EV driver can get to a meeting in that area, and since these EVents have always attracted a few folks from "up north" in the OC and LA, I'd like to give them an excuse to make the drive. I think we may have a location lined up in Encinitas right at Moonlight Beach for Aug 3, 2013. We're also planning a party at the EVoasis charging site at the Residence Inn, 33711 Camino Capistrano San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 (949) 443-3600 for July 7, 2013. This will be the final leg of the BC2BC-2013 All EV Rally, and we want to make sure that the participants have a proper greeting. From this site to the Mexican border is only 77 more miles to end the rally. Hope to see you for breakfast on June 8. Tony
Meet Randy's Ruby! A fantastic day yesterday that is still playing out in my mind....Meet "Ruby", my new Tesla P85 Multi-coat red with a tan interior... I don't think I've had a better day in a long time...Two of my friends Matt and Malcolm went up with me to take the factory tour, and Malcolm drove back with me. The factory tour was (of course) very impressive...So much to see! There was no tram yesterday, so we walked it. I think we were able to get closer to the action...So many times I said "I wish I could take a picture of THAT"! I think my mouth was open for much of the time, and if you could have taken a photo of me in the factory, my tongue would have been hanging out...I just can't say enough about the factory tour...If you were on the fence about going there and taking a tour, you must schedule a visit! My only regret is that I wish the tour could have been longer...One of my utility engineer thoughts along the way was "Their electrical demand must be through the roof at this plant"... There were SO MANY red cars on the production line...It was an engineer's dream to see everything come together with the cars, from the rolls of aluminum to the finished product coming alive. Without trying to get too corny about it, I felt such a connection with all of the people that are doing this great work up in Palo Alto and Fremont...Just a tremendous effort by everyone involved and such high quality results...It made me feel very proud to be a part (in my own small way) of their Mission... Another unplanned high point of the trip was that Franz von Holzhausen was there at the factory conducting some design business (another story). I recognized him right away and went up to chat with him in the Customer Delivery Center. Imagine my surprise when he said he recognized me from the Hawthorne Supercharger event 7 months ago when we briefly chatted. Great memory...It that a Tesla grin (TM) on my face or what? Thanks to Matt for snapping that photo... Many others have made the journey before me to the factory and taken the tour, but there is sure something special about being right there in the middle of everything and seeing it with your own eyes...Made in America, baby! After the tour, it was time to leave the factory and think about getting back to San Diego (about 475 miles). Of course, the drive down was awesome in its own way as well...The P85 just kept delivering the goods. We saw many people being pulled over by the CHP on the way down, and I'm happy to tell you that I wasn't one of them. My friend Malcolm had to be at work this morning, so we had to drive straight through. We stopped at the Superchargers in Gilroy, Harris Ranch, and Tejon Ranch on the way back to San Diego, and arrived back here about 2am or so with food and charging stops. Another mouth-opening experience on the way down was the charging rate of the Supercharging stations. I believe the charge rates have been adjusted upward since we were getting such high throughput (with no adjacent cars)...The display said we were adding 271 miles per hour at Harris Ranch, and I saw that again at another stop...A much different experience than with my LEAF....I think I'm in love with Ruby!!! And I know that my son Brandon will be as well... When will this Tesla grin go away? Hopefully not for a very long time...I'm sure that I'll be thinking of additional detail and more stories to post over the next few days... Randy
Ya baby, that's the Tesla grin. Those wheels look great on the red. Glad the drive down didn't give you any unhappy surprises, and I look forward to seeing Ruby! Congrats!!
Change of venue and time !!!!!! CHANGE OF VENUE AND TIME !!!!!! Still June 8, 2013, but now at 10am - 1pm (sorry, I can't edit the first post's title) I'm planning to move the event to 577 South Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA for a whole bunch of reasons. 1. For all the folks coming from "up north" (OC, LA and Ventura), it's only 60 miles south of Irvine (versus 80 miles at the old site 2. Everybody in San Diego can easily get here 3. There are two Blink charging stations on site in addition to 25 parking spots. Lots of overflow parking in every direction 4. Solace restaurant has a semi-private room for about 30 5. It will be far cooler than Poway in the summer 6. Most people like the beach 7. You can take the train!!! (yes, really, the station is right there) 8. I am unabashedly promoting the future site of the EVoasis charging plaza at 577 South Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, CA 9. For the extremely thrifty minded, unfortunately it will cost more to eat. Solace and the Moonlight Lounge, 25 East E Street, Encinitas, CA 92024 Phone760) 753-2433 10. We can start slightly later so that folks who are driving a long distance and need charging don't have to leave when it's still dark 11. Yes, we still have trains, just like in Poway (except these are "big boy" trains)
June 8, 2013 Menu at Solace Restaurant *********************************** Expect to spend $20: Solace Restaurant Encinitas, CA Starter served FAMILY STYLE: Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls w/ Cream Cheese Frosting Please CHOOSE ONE: Cheesy Scrambled Eggs w/ Brown Sugar Slab Bacon, Two Eggs, Grits Biscuits and Gravy w/ Niman Ranch Pork Gouda Sausage and Fresh Fruit Natural Hanger Steak OR Cremini Mushroom Benedict on our Cheddar Chive Biscuits, Sautéed Organic Baby Spinach, Ancho-Chili Hollandaise EBLT: Toasted Egg Bread, Lemon Thyme Aioli, Sliced Tomato, Bibb lettuce, 2 Fried Eggs, Sugar Slab Bacon For the KIDS please Choose ONE: Cheesy Scrambled Egg, Bacon & Fruit Butter-Pecan French Toast, Sausage & Fruit Please no Substitutions! 16.50 per guest plus tax & gratuity, drinks not included Children 5 and above 12.00 ******************************
History of these Meet and Breakfast meetings Since I was asked some questions, I thought I'd post a summary of my answers about these meetings for folks in the Tesla community who aren't familiar. This group has been having meetings since Oct 2010, and has used all kinds of locations. Gary G. (Orange County LEAF driver) and Randy S. (San Diego LEAF and Model S driver) amongst others, got things started, and I've continued to organize things since Oct 2011. Originally, it was only Nissan LEAF cars and meetings were done at Home Town Buffet in Mira Mesa (San Diego county). We have met at: 1. Home Town Buffet in Mira Mesa (San Diego county). There is plenty of food, but no charging and no private room. 2. The San Diego Auto Museum private room. We made a $50-$100 donation to the museum for use of the room by "passing the hat". There was no food, so future meetings always included food and a private room. There are 7 of the original Ecotality/Blink charge stations installed in San Diego at this location. 3. In Poway, we have used three different rooms at the Old Poway Park location. The Hamburger Factory restaurant back room holds 45, but since we've overfilled that, then we used a room that held "50" (I think) and we overflowed that, so we rented the hall that holds about 75-100. 4. Almost forgot Santa Ysabel, in Nov 2012, where we inaugurated the first DC charger in San Diego. Plenty of charging stations, and a nice restaurant in the mountains with a semi-private eating area. Way too far from the beaten path for future meetings. 5. In February, we met at the KUSI studio and did a live TV presentation with the assembled EVs (Honda Fit EV, Volt, Rav4, Model S, LEAF, ActiveE) and ate at Studio Diner in San Diego in the back patio. 6. And now, we are meeting in Encinitas. The issues with getting bigger become more difficult. Typically going over 50 bodies in a rented hall starts to require insurance and fire marshall permit and security, etc. I have already paid many city permits for our previous meetings. Even Encinitas requires a 20 page form for this event, plus prepaid (my personal guarantee) food at the restaurant in case folks don't show and eat. Since there are questions about price of the food and whether you could "brown bag" it, or not eat at all, just know that this stuff costs money nonetheless. It takes a large amount of organization and time that I'm glad I don't keep track of ;-). In the future, I have offered to co-locate these meetings with other EV car clubs. I have zero interest in bylaws, clubs, board members, minutes, etc. We will leave that to the respective clubs. I've done all that with other clubs, and our gatherings will be exactly that; Meet and Greets. Look at cars, talk about cars, eat food while talking about cars and go home. No newsletter, no website, etc. Tesla cars are unique in that the cars can generally drive to meetings and nobody should need to charge. That's not the case with all the other EV's, and since we attract folks from "up north" with all kinds of EVs, I intend that all our future meetings will be: 1. Any location north of Del Mar, near the coast, so that all San Diego EV drivers can easily attend, and the northerners can also attend. 2. They must have a private or semi-private room that can hold us. 3. There must be some charging nearby. 4. There must be exposure to the general public (that would exclude meetings at private locations with no exposure). We have had print reporters at our meetings, as well as the TV spot I mentioned. Next month, during the All EV Rally "BC2BC-2013" from Canada to Mexico, I expect we will get a good bunch of EV coverage. We all are a piece of the bigger solution to expose the public to EVs. 5. It must be "close and convenient", which means the charging, parking and eating all have to be at the same spot. This Encinitas location has that in buckets, since there are TONS of parking, lots of restaurant choices within walking distance, and charging stations. In the future, this parking lot location will be EVoasis's charging plaza. 6. Fun and informative. We have had many speakers over the years, typically with charging infrastructure providers like Ecotality, EVoasis, Car2Go, Andromeda Power, etc. We did a live DC charger demonstration hosted by Andromeda Power, charging 20-30 cars while we had our meeting (April 2012). I expect we will have plenty of show and tell, and perhaps a speaker or two at this June 8 meet as well. Tony Williams
One week to go. I had a suggestion for the new Stone Brewery at NTC/Liberty Station, where there is now 10-20 Blink L2 chargers for an August meet up. Bad news; $1500 minimum for a group.
About 40 people total, $870 food bill, didn't count all the cars as some were scattered to the various local charge stations. Some folks went to the Poway location!!!!! Lots of EV related industry was present, as is customary. More details later (and a bunch of pics):
Parking lot at 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, California June 8, 2013 Part 1 - - - Updated - - - Parking lot at 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, California June 8, 2013 Part 2 - - - Updated - - - Parking lot at 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, California June 8, 2013 Part 3 - - - Updated - - - Solace Restaurant, Encinitas, California June 8, 2013 - - - Updated - - - LEAF Mega Nerd After Party, Brusa charger install at my house June 8, 2013