Charles,
I'm pleased to announce that Northrop Grumman has just provided a $1,000,000
endowment grant to Florida Tech to sponsor our students' Capstone Projects in
the junior/senior year! The annual funding from the endowment will help students
build complex designs similar to the Racing Electric Vehicle that you helped so
much to fund.
http://www.fit.edu/newsroom/brief.html?id=2510
Various vehicles attract strong interest, and this year, they built a hybrid
vehicle, which has the engine on one side and the battery pack on the other.
Regards,
Frank
-Original Message-
From: listserv-boun...@floridaeaa.org [mailto:listserv-boun...@floridaeaa.org]
On Behalf Of Charles Whalen
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 2:01 AM
To: Florida EAA
Subject: [FLEAA] Battery Beach Burnout update
Hi everyone,
There have been a few questions on what vehicles and also which politicians we
are expecting at BBB, so I'll try to answer those questions as best we can,
given the information we've got at this point, now 6 days out.
First, having participated in this event each year over the last 4 years, let me
just say that this year is shaping up to be by far the best one ever and a
quantum leap over previous years in terms of quantity, quality, and just the
overall caliber and professionalism of the event, with a lot of good corporate,
institutional, business, OEM, and governmental participation and sponsorship
this year. It's going to be an absolute blowout, stellar event, so if you
haven't made your plans to come yet, and to bring your EV if you have one,
please do; it will be well worth the trip!
We've had a very wide blast distribution publicity campaign and have gotten
tremendous interest in the event already, and that's before our radio marketing
campaign kicks in this coming week, where we've got a hundred spots of our
on-air ads running on 5 South Florida radio stations during the
5 days leading up to the event, plus a live radio broadcast at the beginning of
the event itself, from 10am to noon Saturday morning.
We're expecting as many as several thousand people at the event over the course
of the weekend and upwards of 80 EVs, including:
A couple Tesla Roadsters.
At least 3 A123/Hymotion plug-in Priuses -- one from FPL, a second one from
Sumter Electric Co-op (SECO Energy), and a third from our FLEAA North Florida
Director, Fran Sullivan-Fahs, on her EVI tour.
An AC Propulsion/Kokam lithium-powered Porsche from Suncoast Electric Vehicles.
An AC Propulsion eBox.
3 Toyota RAV4-EVs.
A Rennaisance Motors Tropica.
A couple Corbin Sparrows.
Dozens of converted electric cars and trucks.
High school EVs from all over the Southeastern US.
Two 90-100 year old antique electric cars, still running! -- a Detroit Electric
and a Milburn Electric.
Two plug-in hybrid bucket trucks from FPL.
A 40-foot hybrid bus from Palm Tran (Palm Beach County's bus operator).
Electric motorcycles from Vectrix and Patterson Cycles, as well as converted
motorcycles.
Zenn MSEVs.
GEM NEVs.
Dozens of electric scooters.
High school electrathon racers from all over Florida.
Clipper Creek, the only 208-240V charging infrastructure manufacturer, will be
demonstrating their charging stations by charging the Tesla Roadsters at the
event.
Coulomb Technologies, a 120V charging infrastructure manufacturer, will be
demonstrating their 120V charging posts by charging the GEMs at the event.
With major EV incentives legislation now being introduced in the state
legislature, we are also expecting a number of prominent politicians at the
event, including:
Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, an EV supporter, will be speaking around 9:30am on Saturday
morning.
Majority Leader Adam Hasner will be kicking off the introduction of his EV
incentives legislation to the public, speaking around 3:30pm Sunday afternoon.
Leader Hasner will be bringing with him Florida Congressman Adam Putnam, who is
the third ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is
also a good chance that they might be joined by Virginia Congressman Eric
Cantor, who will be down here in West Palm Beach for another event Saturday
evening. Congressman Cantor, the Republican Whip, is the second ranking
Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
As the second and third ranking members, Congressmen Cantor and Putnam are two
of the most powerful politicians in the entire country.
There is also a good chance that Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Ron Klein
will make appearances at the event, as well as Florida Senate President Jeff
Atwater, in whose district FAU Jupiter lies. Several other US Congressmen and
women from Florida have been invited and may show up, as well as dozens of other
Florida state representatives and state senators.
Dozens of local elected officials from South and Central Florida have also been
invited, including mayors, city commissioners, and county commissioners.
Governor Charlie Crist has also been invited and may show up, but
