MEAA meeting at Current Motor

[JohnK]

Saturday noon attended a meeting of the Michigan Electric Auto Association. Topic was batteries and battery management systems. This was held on the premises of Current Motor (no S on the end) - it is a startup company that is manufacturing electric motorcycles (well, closer to converting an ICE motorcycle to EV). They buy motorcycles from China minus any ICE or related gear and then add the EV necessities. The motor is an in the wheel unit in the rear.
At any rate, they have a lot of knowledge and expertise that is beneficial to do it yourselfers who are converting a vehicle to an EV. Also helpful general information for those that want to understand how their soon to be owned Volt works. Well, not so much how the Volt works, but the basic principles and problems of batteries and battery management. It was very interesting. The single most interesting thing to me was the importance and consequences of each and every cell being kept within the healthy parameters needed for a lithium battery.

[ChrisC]

I do recommend that everyone here go check out a meeting of their local EAA chapter ( http://www.eaaev.org/eaachapters.html ). I joined mine here in Atlanta over a year ago and have been religiously attending the monthly meetings. Those guys are hardcore, having been building their own EVs for years. Many even own commercial EVs, like the Sparrow and the Solectria and other low-volume EVs that have popped up in the market over the years. Most are very very excited about the Leaf -- and some are a little bit less excited about the Volt since they tend to be purists about pure EVs