Next San Diego EVent: Sat, Aug 9, 2014, CANCELLED

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TonyWilliams

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
10,107
Location
Vista, California USA
Please go to this thread for Orange County meeting dates

Please go to this thread for Los Angeles County meeting dates


EV Meet Ups in Orange County, San Diego County and Los Angeles County

All meet-ups on Saturday:


June 7 - Poway (San Diego County), 8:30am to 11am, Hamburger Factory, 14122 Midland Rd, Poway, CA 92064
Phone: 858-486-4575

June 14 - Cerritos (Orange County), 8:30am to 11am, Hometown Buffet, 11471 South St, Cerritos, 562-402-8307

June 21 - Northridge (Los Angeles County) 12pm - 5pm - Bob’s Big Boy in Northridge, 8876 Corbin Ave., Northridge, CA 91324). SE Corner of Northridge Way and Corbin Ave.

June 28 - Santa Ana (Orange County), 8:30am to 11am, Hometown Buffet, 1008 E 17th St, Santa Ana, 714-541-3020

July 19 - Chula Vista (San Diego County):

1) Near 4th & F Street at the community center where there are Blink Chargers (or possible behind the city offices down the street where there are also Blink stations), plenty of parking - we could bring our own Canopy and food/drinks.

or

2) Near Broadway and Naples at the NRG Freedom Station near the Costco


July 19 - Northridge (Los Angeles County) 12pm - 5pm - Bob’s Big Boy in Northridge, 8876 Corbin Ave., Northridge, CA 91324). SE Corner of Northridge Way and Corbin Ave.


August 9 - Irvine (Orange County), 9am - 12 noon, CANCELLED


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HISTORY

Since I was asked some questions, I thought I'd post a summary of my answers about these meetings:

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. 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. Encinitas in June 2013

7. Capistrano Beach (Orange County) for the end of the BC2BC-2013 rally, July 2013

8. My house for a BBQ, August 2013

9. Temecula EV car show, November 2013

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.

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).

Tony Williams
 
The 7th works for me...A couple of people told me that they like getting something to eat and chatting, so perhaps we could try for a venue that would facilitate that? It doesn't have to be HTB, but there should be plenty of good options out there...

Thanks, Randy
 
Randy said:
The 7th works for me...A couple of people told me that they like getting something to eat and chatting, so perhaps we could try for a venue that would facilitate that? It doesn't have to be HTB, but there should be plenty of good options out there...

Thanks, Randy
The Sports Museum next to the Auto Museum has a cafe that's OK. However now with Car2Go taking up most of the charging stations I'm not sure that Balboa Park is a feasible location any more, as it's unlikely that we'd be able to charge. Hometown Buffet is fine, and the location always seemed to work for people, even without recharging. Some other options outside of the Car2Go service area would allow more distant people to recharge:

Ana Kabob Cafe (Afghan) on Clairemont Mesa Blvd, next to Mossy Nissan Kearny Mesa for charging.

94th Aero Squadron on Balboa, next to CCSE for charging.

Bud's Louisiana Cafe on Viewridge, near IBEW for charging.

Jimmy's Brick Pit BBQ on Poway Road, next to Mossy Nissan Poway for charging.

The Grill at Torrey Pines, with charging. http://www.sandiego.org/listing/Visitors/740. A bit pricey. Reportedly good.
 
The 94th works for me, lots of space, good food, might even be a candidate for permanent more frequent location...no preference on date. I am interested in getting to know my fellow Leaf owners in SD :D
 
I already asked Kyle at CCSE about meeting on occasional Saturdays, but it didn't sound promising. No one is there, etc.

I don't know if 94th has a separate room, but the Studio diner around the corner has a nice patio that we could chat in and a nice parking lot to the south that we could use...
 
Randy said:
I already asked Kyle at CCSE about meeting on occasional Saturdays, but it didn't sound promising. No one is there, etc.

I don't know if 94th has a separate room, but the Studio diner around the corner has a nice patio that we could chat in and a nice parking lot to the south that we could use...
I hadn't listed Studio Diner since I thought it was too small to handle a group, but if the weather is good the patio could be nice. It's also a reasonable walk from IBEW so we'd have two chargers there plus four at CCSE plus a couple more at Mossy Nissan which would be easy to shuttle people from.

94th has private banquet rooms, but only for a guaranteed minimum of 60 people.
 
I went to Studio Diner today; only 8 people makes a group. But, it might be cold to be on a patio in the morning in Jan.

94th Aero Squadron is not open Sat mornings.

Hamburger Factory in Poway has numerous 120v plugs in the parking lot, presumably for when they have flea market events there. Big parking lot, private room for 45 people, train rides, park with gazebo, Mossy Poway right around the corner (three L2's, but not walking distance). Buffet is about $13, or order off the menu.

The Grill at Torrey Pines wasn't really interested in a group during their very busy Saturday mornings with tons of golfers. Maybe in the evening, they said.
 
TonyWilliams said:
I went to Studio Diner today; only 8 people makes a group. But, it might be cold to be on a patio in the morning in Jan.

94th Aero Squadron is not open Sat mornings.

Hamburger Factory in Poway has numerous 120v plugs in the parking lot, presumably for when they have flea market events there. Big parking lot, private room for 45 people, train rides, park with gazebo, Mossy Poway right around the corner (three L2's, but not walking distance). Buffet is about $13, or order off the menu.
That sounds pretty good. Shuttle to/from Mossy for those who drive the farthest, and L1 for the rest of us.

Also, given what you found the other night at Balboa park (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=155517#p155517) maybe Car2Go isn't always monopolizing all the charging spaces, and the auto museum would still be a good meeting location. The cafe in the Sports Museum isn't gourmet heaven by any means, but it's not bad, and it's got location.
 
walterbays said:
Shuttle to/from Mossy for those who drive the farthest, and L1 for the rest of us.... The cafe in the Sports Museum isn't gourmet heaven by any means, but it's not bad, and it's got location.

I really like Balboa Park for many reasons, but the reality is that it not central to the bulk of LEAF owners, the bulk of which are evenly distributed north/south of the 56 freeway.

There's one tiny glitch on the Hamburger Factory, after talking with the Poway City dude who runs the parking lot. The have a Farmer's Market there on Saturday morning, so I'll go over this Saturday and see what that's all about.

ShowImage.aspx



http://www.poway.org/Index.aspx?page=540" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://www.hamburgerfactory.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

48.jpg


"Patio Facilities

If you’d like to hold your event at our restaurant, our two enclosed patios can accommodate 25-100 people. Our patios are great for team parties, rehearsal dinners, meetings and holiday parties. We can accommodate your group with your choice of limited menu, customized menu or buffet service. We even take separate checks for your convenience! Reservations must be made in advance and are subject to availability.

Patio reservations must include food service."

*********************************

Old Poway Park

ShowImage.aspx



"See life as it once was as turn-of-the-twentieth-century California comes alive at Old Poway Park. Come ride the vintage 1907 Baldwin No. 3 Steam Locomotive, visit the Heritage Museum and Nelson House, tour historic buildings, or enjoy a peaceful picnic."
 
TonyWilliams said:
I hear that people catch colds in the winter, and can't work that day?

Thanks, Tony, but I'm afraid I have to actually be sick to be sick. ;)

I'm also sorry to miss the discussion on DC chargers. I just bought an orphan SL on December 2nd and am still trying to figure all this out. I've got a 2.2kW PV solar system with battery back-up at home. I've had my inspection from Baker Electric and am waiting on having my Blink charger installed. Seems like a waste to have to convert the power back and forth with the resultant losses. Maybe I should add another bank of panels just for the Leaf! :)
 
I am game - think we could discuss my recent topic - installing fast chargers in Camp Pendleton?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7213#p158325" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
electricfuture said:
I am game - think we could discuss my recent topic - installing fast chargers in Camp Pendleton?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7213#p158325" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure we could discuss it, however there's not much to discuss without input from the government agencies responsible. Perhaps you could contact them, and report your findings?
 
electricfuture said:
I'm sure we could discuss it, however there's not much to discuss without input from the government agencies responsible. Perhaps you could contact them, and report your findings?
electricfuture said:
I'll give it shot and try contacting the Commander. I was hoping retired military with connections following this thread could help out.
 
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