TonyWilliams
Well-known member
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
****************
To get on (or off) the San Diego EVent email list, send an email to:
[email protected]
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
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
****************
To get on (or off) the San Diego EVent email list, send an email to:
[email protected]
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