Fully Charged at COTA

A VERY successful and well attended event!  I am heartened that the EV revolution has finally hit the tipping point where a recurrance of the sabatoge perpetrated by GM and partners in the early 1990s is not possible.  There was an EV1 on display which I hope will push the attendees to educate themselves on EV history.  A good starting point:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries
https://insideevs.com/news/398686/audi-e-tron-tows-gm-ev1/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-all-

Actor turned YouTube pod caster, Rodney Llewellyn, in his current incarnation of
https://fullycharged.show was the driving force behind the event.  Chelsea Sexton (/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Sexton) was one of the panel moderators.

I was attending mainly to learn more of one of my speculations, a Finnish charging infrastructure company: https://www.parkingenergy.com/.  On arrival, I found the plans for shuttling attendees the ~1.5 miles from the parking lots to the event building were overwhelmed by the volume of attendees.  So, I jumped in helping other Tesla drivers in the shuttling service.  I just moved all the junk in the back of my car rearward and folded the rear seats up.  I did get one favorably comment that I probably had the dirtiest Tesla on the COTA grounds.  Other Tesla owners tend to be obscessive about car cleanliness.  I still have some Candadian gravel road mud on my car (from an August 2019 trip).  I returned the second day, Sunday, to do more shuttling.  Though attendance the second day was a bit down.  Maybe something to do with the SuperBowl conflict.  I found the shuttling more comfortable than roaming the exhibits and sitting through presentations.

Quite a few EV test drives were being given by several manufacturers including the Audi Etron and Chevrolet Bolt.  Many individuals gave test drives/rides in their Teslas (including Roadsters).  Though the Tesla company was absent there was a large Tesla owner presence.  Two Xs were displayed with camper trailers in tow.  Quite a few very nice conversions were displayed.

Test rides were not associated with the shuttling service but I had one couple request a demo as they were being returned to the parking lot.  I kicked it out of "chill" mode and exited the COTA facility.  Just at the exit, I was presented with about 1/4 mile of empty road so I did the acceration demo up to about 80 mph.  Then, on down the road to demonstrate AutoPilot.  Likely, another Tesla sale made for about 10 miles of test ride.

Probably the major attraction was the Rivian pickup truck and SUV.  They were not driven, only on display.  I asked one of the Rivian people manning the exhibit if the cars had been driven to the event.  "No", they had been trucked in.  So, I don't know how functional the cars are.  Rivian had offered 50% discount on event tickets to reservation holders.  That was a major reason for the heavy attendence.

While shuttling, I was able to survey the reasons for attendence and the locations represented.  The Austin area was not overwhemingly the home.  Perhaps Austin was less than half.  A good fraction of the attendees I asked had come to see the Rivians.  I did not fail to mention that, compared to the CyberTruck, the Rivians have a charging problem for long trips.

Much of my chatting with riders contained questions like: "When did you get your car?"  "How far have you driven it?",  "How do you like it?"  "Have you had any trouble with it."  Answers included "I bought my first S in early 2013; it now has ~130k miles on it.  One no cost battery replacement.  This car is a little more than a year old.  Odometer is approaching 30k miles.  I drove it this summer one charge beyond Edmonton.  I more recently circumnavigated the Grand Canyon.  I have not encountered a Tesla owner who is not in love with his car.  Every Tesla owner is a Tesla salesman."  "This is one of the very rare 3s with SuperCharging."

One of my riders was a very well versed but new 3 owner.  He demonstrated how to use voice control which I had admitted to not using much.  "Turn dome lights on".  "Set climate to 65 deg".  "Turn air conditioning off".  All worked well despite a new voice not well positioned and with some background noise.

Ticket demand was so high that they closed Saturday sales a few days before the event; Sunday ticket sales continued.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mpag5Lev7torm3LWA

Photos:
1) Audi Etron; several were offered for test drives.
2) and 3) The first show event in the larger of the two "theaters".  There were about 17 rows of 18 seats.  300+ seats.  The seating area was lined on three sides with people standing about three deep and there were people sitting on the floor.  Another 200+.  In 3), Chelsea Sexton is on the left on the stage.  This room, rather misnamed "Giga Theater", hosted quite a few indoor exhibits as well as the stage.  Across an entrance hall, was the "Mega Theater" which I did not enter; it hosted parallel concurrent presentations.
4)-6) The Parking Energy exhibit.
7) Some of the outside displays.  This is the starting point for test drives.
8)-11) The Rivian display of their pick up truck and SUV.  Further down: more photos before the Sunday event start.
12)-13) Conversions were well represented.  Including from EVWest.
14)-21) Inside displays including the EV1.  The Taycan was not driven.
22)-25) Valence has been resurrected as LithiumWerks (https://lithiumwerks.com/).  Like Valence, they have little interest in selling small quantities.


https://youtu.be/Z56qQjoPGB0