President Sandy Dreger welcomed everyone to the meeting at 2:35. Everyone thanked Donna and her kitchen crew for the wonderful Valentine treats. We had 75 people in attendance with one guest. Members were reminded for the need to sign our new waiver form and provide emergency contact information . John McGinn was collecting forms.
Steve Hill had a brain teaser to open the programme: Q: What do Elvis Presley, William Shakespeare and Gordon Lightfoot have in common? A: Love and poetry
To reinforce the Valentines theme of the meeting Frank Young played and sang "Beautiful" by Gordon Lightfoot. Steve then shared an amusing story about love in our golden years and shared a beautiful reading from Shakespeare.
Our first speaker, Frank Young spoke about the journey of self publishing his book" Lessons my clients have taught me and other stories". The first thing you need are stories. During Franks career in a psychotherapy he gathered many stories about problems people face and the solutions they reached. He was very interested in publishing these stories after his retirement but he met many obstacles finding a publisher and faced many rejections. He became very discouraged by the process and the excuses - "not commercial enough", "not academic enough", "we really don't want to bother reading samples". He was encouraged to generate a social media following to make it more appealing. The process of self-publishing also had barriers and could be very costly with no promise of return. Frank finally found a book designer in Vancouver to format his manuscript as a trade paperback. He then found Island Blue Publishing in Victoria and did an initial press run of 100 copies and a PDF version that could be sold online. Two months after publication, selling only by word of mouth, the first press run has sold out. Frank returned to the theme of love by reciting the first verse of Khalil Gibran's poem "On Love.
Our next speaker was Dale Erhart who was speaking about Battery Electric Cars. He confessed that in his previous career as a Voodoo pilot he had a very large carbon footprint. He now has a push mower and electric cars. He has always loved cars and most of them were turbo charged. The first electric car of the modern age was the Nissan Leaf. In 2016 it had a 177 km range. It has better range in the city due to the technology. Brakes also never seem to wear out as the battery does most of the braking. There are very few working parts so it has a very long life. He told us about his induction charger that they drive over so they don't have to plug it in. It only has to charge every three of four days. After a very positive talk about the ecological value of an EV Dale fielded many questions?
Q: What about range anxiety?
A: There are high speed chargers in Qualicum Beach and Nanaimo. They charge in about 25 minutes. The technology is constantly improving so having to stop for a supercharger can take only 10 minutes. Ten or fifteen minutes will get the job done.
Q: What about vehicle safety?
A: This rates very high for electric cars. All the safety enhancements available for conventional cars are on electric cars. He also spoke about the value of autonomous driving - computers don't get tired or drunk. Humans drive with only two cameras while many sensors support autonomous driving. Studies have proven that 94% of collisions could have been avoided by autonomous driving. They drive very well in snow as they are heavy and have a low centre of gravity.
Q: What about batteries and Battery life?
A: Dale advised that Prius batteries have been known to last 18 years. Batteries are becoming more and more robust. But it is an issue for the electric vehicle market. Batteries contain some very nasty stuff like cobalt and lithium. These materials are recyclable. The batteries can be repurposed to run solar panels. They can also be used on diesel school buses to scrub the fuel.
Q: What happens in a power outage?
A: Dale acknowledged this as a concern but pointed out that in a protracted outage gas pumps would also be affected.
Q: What about service?
A: For Tesla owners there are "rangers" on Vancouver Island who can do many repairs in your driveway. The cars are designed to last - they have 500,00 miles batteries.
Q: What about fights at charging stations?
A: At peak usage times it can be a problem.
Q: What about cost of ownership?
A: Studies have shown that for a $55,000 Tesla vs. a $44,000 Camry cost of ownership over 5 years favours the electric car.
Q: Can hackers get into your car?
A: Tesla and others are working full time to prevent t his.
You can buy a Tesla online. But there are no local options for test drives. Sandy thanked him for a wonderful and informative presentation.
Sandy again urged people to consider serving on the Management Committee for the 2020-2021 term. Tony Nicol is the person to contact if you are interested.
In honour of Valentine's Day we all sang (and some danced) to Elvis Presley's "Can't help falling in love with you".
Those attending the bowling outing Saturday were asked to come 10 minutes early to sort out shoes, etc.
Linda Leslie provided the tickets for the monthly draws. The winners were: Sylvia Giles, Ann Isbister, Jennifer Harrison and Dale McIsaac.
Meeting adjourned at 4:10.
The next Monthly Gathering will be on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
Steve Hill had a brain teaser to open the programme: Q: What do Elvis Presley, William Shakespeare and Gordon Lightfoot have in common? A: Love and poetry
To reinforce the Valentines theme of the meeting Frank Young played and sang "Beautiful" by Gordon Lightfoot. Steve then shared an amusing story about love in our golden years and shared a beautiful reading from Shakespeare.
Our first speaker, Frank Young spoke about the journey of self publishing his book" Lessons my clients have taught me and other stories". The first thing you need are stories. During Franks career in a psychotherapy he gathered many stories about problems people face and the solutions they reached. He was very interested in publishing these stories after his retirement but he met many obstacles finding a publisher and faced many rejections. He became very discouraged by the process and the excuses - "not commercial enough", "not academic enough", "we really don't want to bother reading samples". He was encouraged to generate a social media following to make it more appealing. The process of self-publishing also had barriers and could be very costly with no promise of return. Frank finally found a book designer in Vancouver to format his manuscript as a trade paperback. He then found Island Blue Publishing in Victoria and did an initial press run of 100 copies and a PDF version that could be sold online. Two months after publication, selling only by word of mouth, the first press run has sold out. Frank returned to the theme of love by reciting the first verse of Khalil Gibran's poem "On Love.
Our next speaker was Dale Erhart who was speaking about Battery Electric Cars. He confessed that in his previous career as a Voodoo pilot he had a very large carbon footprint. He now has a push mower and electric cars. He has always loved cars and most of them were turbo charged. The first electric car of the modern age was the Nissan Leaf. In 2016 it had a 177 km range. It has better range in the city due to the technology. Brakes also never seem to wear out as the battery does most of the braking. There are very few working parts so it has a very long life. He told us about his induction charger that they drive over so they don't have to plug it in. It only has to charge every three of four days. After a very positive talk about the ecological value of an EV Dale fielded many questions?
Q: What about range anxiety?
A: There are high speed chargers in Qualicum Beach and Nanaimo. They charge in about 25 minutes. The technology is constantly improving so having to stop for a supercharger can take only 10 minutes. Ten or fifteen minutes will get the job done.
Q: What about vehicle safety?
A: This rates very high for electric cars. All the safety enhancements available for conventional cars are on electric cars. He also spoke about the value of autonomous driving - computers don't get tired or drunk. Humans drive with only two cameras while many sensors support autonomous driving. Studies have proven that 94% of collisions could have been avoided by autonomous driving. They drive very well in snow as they are heavy and have a low centre of gravity.
Q: What about batteries and Battery life?
A: Dale advised that Prius batteries have been known to last 18 years. Batteries are becoming more and more robust. But it is an issue for the electric vehicle market. Batteries contain some very nasty stuff like cobalt and lithium. These materials are recyclable. The batteries can be repurposed to run solar panels. They can also be used on diesel school buses to scrub the fuel.
Q: What happens in a power outage?
A: Dale acknowledged this as a concern but pointed out that in a protracted outage gas pumps would also be affected.
Q: What about service?
A: For Tesla owners there are "rangers" on Vancouver Island who can do many repairs in your driveway. The cars are designed to last - they have 500,00 miles batteries.
Q: What about fights at charging stations?
A: At peak usage times it can be a problem.
Q: What about cost of ownership?
A: Studies have shown that for a $55,000 Tesla vs. a $44,000 Camry cost of ownership over 5 years favours the electric car.
Q: Can hackers get into your car?
A: Tesla and others are working full time to prevent t his.
You can buy a Tesla online. But there are no local options for test drives. Sandy thanked him for a wonderful and informative presentation.
Sandy again urged people to consider serving on the Management Committee for the 2020-2021 term. Tony Nicol is the person to contact if you are interested.
In honour of Valentine's Day we all sang (and some danced) to Elvis Presley's "Can't help falling in love with you".
Those attending the bowling outing Saturday were asked to come 10 minutes early to sort out shoes, etc.
Linda Leslie provided the tickets for the monthly draws. The winners were: Sylvia Giles, Ann Isbister, Jennifer Harrison and Dale McIsaac.
Meeting adjourned at 4:10.
The next Monthly Gathering will be on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
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