Help Assemble PRIUS+ Battery Pack Fri-Mon

(First the invitation, then the explanation...please feel free to forward this to Bay Area people as appropriate.)

We could use some help Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday afternoon and evening and all day Sunday and Monday. Optimum is one or two people at a time, to handle mechanical details, prepare and cut busbar, then install and connect batteries. Volunteers need not have battery connection experience, but some experience with mechanical construction would be very helpful.

Construction will be at PRIUS+ Technology Lead Ron Gremban's residence in Corte Madera (10 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge).
For further information or to volunteer, please call Ron at 877 482-8393.

(Sorry for the last-minute notice: we were waiting for the batteries and they literally just came off the truck!)

It's taking us a bit longer than we'd hoped, but we now have the components needed for our first PRIUS+ prototype. We call this version 0.5 -- it's using lead acid batteries, to be replaced within a month or so by nickel metal-hydride batteries, and shortly thereafter we hope to start on a lithium-ion prototype.
For technical details, see messages at PRIUS+ Conversion Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/priusplus/

Now we're in a hurry because we're still aiming to complete the first iteration in time to demo it beginning Sept 20 in Southern California. If all goes well, we can announce and show it at Air Resources Board event in Los Angeles Sept 23-24. This is the hearing to discuss implementation of AB1493, the Pavley Greenhouse Gas legislation. See the link to the notice at
http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/grnhsgas/grnhsgas.htm
The ARB's staff recommendations highlight plug-in hybrids as a highly effective strategy, so our appearance will help make the case that car companies can get high-MPG cars on the road without waiting for new technologies.

Thanks, Felix

P.S. You may also be interested in looking at two documents we've just uploaded:
http://www.calcars.org/CalCarsSept04StateMemo.pdf
http://www.calcars.org/CalCarsSept04MemoToKerry.pdf
which make the case in California and nationally for a focus on PHEVs. (The California memo has been seen by some of the state's top officials, and we've hand-delivered to John Kerry the national memo).

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Felix Kramer [email protected]
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.priusplus.org
Moderator PRIUS+ PHEV Conversion Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/priusplus/
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