CALCARS - Key Persons
Steven Lough has been president of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association since 1981. He is a former GM and US-Electricar Lectric Leopard Dealer, and Electronics Instructor for the US Army Signal Corps. He is an EV Builder, Spokesperson, Lobbyist, Enthusiast, and Promoter.
Andy Frank, Director, advanced hybrid vehicle research center (which has built 9 plug-in hybrid proof-of-concept vehicles), Professor, University of California at Davis; see a 2003 interview in EVWorld, part 1 and part 2 and a 2006 Wall Street Journal profile.
Job Titles:
- Director, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, Professor, UC Berkeley, Leading Expert on Renewable Energy and Climate Change Mitigation Policy
Job Titles:
- President of Interleaf Composites Engineering
David Taggart, President of Interleaf Composites Engineering, metallurgical engineer, advanced composite materials expert, co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer, Hypercar (now Fiberforge), former Lockheed Skunkworks Project Manager.
is a marketing strategist and communicator with an entrepreneurial track record with startups; in the environmental realm, he has managed major events and run campaigns and organizations. After founding, running and selling a small Internet company, beginning in 2001 he volunteered his time to CalCars. In April 2006 he became the world's first non-technical consumer owner of a plug-in hybrid. See Kramer Communications and Felix Kramer Bio, his Feb. 14, 2005 OpEd on global warming, Kyoto and Beyond. and Power, Plugs and People, his 2005-2006 blog. A Cornell graduate, he lives with his wife and son in Silicon Valley.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor, Former Mayor, Menlo Park and Regulatory Attorney at Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Greg Hanssen, co-founder of EDrive Systems, commmercializing Lithium-Ion conversions of PRIUS+ (see vehicles). Also co-founder, EnergyCS, engineer with long experience in hybrid, electric and fuel cell power systems, and co-chair of Production EV Drivers Coalition.
Job Titles:
- Editor, E / the Environmental Magazine, the Independent National Bi - Monthly, and Author of Forward Drive
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors of the Electric Auto Association
Marc Geller is a member of the Board of Directors of the Electric Auto Association. A proponent of electric drive since leasing a Th!nk City in 2001, he helped organize demonstrations against Ford's cancellation of the Th!nk electric program in 2002. He co-founded DontCrush.com and Plug In America, which protested the crushing of electric cars by the auto makers and achieved historic agreements with Ford and Toyota to save their remaining EVs. He now drives a Toyota RAV4 EV. Geller is a photographer and sells solar PV systems.
Job Titles:
- Founder & CEO, M.G.Taylor, Helping to Catalyze Startups and Transform Business Environments
Matt Taylor, Founder & CEO, M.G.Taylor, helping to catalyze startups and transform business environments.
Michael Bender, Webmaster, studied physics and computer science in school, which instilled a true appreciation of both energy and efficiency. Add a concern over related global issues and occasional use of a plug-in hybrid wheelchair (manual and electric), and his joining CalCars as a volunteer became inevitable.
Michael Tsou, CEO, New Paradigm Group, a Michigan engineering service company, former Assistant Chief Engineer, Cadillac, Director of Engineering Manufacturing and Testing, Pontiac, Supervisor of Engine Research and Emissions Control, GM Research Labs.
A Nebraska native, Mike studied engineering briefly at the University of Wyoming before settling in the San Francisco Bay area in 1965, where worked as a mechanic at various auto dealerships, with a specialty in Volkswagens. In 1975 Mike opened his own auto repair shop and gas station. During the gas crisis of 1979, a customer asked him to build an electric car, and Mike discovered a dearth of conversion parts suppliers. As a result he founded Electro Automotive, and eventually closed the gas car repair business to work full time on electric cars. Mike now lives in the Santa Cruz, California, area and run Electro Automotive with his wife, Shari Prange.
Mike was born in Seattle and stayed for BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Washington. For the past 39 years he has lived in Los Altos and worked in Silicon Valley on the development of lasers and optical systems for industrial and medical applications. For fun he and his wife Roberta like to go touring by bicycle--often in Europe, where they conduct research on alternative transportation fuels. Kilometers per equivalent strawberry tart is a favorite unit of measure.
Nick is a longtime advocate of alternative transportation. He started his career as a mechanic for Zap Electric Bicycles and later spent time with E Bike and Vego Scooters. At Vego Nick was the head of the service department and created service procedures as well as wrote all the instruction manuals. Nick is a former Toyota mechanic specializing in Prius repair and maintenance and trainee of Toyota's T-TEN (Toyota Technical Education Network) program.
Randy Reisinger, Senior Advisor on strategic directions and manager of CalCars' conversion projects. His background includes Computer Sciences Corporation, Xerox PARC, Regis McKenna, and product line management for Apple's IIe computer. He co-founded and was COO of Bargain America Inc., the first e-commerce company to sell American products to Japanese consumers.
Job Titles:
- Electrical and Software Engineer
Ron Gremban is an electrical and software engineer and CalCars' Technology Lead. He led the conversion team that built the world's first plug-in Prius, the PRIUS+. A CalTech EE, Ron helped build and drive Caltech's entry in the 1968 "Great Electric Car Race" against MIT--the precursor of all current EV and green vehicle competitions. His team drove nonstop from Pasadena to Boston in 8.75 days, becoming the first people to drive across the continent purely by electric power.
Job Titles:
- System Administrator at DigiPen Institute of Technology
Ryan is a System Administrator at DigiPen Institute of Technology, a video game programming, computer animation, and computer engineering school. He became interested in EVs after attending a show in Portland, OR, and quickly realized that "my 2000 Insight was not nearly as electric as it could have been." Since then he's been immersed in the world of electric transportation and sustainable energy. His latest undertaking has been the organization of the Electric Auto Association's Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle site.
Shari grew up in Illinois and moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1978. In 1982, her VW was towed into Brown's Auto Service, home of Electro Automotive, and by 1983, Mike Brown and Shari had joined both personal and business lives. Shari's auto education was on-the-job with Mike, and in 1988 she combined that new knowledge with her writing background and coauthored Convert It. Shari's stated niche is "taking technical information and turning it into simple language that a nontechnical person can understand," just about perfect for the Maker Faire. Shari and Mike live and work in the Santa Cruz Mountains with two cats and a boa constrictor, and solicit and consult on alternative transportation articles for HP.
Sherry Boschert co-founded (with Marc Geller) the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association, a chapter of the national Electric Auto Association. She is the author of the upcoming book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America (New Society Publishers, fall 2006).
Job Titles:
- President of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association
Steven Lough has been president of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association since 1981. He is a former GM and US-Electricar Lectric Leopard Dealer, and Electronics Instructor for the US Army Signal Corps. He is an EV Builder, Spokesperson, Lobbyist, Enthusiast, and Promoter.
Sven Thesen, electric utility analyst, chemical/environmental engineer, new parent.
Job Titles:
- Maker Faire Project Manager
Maker Faire project manager Tom Driscoll had "too much prep school, not enough college, and just the right amount of canoeing, hiking, and skiing." His longtime pursuit of renewable energy and climate stabilization reflects this. Tom's first flirtation with renewables was via a 1930's Jacobs 2kw windmill, and his current renewables include 3KW solar and hot air solar systems. His powered transportation comes via an Oxygen electric scooter, Honda Insight or 1993 (electric) Dodge Tevan. Tom works for Akeena Solar.