The AEVA is celebrating 42 years - and the national Annual General Meeting and associated EV events will be held in the Fremantle Town Hall on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October.
There's a Saturday full of meeting stuff, and a Sunday full of fun EV stuff. Best of all - we will be raffling a brand new Fonzarelli Electric Scooter! Tickets are $5 each, and there are 1200 tickets to be sold (very good odds). This is a WA based lottery, so you will have to buy them in WA. Nothing prevents a bunch of ticket pre-orders being realised in WA though
Saturday the 3rd of October:
9 am to 1 pm
We'll start our Sustainable Transport mini-conference, commencing with a welcome message from the Mayor of Fremantle. We have the following speakers scheduled to give a presentation:
Regina Flugge - the RAC Electric Highway
Guido Wager - EV charging efficiency
Thomas Braunl - findings of the WA Electric Vehicle Trial
Steve Gates - Sustainable Energy Now on the shift to renewable energy
Bob Gell - Developments in hybrid and EV battery technology
Kevyn Townley - Solar Ferries on the Swan River
We should have room for a few more, but the plan is to wrap up the talks by about 1 pm for lunch. This is because we have a very important workshop planned...
2 pm to 4 pm:
The Future of the AEVA - Where to from here?
With EV sales climbing, battery technology improving, costs (slowly) dropping and AEVA membership steadily growing, we need to consider the future of this important association. A list of discussion points will be emailed to all branches for the membership to consider and comment on. Additional ideas are strongly encouraged!
This workshop is for all financial members of the AEVA. We realise that the meeting could easily be stacked with Perth branch members, but none of the outcomes will be binding, and we're pre-empting branches with some key discussion points. Please make sure your branch's national delegate can bring along your comments. All deliberations will be summarised and circulated after the meeting.
4 pm to 6 pm
National Council Meeting. This is not a secretive meeting resembling the Stonecutters, rather a meeting of all national delegates from each branch. Branches will have raised any proposals at a branch level, and must have had these motions voted on at a branch level. This includes requests for operating funds, proposals to change the constitution, or any other matter deemed to be of national significance.
This meeting is also where the national executive is dissolved, and nominations for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, Membership Secretary and Treasurer are considered and voted on. All national delegates are entitled to nominate and vote. Where a delegate cannot be in attendance, phoning in is acceptable. In the days before cheap telecommunications proxies were used, and we still do this today. At the AGM proper, these decisions are ratified (something of a formality).
6pm to 7pm
Dinner time. It's Fremantle, so there's plenty of places to get food. Usually a great chance for chin-wagging about EVs
7pm to 8 pm
The Annual General Meeting is held. It's something of a formality, with statements from the membership secretary, treasurer, president etc. The deliberations of the national council are voted on and endorsed at the AGM. Branch reports are provided by representatives outlining what they've been up to, and how they are continuing the good work promoting electric mobility.
8 pm till late
More dinner and drinks.
Sunday the 4th of October:
This is the EV Festival. We'll have lots and lots of EVs on display, a barbecue, coffee vendors, e-bikes, motorcycles and of course, the scooter raffle will be drawn at 5 pm.
Bear in mind, this is grand final weekend, and Fremantle is on top of the ladder... Could be a busy day!
We want everyone to lend a hand with promoting the event and helping engage with passers-by about the virtues of electrified transport.
FINALLY - if you would like to come to the AGM and need a free place to stay - several of the Perth branch members are more than happy to put you up for the weekend. Flights are about $600 return from the eastern states, so a free bed is a great option. Please get in touch and we will be happy to help.
See you in Freo!
Chris
(AEVA Vice President, Perth branch Chair 2015-2016)
