I’ve been interested in EVs since the 1990s, when I test drove a GM EV1 that was touring through town. But I really started to get seriously into it in 2008 when the current wave of EVs got going. In April 2009 I test drove an early Tesla Roadster and that pretty much gave me religion.
After researching the developing EV market for two years, and after considering building my own EV conversion, in July 2010 GM announced attractive lease terms for the upcoming Chevy Volt, and I ended up taking the plunge with the Volt as my first EV. I got in line early on the Volt and managed to get the first Volt in Georgia in December 2010. Having that unique car meant I ended up frequently answering questions from strangers (e.g. people standing by my car in the parking lot when I came back out of store), so I ended up making a fact sheet to answer the basics and give them something tangible to study later. Then I started taking an interest in the burgeoning field of public EV charging stations, and made another fact sheet for that, and that was the genesis of this website.
I thought I’d focus on this EV thing for a few years and then move on, but it keeps getting more interesting and more fun. I’m over a decade in now, and apparently I’m a lifer.
Besides EVs and EV charging infrastructure, I’m also a close follower of the renewable energy sector (photovoltaics and energy storage in particular) and the power grid issues that those technologies raise.
I’m an electrical engineer, which is a very broad field that covers everything from microchips to power lines to airplane controls. For about 25 years my niche was in satellite communications, building the ground systems that enable businesses to use satellites to move content around and connect people. However, after spending a decade of my free time involved in EVs and EVangelism, and increasingly interested in the related technologies of solar power and energy storage, in 2018 I decided to commit over to it for good. I quit my day job, took some time off to tackle some long-delayed personal projects, revamped this website, and then started working for an energy storage technology firm. More things have happened since then but that’s what LinkedIn is for …
This site is purely a labor of love (notice there’s no advertising) and intended as a service to the community. All I care about is helping you get into your first EV!
Chris C.
ElectrifyAtlanta@pobox.com