Minutes of the July 8, 2021 meeting of the Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by club president Elizabeth Stevens at 12:15 PM.
Invocation: Gravsi Gartman Ethridge offered the invocation.
Pledge: Tommy Blankenship led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and welcomed guests of members, one of whom presented the club with a banner from his club, the Sunrise Rotary Club of Birmingham.
Announcements: Elizabeth made the following announcements:
• Invited Claire McCarron to come forward and announce the upcoming birthdays of members.
• Invited Ernest Ladd forward to discuss the upcoming Tarpon Tournament scheduled for August 7th. Ernest said that there were still spots for anglers and that the boat fee has been reduced and the range of species expanded to include croakers and catfish. He asked that members please consider being a sponsor of this important fundraiser for our club.
• There will be no luncheon meeting on August 5th and instead the Captain’s Reception for the Tarpon tournament will be held at Ruth’s Chris beginning at 5:30 PM.
Program: Electric Vehicles Are Coming
William Latta introduced our speaker, Francisco Codina, a retired executive with Ford Motor Company. Mr. Codina discussed the coming of electric vehicles which he said are being rapidly developed. He explained that the demise of the internal combustion engine is inevitable as nations around the world legislate future deadlines when they can no longer be sold or used in their countries.
Air pollution worries is one reason for the push he said and noted that China now produces 30% of it in the world followed by the U.S. at 15%. China has joined the push for electric vehicles – not because of those worries but to take financial advantage of the changes it will bring. The only nations not participating he said, are Iran, Turkey and Iraq.
Automobile producers are working to improve the range of electric vehicles since that is one of the chief concerns of consumers. He noted that in a traditional car the engine costs 10-20% of the total price where with an electric vehicle that percentage rises to up to 40%.
In an “electric world” gasoline stations will have to be changed over to charging stations and currently it takes up to 40 minutes to fully recharge and that this needs to improve.
Mr. Codina used a power point presentation to share images of concept electric cars, SUV’s and pickup trucks under production in factories stretching from Austin, TX to Detroit. All are silent, have the 0 to 60 acceleration of a Porsche and a price tag to match.
After answering a number of questions from the audience, Elizabeth thanked Mr. Codina for his presentation and said that a donation to the Dauphin Island Sea lab has been made in his honor.
The meeting adjourned at 12:55 PM.
Tom McGehee