President Courtney Millbrook called the meeting to order at the Country Club of Lansing on an ‘almost feels like fall’ day. Casey Jacobsen gave the reflection and singing of America the Beautiful ensued. President Millbrook led all assembled in the 4-way test and Andi Earl facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests, including an exchange student from Brazil who is a senior at Eastern HS. Julie Thomasma of Child & Family Charities thanked those who supported the back-to-school drive. The health of the club was reported to be excellent.
David Trumpie reminded the Club of Loftus Day on September 9th, honoring departed Rotarians, with an encouragement to participate! Pat Munshaw introduced a representative of St. Vincent Catholic Charities, recipient of a $5,000 Rotary Foundation grant for their Immigration Matters program. They are grateful for our club’s support, which is helping subsidize quality legal services for clients via their immigration law clinic. Brian Philson gave the August Birthday report; contributions were $800 and 100% - these gifts are just one example of great support for our foundation funding efforts. September Rotarians – the CHALLENGE has been given for keeping our 100% streak going. NOTE: August birthday Rotarians REALLY like Carnival/Fair food. Katie Krick, chair of the month, successfully recruited Tammy Hannah as chair of the day to introduce our speaker. Tammy, along with Casey, Courtney, and the speaker of the day, (Megan Doherty, President of F.D. Hayes Electric Company), rounded out the head table of rockstars, which also included Jeff Crippen (who had no official capacity and was essentially head-table-crashing as Courtney’s support-animal).
Megan Doherty is an MSU grad, 2021 entrepreneur of the year award recipient, community leader/servant via several local/regional boards and committees, and oh – by the way –the 4th generation leader of a 99-year-old family business in a male-dominated field. Megan gave an overview of the infrastructure that is going to be required to make electric vehicles possible on our roads, and in our lives. Their team is working diligently at all the needs, such as charging stations for different vehicles that all have different battery options, which all charge at different speeds. 31 minutes is currently noted as the consumer-accepted time at a public charging station; accommodating variation in vehicles as well as varied charging locations (home, business, apartment complexes, public areas, and more) will be key. Free amenities for guests versus pay-for-access offerings to those in need of these charging stations are just one question to be answered. Huge amounts of utility power will be required. Drive by the Eastwood Towne Center to see the Tesla stations there if you haven’t; if they were all in use, 24/7, that space would be pulling as much power as the Kroger store just down the road. (These are fast chargers, much higher than what you would put in your home, etc.) Key takeaways: Plan early on future utility power needs. Think about your home and business; look at current electrical systems, capacity now, and requirements in the future. Deployment of all of this will take time; EV tax credits, MDOT planning, GM goals, parts/supply chain, federal rebates and incentives are all on the table. Electric Vehicle Training Program Certification (EVTP) is also evolving. Michigan (near Detroit) will be home to the first wireless in-road charging ability 1-mile stretch of the road in the nation. Q&A ensued regarding the size of your electrical panel at home and the needs of your future desired vehicle, costs of charging at home vs public charging, raw materials required to implement a conversion to electric vehicles (an area of concern; we are currently reliant on global vendors for components and looking to kickstart innovation in the US to support these needs). There are apps you can install on your phone to find available charging stations, prices, etc. This is a free-market situation now, where supply/demand may drive pricing at peak times. Time to charge must be factored in your drive-time, distance traveling, weather/wind factors and more. “Battery-anxiety” is real. Businesses like Walmart, Meijer, Starbucks, and others are already working to install public charging stations; other businesses are looking at it for their own fleet vehicles. Next week, Lansing Schools is bringing back their skilled trades program; excited to see this, given the skilled trades staffing challenges faced across the community.
President Courtney thanked Megan Doherty for her time and noted that in lieu of a speaker’s gift, we’ll donate to a local organization through our Lansing Rotary Foundation, which has, through the history of the club, given more than $2M to local organizations and projects.
REMINDER: NO meeting next Friday due to the Labor Day Holiday weekend; we’ll see you September 9th at our NEW location - the LCC Campus downtown, in the Michigan Room. Their new parking ramp is OPEN.
Michelle Reynaert's email is: Michelle.Reynaert@sparrow.org