Darcy (My Sister and Editor) and I have just finished the 2013 Edition of the ACDC “Understanding HEV and EV Service and Technology” book. 360 pages and 6 months of work. I have the only copy on my desk and “Up Your Voltage! 32” starts today, May1. I own a lot of people a thank you for helping ACDC get this far. It was 13 years ago last month ACDC taught our first hybrid class. A lot has changed. The Air Force is now an ACDC customer.
A thank you needs to go to Brian Pirie that gave me permission to use “what ever I needed” from his web site www.insightcental.net in 1999, John Wayland for E-mails, Dave Hermance from Toyota for being very helpful with answers to my questions; John Ball, Keith Johnson, and Tim Jones from Honda that helped with Honda questions, Tom Watson from Ford, Alan Nagel from GM, and many other OEM trainers and engineers. SAE and their willingness to let me cover their events for the press at seven Hybrid symposiums in Ca., the EPA for the use of their “Getting to Know Prius” guide, Stan Stephenson for getting the early drives in pre-production hybrid cars, Bill Cannon for asking me to write for Motor Age, and Auto, Inc., and for their help in promoting hybrids, Bill Haas from ASA that asked me to put a hybrid class together for a national audience in 2001, Scott Bleau who drove while I studied scan tool data, Tony Molla from ASE for coaching, Danny Pothier who allowed the first “Up Your Voltage!” class to happen at his shop, A and R for UYV2 the Gouveia family for all the 6 day hybrid classes at their facility, Dave Taylor for UYV at his shop and Phil Fornier for UYV in CA. To countless people that have hired me to help them learn, to all those that bought the first hybrid book I wrote (complete with typos and sometimes bad information), and the many techs that pestered me with questions in class that made me re-think a lot of what I thought I knew.
Mostly I need to thank my wife Deb Van Batenburg and my sons Mike and Will for tying to understand why I travel so much.
A grateful man I am indeed.
