Exhibitors of the 2022 SEMA Show are invited to expand their reach, product exposure and Show-floor presence by offering products to builders through the Products for Project-Vehicle Builders list. The list connects manufacturers with builders looking to create or complete a vehicle project.

The list, which will be updated in SEMA News, features product offers and contact information provided by confirmed SEMA Show exhibitors. Builders interested in obtaining a product use the information to contact exhibitors directly. With each project vehicle required to be supported by a current 2022 SEMA Show exhibitor, all product-placement decisions, negotiations and agreements are the responsibility of the exhibiting manufacturer and the builder.

The list is open to exhibitors of the 2022 SEMA Show only. To be included in the list, complete the form.

Exhibitors: Each submission will appear on a first-come, first-served basis. As participation increases, all submissions will also be archived on www.SEMAShow.com.

Note: For verification purposes, the Project-Vehicle Builders form must be used to participate in the program; email submissions will not be included in the list. Participation in the list does not guarantee product or vehicle placement at the 2022 SEMA Show.

View the Products for Project-Vehicle Builders list.

By SEMA PR

With dozens of industry influencers, celebrities, noteworthy builds, games, prizes and activities, Pennzoil’s “Dare to Perform” Experience at the 2022 SEMA Show combines fun, energetic entertainment with industry education that will help professionals in the automotive aftermarket.

In the 12,150-sq.-ft. area located in Booth #81059 outside the main entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Showgoers will be able to connect with top names, including John Hennessey, Chelsea DeNofa, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Adam LZ, Joey Logano and more. Meanwhile, games and contests will be taking place, and technical experts will explain and conduct live demonstrations showcasing how motor oils protect a vehicle’s engine.

“The Pennzoil Dare to Perform Experience is a fun and engaging way for professionals at the SEMA Show to build career-boosting connections and learn what’s new in the industry,” said Tom Gattuso, SEMA vice president of events. “The interactive demonstrations and in-person activities contribute to an engaging experience that you can only get at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.”

Open to all credentialed SEMA Showgoers, the Pennzoil “Dare to Perform” Experience will have something happening throughout the week. Complimentary coffee will be available during Pennzoil’s “Perfect Pour,” Tuesday–Thursday, November, 1–3, from 8:00 a.m.–11:00 am. The celebrity appearance schedule will be posted at www.pennzoil.com/sema, as well as on www.SEMAShow.com and through the official SEMA Show mobile app.

To learn about all the interactive and engaging features at the 2022 SEMA Show, visit www.SEMAShow.com.

By Chris Shelton

If we’re not already at it, we’re likely near the cusp of an electric vehicle (EV) tipping point. Two years ago, the state of California mandated 35% EV sales by 2025 and banned all new non-EV sales by 2035; Washington state’s mandate is even more ambitious: by 2030 it will refuse to license any vehicle made that year or later unless it’s electric, a push that resembles the one in several Western European countries.

The future of charging for many Americans without access to their own chargers may look a little like this. Thanks to services like EVmatch, the public market has access to private, non-networked chargers and outlets, including 110V outlets that exist in every building in the United States.

Even the automakers are putting their eggs in the electric basket. Last year, GM announced it would ditch hydrocarbon power altogether by 2035. Ford hasn’t announced a similar mandate, but it’s pushing EU legislators to commit to all-electric new-car sales by 2035. Stellantis hasn’t set a mandate either, but says it hopes to go all electric by 2028. And perhaps most ambitiously, Volkswagen committed to 100% EV sales by 2026. As far as model-year introductions go, that’s only two years from now.

That’s music to the ears of EV advocates. But is widespread EV adoption possible within those timeframes? As strange as it seems, the answer is one that many EV advocates and adversaries agree on: Probably not. At least it’s not at the rate we’ve been implementing charging options in America, anyway.

Charge hosts can control the access to chargers. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chicago opens its charger to anyone who books time. But hosts can specify who has access, effectively making a charger available to select users (i.e., residents of multi-unit dwellings). Photo courtesy: Brian Urbazewski

Charging Versus Fueling

The problem lies in the difference between the fueling and charging models. Whereas it takes only minutes to put a tiger in your tank, with current technology it can take hours to just partially charge a battery. That partly explains why more than 80% of EV charging happens overnight at home.

But that’s cold comfort for those living in multi-family dwellings (MFDs) like apartments and condominiums. Most existing MFDs can’t accommodate charging options required for mass EV adoption at the projected rate, at least not economically. And it’s no small problem, either; residents of MFDs make up nearly 30% of all households in America and nearly 50% in California, a state where only 18% of MFDs have access to EV charging. It gets even worse for lower-income drivers, most of whom live in communities dubbed charging deserts, a reference to an area’s lack of public charging options.

That’s changing of course. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021 allocates $7.5 billion to “…accelerate the deployment of a national electric vehicle charging network.” Roughly $5 billion of that goes to build a nationwide network of 500,000 DC fast chargers along major transportation corridors that can charge some EVs to 80% in 20 to 30 min.

To give an idea of the scale of this project, consider that the United States had 177,433 gas stations as of May 2022. Should the program play out as planned, the number of commercial EV charging stations added to the grid by this bill would outnumber gas stations by nearly three to one. And that doesn’t include the 109,307 charging ports already in use.

Problem solved, right?

Well, it certainly helps. The network created by that part of the infrastructure bill facilitates long-distance travel by requiring at least four highway-accessible chargers within 50 mi. of each other. That presents at least two problems: for one, most people can’t or don’t want to stop alongside major transportation corridors for half an hour just to charge their car.

Whether accessed by a smart-device app or by a Web browser on a computer, EVmatch offers an experience like other Software as a Service (SaaS) such as dining, dating, and lodging apps. It compares users’ needs with host offerings to increase charging options in underserved areas.

Cost is another. “The shortcoming of fast charging is expense,” says Joel Levin, executive director of EV advocacy group Plug In America. “If you’re looking at people who live in an apartment that doesn’t have parking, they’re probably going to be somewhat lower income. And now you’re presenting them with the most expensive way to charge; the people who have the least money have the most expensive charging.” That part of the program may prove invaluable for driving long distances but not for daily use.

As Levin put it, the $2.5 billion remainder of the bill “focuses more on equity, underserved areas and charging deserts.” That funding will surely inspire countless solutions, like mounting chargers to existing structures as National Grid did in Melrose, Massachusetts. Seattle City Light made the system even more equitable by installing the pole-mounted chargers where residents request them.

Plug in America’s Executive Director Joel Levin maintains that widespread EV adoption depends on maximizing the potential in existing technology. “We have a survey that we do every year,” he says. “Among people who charge at home, about a quarter of them charge on 110.”

Installing chargers where potential users need them will certainly go a long way to encourage EV adoption. But it’s not likely to blanket the country with charging stations, at least not within the timeframes set by states and automakers. And if you’re even somewhat familiar with parking in major metropolitan areas, you know the frustration of trying to find any parking space. Now imagine trying to find one to charge your car. After a long day at work. And hungry.

It’s a situation that Vanessa Perkins knows well. She drives an EV. She lives in an apartment. And it’s in Chicago. “I noticed that there are a lot of neighborhoods that don’t have public charging,” she said, citing, among others, the one she lives in. “And if they do, it’s in a very expensive parking garage and you have to pay an entry fee.” So, she did some research and found a way to create more accessible and affordable charging. “It’s like a sharing economy,” she says.

What she found is EVmatch, a national peer-to-peer network where owners of private and commercial chargers can make their resources available for others to rent when they’re not using them. “Often we describe ourselves as the Airbnb of EV charging,” says EVmatch Founder and CEO Heather Hochrein.

“We provide a software platform for the web and mobile that allows individuals and businesses and commercial properties to rent out private charging stations to the public,” she continues. And Perkins’ nonprofit organization communitycharging.org, is one of EVmatch’s pilot programs. “It works anywhere a charger owner can open their charger to the public,” Perkins says. She calls the service transformative: Homeowners whose properties can accommodate guest vehicles let their neighbors use their vacant chargers via the service. Organizations like churches and businesses, whose lots go unused for big chunks of a day or overnight, are getting in on the program by building chargers for the communities they serve and offering them on the EVmatch network.

Charge-sharing pioneer Heather Hochrein has spent her career so far in the service of electricity technology. Her work in climate policy, extensive utility and management experience at Pacific Gas and Electric, and a senior leadership role at Rising Sun Energy Center, laid the foundation for EVmatch.

Levin says the challenge with charge sharing is to make the service consistently available. “To have an EV and not constantly be annoyed, you have to have a place where you can go once or twice a week. It’s there, it’s reliable, and it’s not going to be full. It needs to be consistent, not like you have to get on the internet and search for a place to charge every day.”

And that’s what distinguishes charge-sharing programs like EVmatch: potential users can book time on the charger. When the session ends, the user then drives off and opens the charger for the next user. More than giving users a place to charge, these bookable private charging stations give EV drivers a place to park. After a long day at work. When they’re hungry.

Access to affordable energy goes a great way to make electric vehicles viable for anyone who wants one. According to Homeguide.com, charging at a commercial station can cost upwards of 450% more than charging at home. Chart courtesy: www.homeguide.com

Elegance in Simplicity

Charge sharing differs from the typical commercial charging services offered by the likes of EVgo and Chargepoint. “Theirs is proprietary and top-down, infrastructure-heavy approach where you build and operate the charging stations,” Hochrein says. “You end up doing a lot of real-estate work like site selection, development and maintenance.”

And that translates to increased charging cost: due to the grid modifications and specialized hardware required to install one, DC fast chargers start at six figures. By contrast, a private Level-2 charger installation may cost only hundreds of dollars (a Level 2 can be as simple as a standard 220V receptacle). And almost every building has a Level 1 in the form of a conventional 110V wall receptacle.

“We have a survey that we do every year,” Levin says. “Among people who charge at home, about a quarter of them charge on 110.” It just takes longer.

Until now, the problem with using those non-networked chargers in a commercial application was the inability to meter and bill the user for the power consumed. Historically speaking, it took a smart charger to gauge how much current an EV consumes while charging and network connectivity to transfer that information for billing purposes. And EVmatch can in fact meter and bill that way. So far it has partnered with smart-charger manufacturers Enel X and Wallbox, and it’s working on other integrations using open-charge-point protocol communication.

But what distinguishes EVmatch is its ability to accurately estimate power consumption in the absence of a smart charger. “We have a tool where we estimate the cost of electricity,” Hochrein says. “It’s sophisticated in that it takes into account the vehicle, the charger power, the time of the day, and the utility-rate structure.” Users—either the general public or those the charger owner grants access—pay in advance for the duration of the charge. “So, they book, let’s say, a two-hour session and we know what car is charging,” she says. “We know the power output of the outlet or the charger. That calculator gets used to estimate the price and the driver pays for the session that they book. We’re using that software tool for the residential host, even if they don’t have a connected smart charger.”

EVmatch can also work with smart chargers to precisely measure current consumed and transmit information via the internet. So far, the company has integrated smart chargers from Wallbox and Enel X (Juice Box shown here). Photo courtesy: Brian Urbazewski

Overcoming the Challenges

The EVmatch model also has the potential to increase charging options in multi-family dwellings. The variables in installing chargers in those applications are numerous and sometimes daunting. Does the facility have spaces for every resident? Is the parking assigned or first-come? If the facility assigns parking, how does it allocate who gets a charger? How many residents drive EVs? Does every space need a charger? How do you bill the appropriate users for the power consumed? And can the structure bear multiple chargers without significant electrical improvements? “[If] every single parking stall has to have a dedicated charger, that massively overloads the infrastructure,” Hochrein says.

But charge sharing gives property managers the capacity to leverage their existing electrical infrastructure, including the load centers. “A lot of those panels can accommodate at least a few chargers as it is,” she says. “And so, with our software, we’re helping those property owners share those chargers more efficiently.”

It goes without saying that we need to build more chargers if we expect to adopt EVs on the massive scale anticipated by legislators and automakers. But no single answer will solve the charging issues that prevent mass EV adoption. As Joel Levin put it, “It’s more silver buckshot than silver bullet.” And as EV development begins to outpace internal-combustion engine development, new ideas and innovations like EVmatch’s charge-sharing program will likely prevail.

“We’ve done surveys among people who drive EVs—what their concerns are with charging, and they certainly have concerns,” Levin continues. But as Plug In America’s results show, those concerns are less about the number of chargers. “It’s the ability to access what’s already there rather than the lack of charging,” he says. “Sure, they’d like to have more charging. But they just want access.”

SOURCE

Community Charging
www.communitycharging.org

EVmatch
www.evmatch.com

Plug In America
www.pluginamerica.org

SEMA News—October 2022

FROM THE HILL

Richard Petty Goes to Washington

“The King” and SEMA Push to Pass the RPM Act in Meetings With Congressional Representatives

By SEMA News Editors

Advocating for the motorsports community, former stock-car-racing driver Richard “The King” Petty (left) and SEMA CEO Mike Spagnola arrive in Washington, D.C., as part of an industry delegation pushing the immediate passage of the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act.

Like most NASCAR drivers, Petty competed in race cars that started out as street-legal vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the position that such modified race vehicles are not legal under the Clean Air Act, threatening many classes of racing along with an industry that employs tens of thousands of Americans and contributes more than $2 billion to the U.S. economy each year.

Petty, Spagnola and other industry advocates sat down with key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to speak for the interests of racers, enthusiasts, builders, tracks, sanctioning organizations and businesses, while also looking to gain stronger congressional support to protect one of America’s oldest pastimes and hobbies: motor-vehicle racing. In an effort to curtail the EPA’s overreach and extreme enforcement of the Clean Air Act, Petty and Spagnola emphasized the urgent need to pass the RPM Act, which awaits committee action in both chambers of Congress.

The RPM Act reverses the EPA’s interpretation that the Clean Air Act does not allow a motor vehicle designed for street use—including a car, truck or motorcycle—to be converted into a dedicated race car. This American tradition was unquestioned until 2015 when the EPA took the position that converted vehicles must remain emissions-compliant, even though they are no longer driven on public streets or highways.

“The EPA is overstepping its jurisdiction and penalizing small motorsports parts businesses,” said Petty. “The RPM Act is essential to the racing industry and protecting the careers of young racers all over the country. During most of my racing career, my fellow NASCAR drivers and I competed in race cars that started out as street-legal vehicles.”

Petty and SEMA met with a bipartisan bevy of key congressional members. They included: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), RPM Act lead sponsor; Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), RPM Act original co-sponsor; Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Senate Republican Conference Chairman and RPM Act co-sponsor; Indiana Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Mike Braun (R-IN), RPM Act co-sponsors; Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), RPM Act original co-sponsor; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA); Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), RPM Act lead sponsor; Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), RPM Act lead Republican co-sponsor; and RPM Act original co-sponsors Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), and Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL).

“The RPM Act will save the livelihood of thousands of Americans, including many young race-car drivers,” said Spagnola. “SEMA is dedicated to ensuring our industry remains viable. Racers and the businesses that make motorsports possible deserve clarity in federal law that protects the ability to convert street vehicles into dedicated race cars and sell products for these track vehicles without fear of enforcement.”

Both Petty and Spagnola were optimistic about their meetings with RPM Act supporters in Congress. “Motorsports has many strong allies in Congress. It was valuable for Mike and me to sit down with these lawmakers to discuss how we can work together to pass the RPM Act this year,” shared Petty.

Clearly, Petty made a huge impression on those he met with. “Walking the halls of the capitol with Richard Petty was an unforgettable experience,” said Dan Ingber, SEMA/PRI vice president of government and legal affairs, who also joined Petty on the Hill. “Even the most stoic lawmakers couldn’t hide their excitement to meet The King, as House and Senate members approached him in the halls for pictures, a quick conversation, and one congressman even had Mr. Petty sign a miniature No. 43 car. Another lawmaker who is typically very serious, reminisced about a 1972 NASCAR race in the presence of his idol.”

Making his Capitol Hill rounds, Petty (right) met with a bevy of key lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, including Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). The King found many receptive ears.

Building Momentum

The SEMA and Performance Racing Industry (PRI)-backed RPM Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Raul Ruiz (D-CA) in May 2021. Although simple and straightforward, like many pieces of legislation, its route to passage has been anything but. While conceding that its forward pace can at times seem glacial, SEMA/PRI Director of Congressional Affairs Eric Snyder believes momentum for the RPM Act is now reaching the tipping point.

“We are engaging in high-level conversations with some of the most important policymakers on Capitol Hill about the RPM Act. The meetings and dialogue we are having is very encouraging, but we must continue to apply grassroots pressure on the principal decision makers. We don’t want to wait until the next Congress. It has to happen now.”

Snyder added that more than a million-and-a-half people who support racing, and earn their livelihoods from it in many cases, have spoken loud and clear for the legislation. “For a whole lot of lawmakers, the RPM Act is one of the top issues that they’re hearing about. They’re familiar with the bill and are noticing the uptick in enthusiasm for the RPM Act, thanks to all of the outreach from SEMA, PRI and the racing community. We are focused on leveraging this enthusiasm and excitement into Congressional action.”

At press time, 129 House members from both parties are co-sponsoring the RPM Act. Including Senate supporters, more than 160 members of Congress are publicly supporting the bill. Not surprisingly, many of them represent states or districts that have a strong racing presence that includes tracks, racers and racing-equipment makers. According to Snyder, Indiana, North Carolina, California, Ohio, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania are among the key states coming to the table.

“Indiana and North Carolina are synonymous with motorsports and have really strong representation on the bill,” he explained. “The U.S. Senators from both states are RPM Act sponsors, along with a number of their House members. Some people might not think California is the lifeblood of racing, but it’s home to more than 60 race tracks! Wherever there’s racing, chances are you’ll find lawmakers who are supportive of the bill. California leads the way with 15 members of the state’s congressional delegation serving as RPM Act co-sponsors.”

But moving the law forward has also been an exercise in strategizing. “There are 535 members of Congress, and the reality is, they’re not all equal when it comes to policymaking on certain issues,” Snyder said. “We’ve been focused on committees with jurisdiction on this issue, as the members on these committees have a greater voice on our efforts to protect racing. And the reality is, the voices of lawmakers who are going to have competitive re-elections count a bit more as well. That’s just the nature of the legislative process. You can’t divorce the politics from the policymaking.”

Which is why letters, emails and calls, in addition to buttressing the RPM Act via social media, still count for a great deal in the ongoing legislative process. With that boost, Snyder is cautiously optimistic that the bill will finally become federal law. “If they put this bill up, we have the votes to pass it through committee and on the floor of both the House and Senate,” he predicted.

Richard Petty’s bipartisan visits included a meeting at the U.S. Capitol with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA, second right). They are flanked here by SEMA Board of Directors member Ted Wentz III (left) and SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola (right).

Indeed, Snyder believes the industry is playing an extremely strong hand. The bill has been circulating for a few years now, and SEMA and PRI have redoubled their efforts to propel it over any remaining hurdles. The formula for success in Washington, he said, is to build a critical mass of engaged voters that can’t be ignored—something the industry is now accomplishing.

Lawmakers know the RPM Act and the passion behind it,” he explained. “They are very aware that the racing community isn’t going away until the RPM Act is enacted into law. Ultimately, this is about persistence and using our strength in numbers to ensure that lawmakers understand that the motorsports industry is large, well organized, and expects them to pass the RPM Act in 2022.”

On Tuesday, July 19, Richard Petty, “The King,” joined SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola in the nation’s capital to lobby Congress to pass the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act. The bipartisan bill (H.R. 3281/S. 2736) protects Americans’ right to convert street vehicles into dedicated race cars and the motorsports-parts industry’s ability to sell products that enable racers to compete. The Washington, D.C., visit came at a critical juncture for the bill, which has been steadily gaining traction among lawmakers.

Keep the Pressure Going

With the 2022 mid-term election only weeks away, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal and remind your members of Congress that you want the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act, H.R. 3281 and S. 2736) passed now.

The act enjoys strong bipartisan support in the 2021–2022 session of Congress, but SEMA members and the racing community must turn up the pressure to pass the bill this Fall. Even if you’ve already encouraged your lawmakers to support the legislation, now is the time to reassert its importance. Here are things you can do today:

• Invite your members of Congress to visit your business or participate in a virtual meeting with your lawmaker and SEMA staff. Email erics@sema.org for a template and more information.
• Call and send a letter to your lawmakers at www.saveourracecars.com. A letter has already been drafted. It takes less than a minute.
• Sign a letter to your lawmakers on company letterhead. Email erics@sema.org for a template and more information.
• Post about the RPM Act on your company’s social-media accounts using the digital assets toolkit at www.sema.org/rpmtools.

For more information about the RPM Act, visit www.saveourracecars.com.

Editor’s Note: Writer Jim Donnelly and PRI Magazine contributed to this reporting.

SEMA News—October 2022

INTERNET

Post-Coronavirus

With AI, a Workplace Safety Plan That Eases Fears

By Joe Dysart

New AI-powered systems are enabling businesses to keep workplaces Coronavirus-free.

As torrents of post-Coronavirus workers have returned to the office without masks—and at times with a lingering pang of uncertainty—some workplaces have been using artificial intelligence to protect their health against new outbreaks and variants of the scourge.

Essentially, these businesses have issued each employee a Bluetooth-enabled ID badge, which they use to track and analyze each employee’s movements throughout the day—and minimize their exposure to the virus.

Having such a solution enables Juniper Networks—both a maker of a Coronavirus monitoring system and a user—to quickly zero in on where a Coronavirus exposure occurs in the workplace and handle management of that potential exposure surgically.

“It allows us to quickly react,” says Brad Minnis, vice president of health safety and security and manager of the company’s ‘Juniper Mist,’ AI-powered Coronavirus monitoring system.

But it also “allows us also to limit the number of people that might be notified to those which are specifically at risk,” Minnis adds.

The Juniper system—one of many available from a number of vendors that specialize in employee tracking at the workplace:

• Uses thermal imaging to quickly detect fevers in employees as they enter the building.
• Uses other sensors to detect other indications of Coronavirus.
• Quickly messages an employee via smartphone who has been identified as potentially having Coronavirus.
• Quickly messages employees via smartphone if they have been in close proximity to an employee with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus.
• Minimizes workplace disruptions by messaging only those employees via smartphone who have been exposed to the Coronavirus—rather than attempting to ‘guess’ who might have been exposed to a Coronavirus-infected employee.
• Quickly messages a cleaning crew to immediately sanitize a Coronavirus-impacted area of the workplace.
• Verifies that all Coronavirus mitigation technology linked to the AI monitoring system—including enhanced air filtration systems—is operating at maximum efficiency.

Besides offering instant peace of mind to employees, probably one of the great benefits of Coronavirus workplace monitoring systems is that they enable a business to manage Coronavirus exposure with surgical precision—rather than blunt force.

In the early days of the Coronavirus, for example, businesses often shut down entire company campuses—which may have sported ten or more separate buildings of perhaps hundreds or thousands of people—after the report of even a single case of Coronavirus.

The reason: Flying blind, companies in the earliest days of the Coronavirus had no way of definitely knowing how one person—suddenly exhibiting signs of the Coronavirus—interacted with other employees at the workplace, journeyed through the rooms and buildings of the business campus and made decisions on where to linger most.

But with a system like Juniper’s, a company health and safety manager can immediately pull-up a complete record of a Coronavirus-impacted person’s journey through the workplace, identify exactly where they have been—and then issue an extremely precise health warning to only those employees who may have been exposed to the worker.

Says Minnis: “Now, if we have an individual on the seventh floor of a building who reported symptoms, we don’t have to send a message to everyone on the floor. With Juniper Mist, we can narrow the notifications to people who were directly in contact with the exposed individual.”

Yet another benefit: In many ways, software-based Coronavirus monitoring systems are often future-proofed. More often than not, new Coronavirus-sensing technologies can be hooked-up to existing Coronavirus monitoring systems as they’re invented.

Coronavirus researchers in Spain (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1746809421007722), for example, have come-up with new prototype technology that can identify—with 90% accuracy—whether or not a person has Coronavirus simply by the way a person coughs.

That kind of future technology, if developed, would come in handy if installed throughout a workplace—and especially handy at the entrances of businesses and in common areas where great numbers of employees congregate.

Besides serving as a relentless sentry on the virus, monitoring systems like Juniper’s also offer health and safety managers the flexibility to adjust employee use of the workplace as Coronavirus threats wax and wane.

With the lull in Coronavirus reported cases, for example, a workplace conference room might be perfectly safe for hosting up to 100 employees for important meetings.

But a health and safety manager may want to dial back the size of those congregations during any new high community transmissions of Coronavirus by alerting managers to limit meetings in those rooms to, say, just 20 people.

Plus, using the monitoring system, a health and safety manager would also have the ability to send ‘disperse’ smartphone reminders to employees should their numbers mistakenly swell above 20 people in Coronavirus-designated ‘hot zones.’

Minnis says companies adopting workplace Coronavirus monitoring will also most likely find that monitoring an entire workplace from one computer turns out to be a lot less expensive than some of the initial strategies used to get a handle on the virus.

Back in the early days of the Coronavirus, businesses sometimes resorted to posting numerous people at numerous locations throughout their business or company campus to keep an eye out for Coronavirus trouble—and serve as first warning communicators to employees at the first sign of a Coronavirus flare-up.

Maintaining a team of those kinds of people can be very expensive.

In contrast, one person using a software/sensor-based Coronavirus monitoring/alert system, can—over time—be a much more cost-effective solution.

Of course, probably the biggest hurdle businesses will need to deal with when deciding to onboard an AI-powered Coronavirus monitoring system is the privacy issue.

Essentially: At first blush, employees may like the idea of their company bringing in high-powered AI to safeguard their exposure to any new Coronavirus variants.

But they may also be leery of the ‘Big Brother’ feel of such a system—which monitors their every movement every second of their workday.

Systems like Juniper’s assuage those privacy concerns in part by setting their software to anonymize the identities of all employees monitored—until there is a Coronavirus detection and impacted personnel need to be immediately identified for their own safety.

Moreover, employee fears over privacy can been assuaged even further the first time Coronavirus flares-up in the workplace after the monitoring system is installed.

Absolute privacy becomes less of an employee ‘must-have,’ for example, if the nightly news in any given city is breathlessly reporting on the latest uptick from Coronavirus—while running 24/7 video of health officials issuing new warnings.

Says Minnis: “We are sensitive to both the individual’s privacy and trust—as well as our ability to manage and prevent the spread of infection for the safety of all our employees.”

When shopping for an AI-powered Coronavirus monitoring system, Juniper’s Mist is a good one to use as a benchmark.

But you’ll also want to take a look at other top employee location monitoring systems before making a final decision on a solution that’s right for you.

Fortunately, highly respected market research Gartner released a report in February 2022—“Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services” (www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-299NYK4W&ct=220228&st=sb)—which identifies the top vendors in employee location monitoring.

Those are:

• Zebra Technologies (www.zebra.com/us/en.html)
• Ubisense (https://ubisense.com/contact-tracing)
• Inpixon (www.inpixon.com/use-cases/health-safety)
• Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net/us/en/company/covid-19.html)
• AiRISTA (https://info.airistaflow.com/social-distancing-contact-tracing)

Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. 631-438-1142

joe@joedysart.com | www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—October 2022

INTERNET

Windows 11

A Big Win for Users of Teams or Android

By Joe Dysart

Windows 11 promises to be a big win for users of Microsoft Teams and Android apps.

Windows users who are big fans of Microsoft Teams software—or who are eager to run Android apps on their Windows devices—will probably get the most out of the newest release of the operating system, Windows 11. Microsoft took great pains to more tightly integrate Teams with Windows 11. Teams is a Microsoft work-collaboration software that is helping millions of remote workers stay in touch with one another as they deal with the stubbornly persistent Coronavirus.

In addition, the software titan is promising to release increasing numbers of Android apps in the Microsoft store in 2022 that it says will run seamlessly on its updated operating system.

“Windows 11 should improve distributed work by integrating with Microsoft Teams, making it easier to contact people right from the start menu,” said J.P. Gownder, a principal analyst at highly respected business consulting firm Forrester (www.forrester.com). “This innovation is well-timed for the COVID world, which has reestablished the centrality of the PC to the future of work and to digital life.”

Windows 11 began rolling out in the late fall of 2021. It’s a free automatic update to any Windows 10 device—although you can reverse the update with a bit of tweaking.

Besides perks for Teams and Android users, there are also some other cool new additions to Windows that may motivate other users to upgrade to Windows 11. They include Widgets—small, information-rich rectangles that pop up on your desktop with a mouse click and which keep track of news, a to-do list, images, weather and similar content.

“Even when we’re at our most focused and creative, we still need breaks—a moment to check in with the outside world or give ourselves a mental reset,” said Panos Panay, chief product officer for Windows+Devices at Microsoft. “We often pick up our phones to check the news, weather or notifications. Now you can open a similarly curated view directly from your desktop [with Widgets].”

Another innovation with Windows 11 is Snap Layout. It’s a new menu that enables you to quickly and easily arrange the apps that you’re currently using on your desktop. Each app can be displayed to inhabit a quarter of your screen or a half of your screen and in related sizing.

There are also a number of smaller tweaks that are part of Windows 11, including changes designed to make it easier to use the Windows task bar, search box, File Explorer, adjust sound and add monitors to your system.

As far as details on the perks Windows brings to Microsoft Teams: That software is currently enabling millions of workers—remote and otherwise—to collaborate using tools such as messaging, file sharing, document collaboration, document version tracking, audio and video calling, calendaring and similar tools. The software competes with other widely used collaboration software, including Slack, Trello, GSuite and Basecamp.

With the Windows 11 upgrade, you can now click to open the Microsoft Teams directory directly from the Windows task bar—a time-saving convenience. And the upgrade also enhances Teams video calling.

Teams chat is also easier to use in Windows 11, enabling users to bring up a Teams chat window simply by punching Win-C on their keyboard. And Teams users in Windows 11 can easily add contacts using an email address or phone number and sync to existing contacts in Skype or Outlook. Users of Teams can also invite other device users to join group chats and meetings—even if those other device users do not have Teams installed.

“Now you can instantly connect through text, chat, voice or video with all of your personal contacts, anywhere, no matter the platform or device they’re on, across Windows, Android or iOS,” observed Microsoft’s Panay, “If the person you’re connecting to on the other end hasn’t downloaded the Teams app, you can still connect with them via two-way SMS.”

Teams users will also find a redesigned “Together Mode” that features live emojis, polls, calendar integration, chat history search, file sharing and task delegation capability. You can check out a stripped-down version of Teams optimized for Windows 11 for free, or chose enhanced versions ranging from $4 per month to $12.50 per month. All are available for download from Microsoft.

Overall, there’s only one major fly in the ointment with the upgrade to Windows 11: You’ll need a late-model device (generally five years old or less) to accommodate Windows 11’s more muscular design. Otherwise your old tech will auto-block the upgrade.

One of the easiest ways to see if your device qualifies for Windows 11 is to run a check to verify that you have something called TPM 2.0 or the Trusted Platform module. That’s computer code which ensures that your system has a secure way to embed encryption keys, certificates and similar data in your hardware.

You can check for TPM 2.0 by logging in as an Administrator on your Windows machine, pressing the Windows key plus “R,” and searching for “tpm.msc.” If you have the proper TPM coding, a window should pop up on your screen that includes a reference that you’re working with TPM “Specification Version: 2.0.”

Windows 11’s other minimum system requirements for a free upgrade are:

• CPU: 1-GHz, dual-core, 64-bit
• GPU: DX12 capable
• Computer storage drive size: 64GB
• Display: 1280x720, 9 in.
• A machine running Windows 10

You can also check for Windows compatibility on your machine by downloading a free compatibility analysis app from Microsoft (www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11) and scrolling to the page bottom for a link to the app.

Another minor caveat: Microsoft has never been a member of the If-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it club, so it’s no surprise that it has once again decided to change the location and design of the start menu with a new release of its operating system. This time it’s moving start to the center of the desktop in Windows 11.

Fortunately, you can reverse that decision with a handy $5.99 app: Start 11 from Stardock (www.stardock.com/products/start11). Start 11 enables you to roll back the design and position of the start menu to many previous versions of Windows with just a few clicks.

Another great workaround: If you’re using a machine with a version of Windows prior to Windows 10, there’s still a very good chance you can get the upgrade for free with a bit of finagling. Simply Google “Upgrade to Windows 10 for free” and you’ll receive a number of links back to tutorials on how to upgrade for free to Windows 10. ZDNet has an excellent tutorial (www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade) on how to do the free upgrade.

Once you have Windows 10 on your machine (and it meets minimum system requirements), you’ll be able to upgrade for free to Windows 11.

Conversely, if you’re not doing cartwheels over the Windows 11 release and you’d rather block Microsoft’s automatic upgrade to Windows 11—either before it happens on your machine or after a reinstall of a previous version of Windows—you can perform that block following a tutorial on Ghacks (www.ghacks.net/2021/07/06/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update).

Finally, for a slicker-than-slick 2½-min. overview video for the new Windows, check out the Windows blog (https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/06/24/introducing-windows-11).

Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. 631-438-1142

joe@joedysart.com | www.joedysart.com

SEMA News—October 2022

HERITAGE

The Spirit of the 1956 Championship Drags

By Drew Hardin

Photography: Eric Rickman, Petersen Publishing Company Archives

Over Labor Day weekend in 1956, the NHRA held its second-ever National Championship Drags, drawing 352 entrants “representing most of the 48 states and some prime winners who came from British Columbia and Hawaii” to a year-old dragstrip in Kansas City, Missouri. “Cars of every type and description gathered in the huge, expanded pit area at KC; each crew intent on taking home top honors in its class,” reported Hot Rod in its November 1956 issue.

Prominent in the foreground of this outtake from the magazine’s coverage is Missfire II, the blown Hemi dragster entered by Kenny Lindley and driven by Bob Alsenz. Throughout the course of the meet, Alsenz made consistent 150-mph-plus passes and earned a spot in the Dragster class eliminations. He faced Ed Cortopassi’s Glass Slipper in the first round and “flew past him like he was stalled,” Cortopassi reported, setting the top speed of the meet at 159.01 mph. In the class final, Alsenz faced Mel Heath, “a dark horse entrant from Oklahoma” who had just beaten the NHRA’s 1955 champion, Cal Rice, to make the last round.

As Hot Rod described their race, “the two projectile-like machines screamed side by side down the 1,320-ft. asphalt straightaway, crossing the finish line in what seemed to be a photo finish, at least as far as the two drivers were concerned.

“Way down at the far end of the course they pulled up, looking at one another. ‘Who won?’ asked Bob. ‘I don’t know,’ replied Mel. So they just sat there in their cars, silently awaiting announcer Bud Evans’ declaration of the winner.

“Soon it came. “The class winner...Melvin Heath of Oklahoma!’ No sooner had the sound died than Bob Alsenz was out of his cockpit and over at Mel’s side. ‘Let me be the first to shake your hand!’ Bob said. And there you have it, the spirit of the 1956 National Championship Drags.”

Heath went on to win KC’s Top Eliminator title, while Lindley and Alsenz, for their top speed mark, went home with a brand-new Chrysler V8.

SEMA News—October 2022

BUSINESS

Building Your Business Through Profit Sharing

How Making Sure Your Employees are Happy Leads to Increased Customer Satisfaction

By Eric Colby

There is one thing that profit sharing helps avoid. “The chances of having a bad year are less and less because you weren’t pulling it by yourself,” said Dick Erickson of Sun Tire in northern Florida. “The whole group was going to get hurt by a bad year.”

When Dick Erickson was building his business, Sun Tire, in northern Florida, he took a different approach than many other entrepreneurs. Of course, he wanted to be successful, but that wasn’t all about profit margins and moving the most product.

“We prided ourselves on having the best women’s bathroom in town,” said the author of How the Rubber Meets the Road: a Blue-Collar Roadmap to Success for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs, during the SEMA webinar, “Wheel and Tire Industry Insights, Part 3: Building Your Business Through Profit Sharing.”

After growing up in rural North Dakota, Erickson attended North Dakota State University before serving a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps as a helicopter pilot flying hundreds of rescue missions in Vietnam. After a crash in the demilitarized zone, Erickson hid in a friendly village until he could make his escape. He made it back to the United States and returned to North Dakota to earn a degree.

He got into the tire business in Florida, working at a Big 10 Tires in Panama City and then moved on to set up stores in Albany, Georgia, explained Tyson Boyer, an outgoing chairperson of the Wheel & Tire Council, which co-presented the webinar.

At its most basic, sharing profits creates a positive environment within the company.

Starting From Scratch

Striking out on his own in 1981, Erickson started Sun Tire in Orange Park, Florida, and from the beginning, he was always looking at industry leaders to see what they were doing best. “I started reading who was setting the bar higher than most and after about 10 or 15 years, I realized there were some companies who were really getting it done,” he said.

One such company was Les Schwab Tires, which was headquartered in Bend, Oregon,
and had stores throughout the western United States.

“I started visiting them on the West Coast and started observing them,” said Erickson. “They were head and shoulders above everything else I had seen in the industry.”

Like any successful business, the Schwab outlets had good locations and competitive product, but they had one thing that set them apart—profit sharing.

Erickson met Schwab once. “His question to me was, ‘What are you doing for your employees?’” recalled Erickson.

Every employee must be included in the profit-sharing plan and they all need to feel like they are going to benefit.

Everyone Counts

While some companies have profit sharing for management and maybe middle-management, Sun Tire’s plan was all-inclusive with even the hourly workers. “Fifty percent of the profits for the owner and 50% for the employees,” said Erickson. “Every person was going to get a piece of the action.”

The managers and assistant managers put up half the assets of the company, excluding the real estate. The store, the receivables, the inventory and the equipment were used to finance future shares of employee bonuses.

“They became part of the program and as the hourly guys were brought on, they became stakeholders,” said Erickson.

Once that happened, things changed. The stores looked cleaner, the employees became more aware of their appearance and held each other to higher standards. Shrinkage was reduced because the employees knew that having to replace equipment would cut into their profit-sharing bonus. “People don’t steal from themselves,” said Erickson. It may sound weird, but Sun Tire was the first company of its kind to dress employees in white shirts, which helped contribute to that clean, professional image.

There was also a high level of transparency. The hourly employees knew what the manager and the assistants got for a bonus if the store hit a certain dollar threshold, so everyone pulled together toward the same goal.

With a corporation made up of 11 stores, there needs to be some central administration, but Erickson said that profit-sharing helped eliminate middle management. He had a right-hand person who helped oversee a handful of stores and then he had two other regional managers. Early on, Sun Tire was spending about four percent on administration, but by the time Erickson sold, that number was down to 1.75%.

If employees feel like they have an ownership share, the equipment is maintained and there’s almost zero threat of theft.

Real-World Approach

Sun Tire did have a call center and when a customer wanted information such as tire and installation prices, Erickson made sure the consumer had the “drive-out” price up front. “We tried to stay away from matching prices, but every week we checked the competition’s pricing in price-sensitive areas,” said Erickson.

Some tire stores list a product price, but then hit the consumer with additional fees when the time comes to pay. “You’d have an upset customer who would say, ‘I’ll take it this time, but I’m not coming back,” said Erickson. “We told our customers, ‘You can write a check now for that amount and bring it to the store with you.’”

And when an issue inevitably did arise, Erickson said, “We were quick to move on any complaint immediately and that sometimes meant that the employee had to move on.”

Because Sun Tire didn’t pay employee commissions, there was no pressure to upsell. “Defining what it did for the employees, they would go overboard on how they interacted with the customer,” said Erickson. “I saw that consistently.”

There was also less downtime and employees became increasingly self-sufficient, taking on more challenges and expanding their abilities. If a store hired someone who wasn’t pulling his/her own weight, the other employees basically sent the message that he/she should move on down the road.

Bonuses were handed out at the end of each month, with 15% being held back for a retirement plan for all the employees. “Most companies forget one of the most important things in our industry, which is a well-defined retirement program,” explained Erickson. Performance incentives also included trips to the SEMA Show.

Introduce profit-sharing and you’ll find that employees are more inclined to stick around for the long-term.

The Company Line

When it came to promotions, Erickson said that when he opened a new store or had a management position at a flagship location, it was pretty easy to find the right candidate to take the helm. “If someone was outgoing with a lot of talent, we would put them in a bigger store. It was who was doing the best job with his store,” said Erickson. “But not everybody wanted the pressure of a bigger store.

Along those same lines, a successful company has a formula that it follows and Sun Tire’s employees needed to follow the program. “We had to be very tight on that,” said Erickson, adding that they had to watch “the achievers” as closely as the non-achievers. “We had some pretty hard meetings and the achievers had to be counseled as much as anyone else.”

Finally, there is one thing that profit sharing helps avoid. “The chances of having a bad year are less and less because you weren’t pulling it by yourself,” said Erickson. “The whole group was going to get hurt by a bad year.”

SEMA News—October 2022

INDUSTRY INSIDER

13 Questions for Frances Farnam

By Douglas McColloch

This month, a change of pace as we spotlight a newcomer to the world of custom car building. Meet Frances Farnam, age 13, who explains the origins of her upcoming project. “It started with me saving up money for my first car. I picked grapefruit and veggies from our garden and sold them through a local farmer’s market, and I saved up enough money to buy my first car, a ’76 Porsche 914.” Not content to simply build a Porsche from the ground up, she also plans to electrify it and display it at SEMA Electrified during this year’s SEMA Show. While she acknowledges the build won’t be complete by November, she aims to have it finished by the time she can legally drive it, and in the meantime her project can be followed at her You Tube channel, Tinkergineering.

Farnam recently stopped for a visit at the SEMA Garage, where Director of Vehicle Technology Luis Morales gave her a tour of the facility, which included a crash course in CAD design. With only a few minutes of instruction, she got to work creating a digital profile of her 914 using one of the Garage’s FaroArms (pictured left). We chatted with her for a few minutes, to learn more about this build and about this unique individual.

SEMA News: Describe your background. How long have you been working on cars?

Frances Farnam: This is actually the first car I’ve worked on, but I’ve been making things my entire life. I started out with wiring things, and also some craft stuff, so that’s how I got started.

SN: What inspired you to attempt an EV conversion?

FF: I knew that I wanted an electric car because gas is really expensive, and also because the future is obviously going toward EVs.

SN: Why this vehicle?

FF: I really like the 914, particularly the headlights because they pop up and when they do, they look super-funny, and that’s a great part of its appeal. Also, the 914 community is a great group of people. I’ve been lucky to be welcomed into this amazing automotive community.

SN: What do you anticipate being the most challenging part of the build?

FF: Believe it or not, the most challenging part of this is actually having to film it because filming the build will take a lot longer to do the work. When you’re turning wrenches and then you have to narrate an intro about it, the work takes twice as long to do.

SN: Which part of this process are you most looking forward to?

FF: I’m looking forward to installing the interior because it’s going to be fun to actually sit in my car in an actual seat.

SN: What would you like to have completed in time for the 2022 SEMA Show?

FF: By the time of the Show, I intend to have all of the EV components laid out for fitment. Then they’ll be removed so the car can be painted, then reinstalled afterward.

SN: If you could own any other car in the world, what would it be?

FF: The 914 would be my dream car because I think it reflects my personality really well.

SN: Why is this important to you?

FF: I really want to inspire other kids my age to get out there and do what they want to do. That’s why I’m filming the build for Tinkergineering.

SN: Looking ahead, what do you see yourself doing after you’ve graduated from high school?

FF: I’m not completely sure since I’m still so young, but I hope to keep inspiring people, whether it’s through this project or other projects like it.

SN: When you’re not building things, where can we find you?

FF: I love to read, so I’d be at the library from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I love fiction, particularly fantasy fiction.

SN: What are your thoughts on attending the SEMA Show? What do you expect from it?

FF: I’m really excited about it. I’m expecting to meet a lot of people there, so while I’m a little nervous, I’m also looking forward to it.

SN: Who do you follow on social? Got any favorite influencers or mentors you’d like to call out?

FF: I don’t spend much time on social media, but there are a lot of people who have been mentors to me: Matt and Mark from 914 Rubber, the 914World community, Jorge and Jenna at Sierra Madre Collection, Michael Bream from EV West, John at EspoResto, who taught me how to weld, Laurina at Women In Porsche, Eric at PMB, Dave at Coast Airbrush, and Ryno @Rynotmt. All of these people are super-amazing!

SN: What’s on your playlist? What are you listening to these days?

FF: A lot of TV soundtracks. “Stranger Things,” Season 4 just came out, and volume 2 is coming out soon, so I’m very excited about that.

SEMA News—October 2022

LEGISLATIVE AND TECHNICAL AFFAIRS

Law & Order

By Daniel Ingber

FEDERAL UPDATE

Supreme Court Ruling: In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress did not grant the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to devise carbon emissions caps for power plants that would shift the way they generate energy away from coal. The case, West Virginia vs. EPA, is unusual in that it centers around the 2015 Clean Power Plan that never went into effect. The Obama administration plan was blocked in court and the subsequent Trump administration plan struck it down. This decision, while limiting how the EPA can use its authority to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants, has no effect on current EPA regulation of aftermarket performance products or mobile source emissions. It could have future implications for how much authority government agencies have to enact substantial policy without congressional approval.

RPM Act: With the 2022 mid-term election only weeks away, now is the time to remind your members of Congress that they must pass the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act), H.R. 3281 and S. 2736. The RPM Act clarifies that it is legal to make emissions-related changes to convert a street vehicle into a dedicated race car under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The bill, if enacted into law, would also confirm that producing, marketing, and installing racing equipment on track vehicles does not violate the CAA. The RPM Act enjoys strong bipartisan support in the 2021–2022 session of Congress, including more than 160 co-sponsors, but SEMA members and the racing community must turn up the pressure on lawmakers to pass the bill this Fall.

Below are things you can do right now to help to pass the RPM Act:

• Invite your members of Congress to visit your business or participate in a virtual meeting with your lawmaker and SEMA staff. Email erics@sema.org for a template and more information.
• Call and send a letter to your lawmakers at www.saveourracecars.com. A letter has already been drafted. It takes less than a minute.
• Sign a letter to your lawmakers on company letterhead. Email erics@sema.org for a template and more information.
• Post about the RPM Act on your company’s social-media accounts using the digital assets toolkit at www.sema.org/rpmtools.
• Learn more about SEMA’s Political Action Committee (SEMA PAC) at www.SEMApac.com. SEMA PAC allows SEMA members to support the lawmakers that stand up for our industry in Washington, D.C.

NHTSA Black Box Requirements: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a proposed rule to require black boxes in vehicles to record more pre-crash data at a higher frequency rate as a way to better understand the actions leading up to a crash. Black boxes, or event data recorders (EDRs), are currently required to collect five seconds of pre-crash data at a rate of two samples per second. The proposed rule would require 20 sec. of pre-crash data at a rate of 10 samples per second. NHTSA has required automakers that install EDRs to collect certain data, including vehicle speed, crash forces at the moment of impact, whether an airbag deployed or if the brakes were applied in the moments before a crash and if seat belts were fastened.

Right to Repair: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against Harley-Davidson for claims that it was using illegal warranty terms that restricted consumers’ choices, cost consumers money and undercut independent repair shops. The FTC’s complaints charge that the company was imposing illegal warranty terms that voided customers’ warranties if they used aftermarket parts or took their motorcycles to be repaired anywhere other than at an authorized dealer. The FTC has the authority to take action against companies that violate the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which makes it illegal to void a warranty or deny coverage due to the presence of an aftermarket replacement of specialty part, or because a repair or part installation has been performed by an independent shop (unless the original manufacturer provides the service or part for free). The action against Harley-Davidson prohibits further violations, requires language in their warranty that recognizes consumers’ right to repair, and requires dealers to be alerted to compete fairly with independent repair shops.

Canada—Collector Car Celebration: The provinces of Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan, each declared the month of July as “Automotive Heritage Month.” This special occasion is held concurrently with the SEMA-supported Collector Car Appreciation Day, an annual holiday which serves to raise awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays in society.

STATE UPDATE

Arizona—Motorsports: The Arizona legislature failed to advance a SEMA-supported memorial urging the U.S. Congress to pass the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act. The proposal was symbolic in nature and unlikely to be considered for passage.

California—Exhaust Noise: The California Assembly Transportation Committee positively amended SEMA-opposed legislation (S.B. 1079) requiring the state to study the effectiveness of noise-detecting cameras to enforce motor-vehicle exhaust noise laws prior to using them to issue violations to motorists. Prior to being amended, the proposal would have allowed six cities to use the technology to issue tickets under a pilot program. The bill now awaits consideration in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

California—ZEV Conversions: The California Senate Transportation Committee unanimously passed SEMA-sponsored legislation to incentivize the conversion of gas- and diesel-burning vehicles into zero-emissions vehicles. If passed, the bill would provide motorists with a $2,000 voucher for the conversion of eligible vehicles. The bill awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Pennsylvania—Motorsports: Governor Tom Wolf signed into law SEMA-supported legislation to create an exemption for motor vehicles or a motor-vehicle combination from perceived “commercial” activity provided that the vehicle is being used to transport another vehicle to or from an amateur competitive event, whether or not the owner displays sponsorship markings.

New Jersey—License Plates: The New Jersey Senate has introduced SEMA-supported legislation to allow the display of only a single, rear-mounted license plate for all passenger vehicles. The bill awaits consideration in the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee.