April 2015 Newsletter
We’re pleased to be able to announce that we’ve managed to complete the government registration formalities, and Charged Hong Kong has received it’s society registration certificate #54000. We are now legally formed and ready to go.
Membership
We can now begin accepting memberships. As previously announced, we’ve got four levels of member:
- Founder Member: Up to a limit of 50 founder memberships will be offered, on a first come first served basis, until the limit is reached. The membership fee will be HK$3,000 for 10 years of membership, and further renewals will be offered after that time on terms agreed by the executive committee prior to the renewal date. In consideration for their contribution, and in addition to the benefits offered to Ordinary Members, Founder Members will have priority in registration and seating for society events, as well as new product offerings.
- Ordinary Member: Ordinary memberships will be offered with no specific limit on numbers. The membership fee will be HK$200 per year, or HK$500 for 3 years membership, or HK$700 for 5 years membership. Ordinary Members shall receive newsletters and society communications, be entitled to participate in society events, receive preferential pricing, and are voting members of the society.
- Associate Member: Associate memberships will be offered with no specific limit on numbers. The memberships will be offered free of charge. Associate members shall receive newsletters and society communications.
- Honorary Members: Honorary memberships may be offered, according to the constitution of the society. The memberships will be offered free of charge, and honorary members shall receive the same benefits as ordinary members.
You can sign up today. If you’ve already created an account on www.charged.hk, just sign into that account and you can find a Sign-Up tab allowing you to choose from the above membership types. You can fill that in online, and we use PayPal to process payments (accepting most major credit cards) through a local company Open Vehicles Ltd, which is helping us out in this startup phase.
If you don’t already have an account, just go to www.charged.hk/join and complete the process online there.
For the less technically capable of us, you can eMail join@charged.hk with your details (name, address, eMail) and we’ll help you with the process.
Please help us to spread the news on this. Sign up your spouses, relatives, and whoever else is interested in the development of EVs in Hong Kong. Ordinary or Founder memberships will give you the most benefit, but Associate memberships are free and a good way to stay in touch with what we are doing. Once you sign up, your confirmation screen will show various ways you can help spread the word (twitter, Facebook, etc).
Vehicle Labels
The design has been finalised and we’re now printing the first batch of vehicle labels. These should be available for distribution to members around early to mid May (as part of your membership benefit). These labels are used to advertise and promote membership in our organisation, and also include a QR code that can be used to access the ‘messaging’ system under charged.hk. You can even print a custom QR code for your own vehicle, and put it in your car window to let people contact you.
Membership 'Messaging' System
We’ve completed development of a Messaging system for our members. The purpose of this system is to facilitate anonymous contact with a vehicle owner. For example, when parked at a public charging station, it allows other users to contact you to ask permission to unplug, or ask when you will be finished. Perhaps if someone notices you have a particular accessory, they could contact you to request details. An alternative is to leave your mobile phone number on a sign in the car, but that is not at all anonymous. The system is opt-in, so you decide if, when and how members can anonymously contact you (and if you do nothing, you can’t be contacted, even if you have the label in your car window).
All members of Charged Hong Kong can now see a Vehicles tab under their “My account” link (in the top right of the charged.hk website). There, you can enter your vehicle registration number, contact mobile phone number, and vehicle details. Once you’ve done that, other members will be able to contact you via SMS, anonymously.
Similarly, voting members (ordinary, founder or honorary) can also see a Messaging tab on the main charged.hk website. There, you enter your mobile phone number, the registration number of an opted-in member’s car, and a short message. The message is delivered anonymously via SMS (the recipient cannot see the mobile phone number of the sender, and the sender cannot see the mobile phone number of the recipient). Replies are also possible simply by replying to the SMS message received. All communications are anonymously relayed via the charged.hk servers. The system is cross-platform web-based and will work on any mobile phone with a web browser and SMS capability. This service is available today to any founder, honorary or ordinary member of Charged Hong Kong.
29th April Central Policy Unit Seminar
On the afternoon of 29th April, the Hong Kong Government Central Policy Unit (CPU) will share the results of two studies on Electric Vehicles in Hong Kong that have recently been completed in co-operation with the Hong Kong Productivity Council. The welcome address will be given by Mr Shiu Sin-Por (head of the CPU) and there will be a Q&A as well as a discussion session to allow plenty of time for feedback of our views. It is an opportunity for the various stakeholders to share their views and thoughts on how to further promote the use of electric vehicles and support the sustainable development of a vehicle industry in Hong Kong.
We’re pleased to say that Charged Hong Kong has received an invitationto this, and we will be attending to present our views and those of our membership. If you have the time and would like to be involved in this, please eMail mark@charged.hk who is co-ordinating our representation.
May Event
We’re arranging a poolside BBQ evening at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Happy Valley. This is currently tentatively scheduled for the evening of 29th May, and we are now finalising arrangements. Car Parking will be provided free, and there will be a buffet menu for BBQ at the poolside of this amazing location in the heart of Happy Valley. We should have finalised details for this within the next week and sign-up will be via the Events system in our charged.hk website (so hurry up and get your account and membership completed).
Charged Hong Kong
Executive Committee