Founder, Lead Presenter

Self-confessed nerd and adoptive mom, Nikki has been talking and writing about cars ever since she passed her driving test. But her love of cars goes back even further than that.

She first fell in love with electric cars in the early 1980s when she saw a picture of one in a magazine and thought “hey! That’s Cool!”

In 2006, Nikki purchased her first electric vehicle, a 250 watt electric scooter. While she’d planned to use it as transport while she converted her 1965 Morris Minor to electric, the old car’s rusty state forced her a different way, resulting in her buying a 1998 City El electric bubble car instead.

When she’s not working, Nikki enjoys to garden on the 1/3 acre plot she and her wife own in the foothills of the Coastal range just west of Portland Oregon, which they share with a flock of chickens, and two dogs. They’re keen advocates of slow food, and try to grow or locally source all the food they eat.

Being a nerd, Nikki enjoys all kinds of tech, but also loves a decent bit of science fiction, plays DnD, and is also the President of the League of Extraordinary Floofs, a local 501(c)(3) group of freelance mascots.

To follow Nikki on the company Mastodon, head to her official TE Mastodon Account.

Co-Founder

There are two Kates associated with Transport Evolved — and Kate Gordon-Bloomfield is the one you don’t hear or see much of. And yes, we know there’s a lot of confusion – but THIS Kate is the one that’s married to Nikki.

Kate has always had a keen interest in technology, and currently works in the IT sector. Joint co-founder and owner of Transport Evolved, Kate helps out with some of the essential office duties, like making sure the bills get paid and the taxes get filed.

Like Nikki, Kate has been driving electric since 2007, but has an aversion to being in front of the camera, preferring instead to share her thoughts with the world via Twitter.

When she’s not working, Kate is either found in front of a computer game, the local hardware store or in her wood shop, working on her latest creation. She currently drives a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, but is keeping her eyes peeled for the next-phase of electric vehicles — which she hopes will include a sizable electric pickup truck ideal for carrying large amounts of wood.

While Kate is happy to work with many different types of wood, most of her projects focus on using local native wood stock grown in sustainable, managed forests in the Pacific Northwest.

Contributing Presenter

A lifetime classic car geek, Kate’s love affair with her main drive began at the tender age of 13 when she was found grovelling underneath someone else’s near scrap Morris Minor. £20 later the car was hers, and with the help of a long suffering family it was returned to the road.

Although classic cars have a terrible environmental reputation, she was influenced by Greenpeace’s statement that “it’s better to keep a car on the road longer than replace it with a new one”. But eventually the climate-change math made enough sense that she switched to an EV – a pre-production Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

Since then she’s had a variety of EVs and hybrids, from a first generation Insight up to her current drives, a Kia Soul EV and a Kia Niro EV.

She reckons that the Morris 1000 would make the perfect EV. Her project to convert her Minor is being serialized on Transport Evolved.

“Lightweight and rear wheel drive for an easy conversion, what’s not to love? Also, they look gorgeous!”

When not on here, she can be found on her long running and eclectic blog Substantially lemon based or on her official TE Mastodon Account.

Animator / Graphic Design Lead

Before becoming a part of the team, Erin had a complicated relationship with automobiles. She always had an affinity for the natural world, seeing the oil and gas industry as a plague upon it. Growing up in Florida, she witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of anti-environmentalist policies in the Florida wetlands and along the coast, the worst of it being the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill of 2009.

Seeing not only the ecological destruction, but also the vast amount of individuals pitching in to save the Gulf (as best they could) changed her perspective on environmentalism as a whole.

Now, of course, Erin understands there’s more nuance to business, industry, and its relation to the environment. Through this understanding, she’s gained a deeper appreciation for green tech, seeing small companies fight for a cleaner, greener, safer, and smarter world.

After her first car was stolen, Erin transitioned to driving a plug-in hybrid.

Event DP

Brandon has been in love with videography for a long time, and turned his passion into a full-time job that he’s been working in for more than a decade.

He earned a BA Degree in Cinema & Media Communications from George Fox University. During his college career, he produced creative and technical video projects for clients large and small including Nike, Comcast, and many others, covering a wide range of industry sectors.

After graduation, he moved to Orlando, Florida, and started working as a videographer at Discovery Cove.

He then became an Audio Visual Technician for Presentation Services Audio Visual (PSAV) at two Universal Studios Orlando properties.

Known for his bad dad jokes, Brandon is always on the lookout to expand his skillset and grow his knowledge base.

PDX Lead Videographer

Michael Is a self-taught videographer, editor, and stabilizer operator who cut his teeth filming freestyle BMX montages in the early 2000's.

Not a stranger to custom-building his own rigs and modifying them as the job dictates, much of his equipment is bespoke and honestly probably a bit strange to fellow videographers.

To this day he still seeks out those perfect and elusive shots wrapped up in warm, sunset-golden nostalgia. He's happy to find his talents of professional use at long last.

Michael is also an unabashed gear head, and loves all types of vehicles. His daily driver is a Fiat 500, but he’s also a keen biker.

A recent EV enthusiast himself he enjoys having an Unagi E500 as his last-mile solution.