The fun just didn't stop last week. It was a double whammy: National #DriveElectric Week and the People's Climate March. What a turn out (the largest climate march in history)! I am going to borrow their tag line: To Change Everything, We Need Everyone. I After last week, I'm feeling pretty positive about the future and the possibility of power of the committed. As Goethe said (maybe?) "Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
Case in point: I spent last Friday at the 9th Annual Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, continuing my non-stop EV test driving run. Let me tell you, BMW knows how to create a driving experience. The i3 was my favorite ride of the day. But I was even more impressed by Volts Wattson and Team Marine! A team of dedicated high school students and their tireless teacher have converted a 1971 candy apple red VW Super Beetle into an electric car named Volts Wattson. I spoke with a team member about their project, which is a perfect storm of issues I am passionate about: STEM Education, Learn-by-Doing Teaching Philosophy and Environmental Activism. Now, that is how we will engage everyone to commit to making a difference. Cue the music: The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
What a fun day! Today, I attended the National #DriveElectric Week event at UCLA, co-sponsored by Plug In America. It was sooo hot but definitely worthwhile. The highlight of the day were the various test drives, all thanks to {mostly} volunteers. I got to test drive an eGolf, Tesla, Smart, Leaf, RAV4 and Fiat 500e. I even got to ride an electric bike (hello to assisted riding!). I was a little sad that Spartacus was not accepted into the mix but then again, I wouldn't have been able to drive all those fun EVs. There were a few speakers as well, including Ed Begley Jr., actor and solar EV evangelist. His quote of the day "You can not make gasoline on the roof of your house. You can make electricity on the roof of your house." Amen to that. What an awesome but humble man, willing to spend his birthday on the UCLA campus to support and grow the EV community. Here is my favorite quote of his: "Some would call me an environmentalist. I don't know why. I reuse the
water that falls in my backyard in the winter. I reuse the trash and
clippings I produce for mulch. I reuse the rain that falls on my roof,
and I reuse the sun that shines on my house for energy. I guess you
could call me a strategic opportunist as much as an environmentalist."
There are more National #DriveElectric events happening this week. If you can, check one out. If not, add it to your calendar next year. See you there!
I saw the coolest EV license plate on the street the other day: KWH ZOOM. That got me a little green with envy - What should my cool personalized license plate be? Well, first of all, leased cars can't have personalized license plates. Or, at least you can't apply for one online. So a personalized license plate is not in my future. But, if I could have one, what would it be? I started checking. NOFUMES. Taken. SUNPOWR. Taken. GOSPARK. Unavailable. SPARKGO. Available. I like it. It has a definite Yoda-speak feel to it. Spark, go it will. Powered by the sun it is. And to quote Yoda from the Star Wars trilogy directly: "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not." This quote is entirely appropriate, both for my Spark and for its driver.
End of summer means camping + road trip. We went on a camping road trip this past Labor Day weekend and I spotted a Tesla Model S.... from British Columbia! So much for range anxiety - it is 1080 miles from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada. Now that trip would take me a LONG time in my Chevy Spark. Probably near four months as I logged 100 mile trips in between a minimum of eight hours of charging to full power. Not so with the Tesla. There is a network of Tesla's Superchargers across the US that provide a charge equivalent of 170 miles in 30 minutes. Better yet, some of these chargers are solar powered. Seems that Elon Musk had the idea of Net Zero Electric Vehicles way before yours truly. Here is the way he described his motivation on August 2, 2006 (eight years ago) in a blog post titled The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me):
"(t)he overarching purpose of Tesla Motors (and the reason I am funding the
company) is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon
economy towards a solar electric economy, which I believe to be the
primary, but not exclusive, sustainable solution." Great minds think alike? I'm definitely looking forward to Tesla's affordably priced family car. Vancouver here we come!
