A potpourri of posts, beginning with my recent trip to the Bay Area (hence a slow down in posts since I could not {yet} drive the Spark from LA to SF).
We stayed in Berkeley for about a week between Christmas and New Year's so I thought I'd look up my electric vehicle charging options, should I ever decide to move back to this part of the Bay. Well, I'm a little bit disheartened by my results - the screenshot on the lower right. Seriously, I count 4 charging station locations with two more coming. I am a proud Berkeley grad times three but am a little embarrassed that Berkeley is not leading the way with electric vehicle infrastructure. Especially compared to San Francisco on the left (equal area screenshot), a city that I think is more public transit oriented than Berkeley. A quick look at Berkeley's Climate Action Plan infographic shows no mention of electric vehicles. I really hope the 2014 update includes some concrete action for progress.
Next up, winter solstice. Out of curiosity, I thought I would check out the action from our solar panels. What I really wanted to see was if the shortest day of sunlight was noticeable as a turning point in our daily solar production. Well, I don't see it, at least not yet. I definitely see the dramatic winter drop-off but December 21-22 don't stick out as we swing back into longer days. I'm going to keep my eyes on it.
Lastly, a quick update on the local Tesla charging stations. 12 Tesla charging stations were recently installed at the local Westfield mall in Culver City (12/19). I was surprised and excited to see this advancement for EVs at the mall where I was dropped off at as a pre-teen to kill time. I swung by today to see if anyone was using them and found 5! Teslas charging at Fox Hills. I admit I was skeptical that this particular location would be successful. But I was wrong. Only one of the Tesla drivers decided it was best to sit in her car while it was charging, instead of shopping at JCPenney. Go Culver City!
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