Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Help me win Lance Armstrong's Bike…

…by voting for my video on the Drive Electric Tour site!

Thank You.

Also, if you see by CBox to the right, you'll notice that HankHillNeedsALeaf also has an excellent video.  I voted for him and I hope you did too but if you didn't, I'm afraid now it's too late and I'm very sorry to say the most deserving HankHillNeedsALeaf did not get one.  Perhaps it's just as well though, because I personally believe he'd go down to Strickland Propane and mount a tank in his trunk and put in a generator that runs on Propane using Propane Accessories to power his LEAF.

Seriously, though, well done HankHillNeedsALeaf and I hope you'll consider casting a vote for me too so that at least I can win that sweet ride designed by Lance Armstrong and beat out that woman who was just complaining about having to drive from New York to test drive a LEAF.  Personally, I think it was a gross under sight of the Drive Electric Tour planning not to have a stop in Chicago, Pittsburg, New York and Boston for our MyNissanLeaf buddy Mitch and we shouldn't punish those in D.C. for being lucky enough to be on the Tour Schedule, especially when we as well as all of the South East were pushed back eight months to only a handful of months before the rest of the country for the opportunity to just order the car.  Secondly, although I didn't blog about it, I was truly heartbroken when I, in Virginia, couldn't get in the Mini-E lease program.  I have, for the last two years, been very jealous of the New Yorkers and New Jerseyites that we able to get that most wonderful car.  So this time, let a Virginian win the LEAF! Or at least a Marylander, D.C. resident, Pennsylvanian, Illinoisan or another one of my fellow Tier 2 states.  Thanks again and I look forward to your vote!

Monday, March 21, 2011

My First LEAF test drive

My first test drive of the LEAF was at Brown's Fairfax Nissan, around 10:00 in the morning on Tuesday, 15 March 2011.  Here is a brief account of my first impressions.

Starting off, it's interesting to note how the electric parking break works.  Pulling up unlocks the break, and pushing down locks it.  When it's locked, it has an orange light on the tab as well as a view on the console.

Once the parking break was disengaged, you had to turn on the car to adjust the side mirrors.  Of course, the LEAF has a push-button start, tied to the foot break pedal.  So I hit the break and pressed go.  Ding! I was in business.

I adjusted the mirrors and then set the LEAF in motion.  Putting the LEAF in gear is kind of counter-intuitive, since pushing forward is actually reverse and pulling back is the Drive / ECO Mode toggle.  For this drive I decided to test out ECO mode and was pleasantly surprised.

Sharon, my LEAF tour guide for this drive, was nice enough then to directed me right on to I66 so I could put ECO mode right to the test.  I activated the Steering Wheel cruise control — the controls are small but easy to spot on the right side of the wheel — and set it for the speed limit, 55 mph.  I would have gone faster but the road was too congested and even if I had, I'd not say so publicly.  Needless to say, ECO Mode + Cruise worked perfectly, maintaining a speed between 54 mph and 55 mph.

At the end of the test drive, we headed back to Brown's Fairfax Nissan where I took Sharon's picture and thanked her for the drive.

I didn't get to test the Audio over Bluetooth from my iPhone, but Sharon told me James had tried it and said it was working great.

All in all, I have to say I love the LEAF!  I only wish I didn't have to wait another 8 - 12 months to drive it again!

Meet your Dealership: Brown's Fairfax Nissan

Welcome to Brown's Fairfax Nissan, in Fairfax, VA

On Tuesday, 15 March, I dropped by Brown's Fairfax Nissan to test drive, for my very first time, the all-new, fully electric Nissan LEAF.

I was running a little late that very busy Tuesday and, turning a corner, I arrived at Brown's around 09:30.

I promptly parked in the customer parking lot to the left of the main building.

The Sales Manager, James was actually out testing the LEAF when I arrived so I wasn't able to see the car when I approached the building.  Instead, I entered their lovely showroom.

In the showroom, I met the Nissan North America representative, Dylan — who was also the person who conducted the EVA/DC the following Saturday.

I chatted with Dylan briefly, unable to contain me clear love for this particular electric vehicle, then asked to see the dealership's LEAF expert.  This is when I met Sharon.

Sharon Connacher-Donovan has been working for Brown's Fairfax Nissan for 27 years and can boast a 98% customer satisfaction rating, receiving the Platinum Level award.  I then went to explore the dealership while I waited for James to get back with the Blue LEAF.

When I saw the Calling All Visionaries sign, I became quite excited — my first test drive of the LEAF was coming…

The Customer Waiting Lounge at Brown's Fairfax Nissan is quite comfortable and there's a large, flat-screen television which you can see to the left of the photo.

The lounge is capacious and seats about 15 people.

Between the customer lounge and the showroom is a play area for the little ones.

There's also your standard assortment of yummy snacks.

And of course, though you won't need a regular oil change with the LEAF, their friendly service staff are well equipped to solve your electric vehicle needs.

Of course, the big question for the prospective EV owner is where are the EVSEs?  Well, Sharon pointed the first 2 out to me right there in plain sight, at the left corner of the building.  They only have the Level 2 AeroVironment chargers at all the Nissan Dealership and I must admit this EVSE is pretty.

And there's a third located on the exact opposite side of the building, near the back.

You can't go wrong with Brown's Fairfax Nissan and you can find no better sales specialist than Sharon.  When you buy from Brown's Fairfax Nissan, you become a friend for the life of your vehicle.  Sharon is very knowledgeable and can answer all of your LEAF-related question.  The customer service at Brown's Fairfax Nissan is excellent and I'm sure you'll be as happy with them as I was during my test drive.

Finally, James arrived back with the Blue LEAF and I finally got behind the wheel of my first LEAF, with Sharon by my side, which I'll discuss in another post.

Brown's Fairfax Nissan is located at:

11000 Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-591-8009


View Brown's Fairfax Nissan in a larger map

Brown's Fairfax Nissan, your neighborhood Nissan Dealer.  Welcome!

Electric Cars Are Coming — And I Am Certainly Ready!

As I've reported before, Dominion Virginia Power is proposing 2 new Electric Vehicle rates.  But a recent article by Cory Nealson considers whether the Commonwealth of Virginia is ready for 86,000 new Electric Vehicles on the road by 2020.  The article makes some good points, but it's sometimes interesting to see what comments are generated on an EV piece like this.

Of course, I'm not one to let EV misinformation propagate through these informal discussions and so I've composed my share of replies to some of the comments appended to this article and I though it might be instructive to collect them here as well:

How much does it cost to charge an electric car to go 40 miles, as compared to filling up a gas vehicle to go 400 miles? (Hampton Handyman)

Hampton, to answer your question, we need to make some assumptions.

  1. What is the cost of fuel; let's say an even $3, which is what I paid about a fortnight ago; it is going to go up though, but for your argument, let's say it doesn't.

  2. How much does Electricity Cost?  Well, I happen to have Dominion Virginia Power's filing right here and so let's see…

    The base rate for the 2-meter EV-only setup (I'll stick with that as it's simpler) is 0.684¢kWh from 01:00 - 05:00; but that's just the base rate for Distribution and Supply.  There's also a $2.90 per month cost, then a bunch of riders and taxes and in the end you come up with basically 4.632¢kWh + $2.90 per month.  So for the monthly cost, let's assume a 30 day month, which adds about 10¢day or basically per charge.  There are a bit of other complexities, such as county tax and potentially lower tax rates with additional usage, but overall, this is a good ballpark for what you would be paying to charge your car overnight.

  3. Gasoline Car Efficiency; let's be positive and go with the Prius's astoundingly high value of 50 mpg.

  4. And for our Electric Vehicle, we'll go with a conservative 3⅓ miles per kWh.

The math is simple…

…Person A fills up his Prius.  To go 400 mi, he buys 8 gallons (400 mi ÷ 50 mpg) which at $3gal comes to $24.

Person B charges her EV over night, each night, going 40 miles per day.  In this case, she needs 12 kWh each night (40 mi ÷ 3⅓ mpg), which at 4.632¢kWh or $0.04632kWh comes to about 56¢.  Add in the 10¢ per day and we come to 66¢ or $0.66 for 40 miles.

Now, after 10 days, Person B has gone 400 mi too (40 mi × 10) but she's paid only $6.60.  It's not much, but $6.60 is still better than $8 and do you really get 50 mpg?  I didn't think so!  So, you can try to hate on EVs all you want Hampton, but the truth is, as far as cost per mile, EVs already have your best hybrids and gasoline engine cars beat!  And you can take that to the bank!

Note: Whoever voted me down on that commentary clearly can't handle the truth!

DVP's installation of charging stations at rest stops makes no sense. (MarcLee)

Well said, Marc, but the thing is, you have a Volt.  The Volt and the Focus Electric don't have the ability to fast charge, but the Nissan LEAF does through its CHAdeMo connection.  It doesn't make sense to install chargers at rest areas if all they can do is Level 2, which for the LEAF and Volt means 3.3kW charging (8 hr / 4 hr, respectively), for the Focus it means 6.7kW (4 hr).  But L3 / DC / Quick-Charging does make sense once the U.S. standardizes on a connector and protocol.  As I said, the LEAF uses CHAdeMO and it's a risk that we'll use that Japanese standard over a European standard.

But, given the LEAF, CHAdeMO may become the de facto standard in the U.S.  And with CHAdeMO's up to 500VDC × 125A capacity, this means about 62.5kW charging, which on the LEAF means 80% in about 18 minutes.  Sure, 18 minutes is still a pain to wait when filling a tank is about half that, and that fill up is only getting you 80 more miles, but it does serve a purpose.  I just would never suggest someone try to make it up to Maine from Florida stopping every 90 minutes for a 20 minute break.  It's not plesant for the driver and that amount of quick charging isn't good for the battery either.  Nissan recommends no more than 1 Quick-Charge per day to keep your battery fresh and capacious.

The Volt uses 12kw for a full recharge… The Leaf and Focus Electric would require roughly 3 times that amount… There is a 4 hour window under which you can save 6 cents/kwh and a 17 hour window during which you are penalized 6 cents/kwh. (MarcLee)

As far as the rates are concerned, I've done the calculations on 95% battery capacity of a LEAF per weekday, or 22.8kW, and half that (11.4kWh) each weekend day (the LEAF, BTW, has a battery exactly 2 times larger than the Volt and takes twice as long to charge; the Focus has one slightly less than twice, at 23kWh, but has the 6.7kW charger so also takes about 4 hours).

Anyway, the short answer is you save about $200 a year under this scenario under the Schedule EV rider vs. the base Schedule 1 rate.  And under the Household 1EV rate, you save an additional $25yr.  Sure, that's only about $18.75 a month in savings, but in this economy every dollar counts IMHO.

The problem comes if you need a Monday Touch-up, as I find I may need occasionally.  Then, the year is divided in half, with 6 months at $0.77 and 6 at $0.28 for a 2 hour touch-up.  I don't intend to do these kind of touch-ups very often, so maybe I spend $3 on them in a given month, but that's still much less than $18.75 for the household rate.

Or, let's consider the Schedule EV rider instead: now we're saving only $16.67 per month, and our touch-up goes for $0.86 per 2 hour touch-up, year-round.  Not quite as good as the household Schedule 1EV rate, but still you come out ahead even with a few touch-ups.

Also, I should point out that I was the main guy who pushed DVP to add this rate when I couldn't get Schedule 1T.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Three Test Drives! Yay! But where was the forth?

Today I test drove 3 Nissan LEAFs, and tomorrow I plan to visit 3 more dealership, take pictures, get more information on their plans for the LEAF, giving them a dedicated post — or, in the case of Nissan of Chantilly, a second one.  But I was disheartened that my old friends at Chevy Chase Nissan didn't let me know they were getting the car for a test drive today too!  It would have been the perfect opportunity to take pictures of their dealership and meet with some of the staff, like I did at Brown's Fairfax Nissan, Herb Gordon Nissan and Criswell Nissan today.  But don't worry, Chevy Chase Nissan, I still love you and will come by sometime soon, even if you don't have the LEAF! I promise!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Two More Dealers with LEAFs

Nissan of Chantilly

Wednesday, 16 March, 10:00 - 18:00 (10am to 6pm)

Brown's Fairfax Nissan

Tuesday, 15 March, 09:00 - 18:00 (9am to 6pm)

I plan to attend both events and make my first test drive of the day at Brown's Fairfax Nissan, where I long ago bought my first car, a used 1992 or 3 Nissan Altima.  Hope to see you there!

Sorry this isn't as pretty as the other announcements.  I figured better get the information out there than make it pretty but too late for you to drive!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

More Washington, D.C. Area Dealerships Showcasing the LEAF next week

Yet one more dealership has announced a Nissan LEAF event for next week: Passport Nissan of Alexandria!  So, if you can't make it out to Silver Spring or Gaithersburg this Tuesday, or Sterling this Wednesday, why not check out the LEAF at Passport Nissan of Alexandria?  Having corresponded with Said for months and J.D. today, I can say that the folks at Passport are friendly and helpful and great to talk to, and like the other dealerships I'm planning to visit next week, I hope to be bringing you pictures from this event too!

The reservation process for Passport Nissan Alexandria isn't as automatic as some other dealerships, so it's best to call and inform them of your intention to attend their event so they know you're coming.  Indeed, I couldn't find any information about the event from the home page of their website and only knew about it thanks to Said's e-mail informing me of it.  However, you can find out more about it here.  The event notice I received read as follows:

Nissan LEAF

Passport Nissan to demonstrate the affordable, 100% electric, zero-emission Nissan LEAF

Coming to Passport Nissan March 15th and 16th

Ride and drive time must be reserved in advanced.

Passport Nissan can be reached through the link above or by calling Passport Nissan at 888-864-0528.  I personally hope to attend all 5 drive events in the Washington area next week, logging many a mile in my 10 year old ICE.

One wonders, what do you call a dead head for the LEAF…?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Where will Gasoline Prices be in 2025

Sometimes, a blog about Electric Vehicles has to discuss a bigger issue of why.  Many will say for the environment; others have, like me, said national security.  But very few think it's about cost.  The are so many misconceptions about electric vehicles it feels like I could spend a lifetime refuting all of the false ones and clarifying all of the misrepresentations.  But facts speak louder than words — at least to some — so instead of just arguing that the cost of gasoline is going way up in the not so distant future, I'd like to just show you.

A larger version of this chart can be found here.

This rather complicated chart shows the average price of gasoline in the United States since 20 August 1990 up until the time of this post with a series of linear regressions to show which way the price of gasoline was trending for various periods during the last 20 years.  Those periods are marked by 4 significant dates:

And since December, 2008 the cost of gasoline has been increasing ever steadily, with no sign of further correction in sight.

The historical price of gasoline is seen in the Blue curve, labeled Best Average. This curve tracks the Weekly U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon), where available, from the U.S. Energy Administration web site, a sub-branch of the U.S. Department of Energy.  The data used can be retrieved on the Retail Gasoline Historical Prices web site, in the United States spreadsheet.  Where the All Formulations value is not available, as in the years prior to 1993, the Weekly U.S. Regular Conventional Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) is used.

If we are to analyze things for inflation, however, it's worth noting that for the past 20 or so years, inflation in the United States has been extraordinarily low.  Typically, assuming 2% per year for inflation would be an over-estimate, especially in recent years when it's remained closer to 1%.  But if we compute the rise in cost due to an annual inflation rate of 2% since 1990, now 20 years later, this represents only about a 49% since then.  This means, since we paid $1.19 per gallon on average back then, we'd be paying 1.76810 per gallon now, not $3.57 on average!  The inflation-adjusted price of gasoline, in today's dollars, assuming 2% inflation annually, is the line shown in Red.  None of the other lines adjust for inflation; inflation forms part of the line's overall slope.

The Orange line is a linear regression over the entire data set.  Although this may seem very accurate, it doesn't fit the actual data very well, with the stable prices of the 1990s and the typically increasing prices of the first decade of 2000.  The Green line reflects this: it's fitted to the average cost of fuel from the start until the first minimum in 1999, making it a project of what prices might have been had prices not shifted.  However, it wasn't until the minimum in 2001 that a shift in price really began to take shape; the Maroon reflects this more stable region from 1990 until the post 9/11 low.

On the other side of the 1999 minimum, we have the 2008 maximum, a period of rapidly increasing gasoline prices after a second dip in 2001; this data is shown in Purple.  Contrast that with the line in Azure, which calculates the trend from the first data in 1990 to the 2008 high.  Finally, in Navy is the best-fitting of these three lines projecting prices after 7 July 2008 since it begins with the 2001 minimum, where the increases in price were more clearly increasing.

The Pink line project the price of gasoline based upon the period from the first, 1999, low until the current set if data; it shows where prices will go if the current trends continue.  However, given the spike in 2008, it is also useful to look at how the price of gasoline changed after the price sunk back down to its most recent low in December, 2008. The Lime Green line reflects the trend from this minimum until today's current gasoline rates.

It's interesting to note that if the price of gasoline had continued to maintain its 1990s stability, the cost of it by 2025 might still be as low as $1.32±0.27 - $2.15±0.27 and it's possible very few people would be talking about electric cars even then.  Even more interesting is how when you examine the line for the entire average over the 20 year period, and compare that to the average for all data up to the 2008 high, they barely diverge, indicating that the current upward trend is very likely a reflection of the 2008 drop being outside the norm; for both scenarios, they would project gasoline prices to an increase to $4.28±0.39 - $4.37±0.33 by 2025, which is barely over the 2008 maximum.

Given the findings of those 4 projections, it's possible that the current cost of fuel may just be making its way to a new sweet spot after correcting for deflated prices in the 1990, but there are good reasons to believe this isn't the case.  Actually, 2 very good reasons: China and India, not to mention Brazil and Indonesia.  These 4 highly-populous developing nations maintain rapidly-growing economies fueling the demand for petroleum for both industry and from burgeoning automotive ownership.  Though these developing nations may again see harder times in the future, it's clear that their current growth is causing the price of petroleum to increase more rapidly that even Saudi Arabia can control.

As with the results of analyzing the 20 year trend versus the trend until the 2008 high being close, so too are the trends if we take them from the 1999 low until today or the 1999 low until the 2008 high.  There is, however, about a dollar difference between the low and high by 2025, with the trend if taken until now coming to $5.69±0.76 and the trend until 2008 to $6.88±0.84.  The most fascinating about the calculation from 1999 until 2008 is that it projects nearly the exact same price for gasoline seen today: $3.56 (today) versus $3.64±0.79 (projected).  This is further evidence that the 2008 low was an aberration.

Finally, we come to the two most aggressive trend line.  These lines factor out the 2008 minimum, the first only taking data from the 2001 low to the 2008 high and the second from the 2008 low until today, both rapidly increasing price intervals.  The data up until now has repeatedly shown that the 2008 minimum is more likely an exception rather than a rule by which we can predict future gasoline prices.  Therefore, it's instructive to examine the data without that minimum to get the best estimate of where prices are really going.

On the chart, we can, in fact, see that the 2001 - 2008 and the 2008 - 2011 trends actually converge sometime in early 2017, all be it with the largest margin of error of all the calculations.  They both indicate we could be paying around $6.34±1.11 - $6.38±4.14 per gasoline by mid year 2017, which is about what we projected for 2025 if we do count the 2008 minimum.  This means, if the drop truly isn't part of the normal trend, we could be seeing $6 per gallon gasoline 8 years early!

But what's really frightening is what you find when you project these rates out to 2025.  If we had kept with the old trend, ending in 2008, of rapidly increasing prices since 2001, by 2025, we could be paying $9.03±1.16 per gallon of gasoline.  And if the current trend, since the 2008 glitch, continues?

$10.39±4.29.

And now you see why we need an Affordable Electric Car NOW!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

More Visionaries needed!

Come Test Drive the Nissan LEAF at Criswell Nissan in Germantown, MD!

Sometimes, it's great to be wrong!  It looks like if you can't be in Silver Spring on Tuesday, 15 March to test Drive the all-electric Nissan LEAF, why not try Criswell in Germantown?

Of course, I can't say I'm surprised.  I knew the Drive Electric Tour had more than one car and figured multiple dealerships would be getting it on the same day.  Criswell has been a friend to the EVA/DC for a while and is my favorite Chevy Volt dealer in the area so naturaly if there were any spares, they'd be one of the dealerships to get one.  They also support the MSRP guarentee on the Volt, which is more than you can say about most Volt dealers!  I'm only sad that I didn't hear it directly from them.

As you may recall, I contacted 30 of the area Nissan dealers last December about providing free space to pimp their dealership.  So far, only a few dealership have replied; most of them have merely sent promotional materials for their other cars.  Herb Gordon stayed on point, and I have a good relationship with Brown's Sterling Nissan.  But in this case, Criswell Nissan didn't bother to reply to my inquiries or contact me, ever.

But that's water under the bridge, folks, because I happen to like Criswell's dealerships, especially Criswell Chevrolet and Criswell Nissan and now I'm very happy to pass on an invitation to you brought to my attention thanks to the EVA/DC:

New Nissan LEAF Electric Car at Criswell Nissan Dealer in Germantown, MD

The Criswell Nissan LEAF Test Drive Event will be Tuesday March 15, 2011

We will provide you the opportunity to learn all about the Nissan LEAF. You will be shown the highlights, attributes and benefits of this ground breaking 100% electric ZERO Emissions car.

But the best part is that you can drive the car for yourself! You will be able to drive the car on a pre-determined course with a ‘co-pilot’ to answer your questions and show you all the interior features of the car.

Due to time limitations each LEAF Test Drive will be by appointment only.

Please call 888-475-1240 to schedule your LEAF Test Drive.

Join us on Tuesday March 15, 2011 and be one of the first to drive a Nissan LEAF!

(Only those with a registered drive time will be guaranteed a test drive. Non-registered guests will be able to drive the LEAF on a first come first served basis or can experience the LEAF as a passenger).

The site continues with information about the car that you can read there.  All in all, this is great news for the week of 14 March, the week of the Washington, D.C. LEAF!

Friday, March 4, 2011

When it Rains, it Pours!

Come on, Virginia, it's now your turn to Test Drive a Nissan LEAF at Brown's Sterling Nissan

No sooner do I hear from Herb Gordon Nissan than the wonderful folks at Brown's Sterling Nissan send me a kind note that has me all a twitter!  Yes, now there will be a LEAF test drive in Virginia as well as the official one at the National Harbor and the drive at Herb Gorgon Nissan, you can now get behind the wheel in Sterling, Virginia, in Loudoun County, just off Pacific Blvd.  I cannot thank enough both Aaron, Brown's General Manager, and Dmitry, their Internet sales specialist for being leaders in Northern Virginia among the Nissan LEAF Tier 2, Atlantic Coast, rollout.  And I couldn't have said it better than Dmitry, so I'll let him take over from here:

Nissan Leaf available for test-drive no 03/16/2011

Great News!!!!

We are pleased to announce that we will have Nissan Leaf for customers review and test-drive on Wendsday 16th of March from 9am-6pm, here at Browns Sterling Nissan.
Our address is: 45155 Towlern Place, Sterling, VA, 20186
Phone Number (703)948-1100

As you may already heard Nissan Leaf is 100% electric, no-gas vehicle. It is projected the most affordable electric compact size automobile.
Designed to work specially with a lithium-ion battery-powered chassis, the Nissan LEAF comes as a medium-size hatchback which is able to seat five adults comfortably. The power train lacks a tail pipe found in its internal-combustion engine (ICE) equipped vehicles, resulting in zero emissions of all manner of greenhouse gases. The Nissan LEAF’s regenerative braking system will work well with its innovative lithium-ion battery packs to provide a driving range of over 160km on a single charge.

For any additional information about the vehicle, please click on the link below: http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index?next=header.vlp.postcard.picture.thumbnail.#/leaf-electric-car/tags/show/360

Now, if the name of full discretion, I should point out that Brown's Sterling Nissan is my preferred dealer at the moment, so I am biased toward them.  That said, they are legitimately the second dealership to inform me of this opportunity at this moment so I feel it only right that they receive all the proper recognition due!

One question remains: will there be other dealerships offering test drives in the Washington, D.C. area in the week leading up to the National Harbor event?  I would speculate no, that these will be the only 2.  My reasoning is simple: on Sunday, the Drive Electric tour leaves the Concord Mills event in Charlotte, NC, and it'll probably take a day to get everything up here to the D.C. area, which rules out Monday.  On Thursday, they'll be setting up for the National Mall event on Friday so they'll need the cars then too.  And after the event, the Drive Electric heads over to Nissan North America Headquarters in Nashville, TN and there'll be no more time to see the vehicle until perhaps deliveries begin in December, 2011.  Of course, I could be wrong and let's hope so on both counts!

Calling All Visionaries

Herb Gordon Nissan invites you to test Drive the Nissan LEAF

So rang out a wonderful surprise e-mail from Herb Gordon Nissan of Silver Spring, MD.  Herb Gordon Nissan is one of the 30 area Nissan dealers I've contacted about promoting the LEAF on this site for free.  Of all of those dealers, Herb Gordon Nissan was one of 7 that never replied to my e-mail inquiries — until now!  And what was this e-mail about? Was it about a sale on a new Altima or Tundra?  No, it was about a LEAF Test Drive!  Sure, Nissan's allowing anyone to test drive the LEAF at their Drive Electric Tour event at the National Harbor the following Friday, but why wait when you could have a Test Drive Tuesday the 15th!

The message I received announcing this exciting event is as follows:

calling all visionaries

here's your chance to drive the 100% electric Nissan LEAF

history is being made and you can be a part of it. the Nissan LEAF is going on tour. you can see it up-close and get a chance to test-drive one. but be sure to sign up now so that we can reserve the time and date you want to schedule your drive. we can't wait to see you.

Visit Our Site
to schedule your test drive

drive electric tour
sponsored by Herb Gordon Nissan

drive electric tour hours:
Tuesday, March 15 from 9AM - 7PM

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

They Might Be Giants - Electric Car - Official Music Video

Let's take a ride in an Affordable Electric Car Now!

Thank you Michael Walsh for pointing this out to me and They Might Be Giants for so getting my emotions so quintessentially right in a song!