Changes for a Better EV Life: Trickling Gasoline

What would you do if every gas station in your area was limited to dispensing gasoline at only half a fluid ounce of fuel per minute?

As ridiculous as that sounds, that's what the average charge time for a Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt is when compared to a Toyota Prius.  The math is simple when you consider the Prius may be getting 50 mpg or more (I got up to 66.6 mpg when I rented one while CO2 Fre was being repaired a couple weeks ago).  Compare that to about 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh in the average LEAF or Volt during Winter when our batteries are straining to keep their capacity.  When you consider LEAF and Volt both fuel at about 3.3 kW it's clear that 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh×3.3 kW is 13.3 miles per hour of charging.

Now, if that same 50 mpg Prius was fueling at a rate of 13.3 miles per hour, or 0.222 miles per minute, with each 50 miles representing one gallon of fuel, then 50 miles would take 50 mi÷0.222 mi per minute or 225 minutes (3¾ hours) to fill just a single gallon!  Since there are 128 fluid ounces in an American Gallon, dividing 225 by 128 gives 1.758 minutes for each ounce or the reciprocal 0.5688 ounces per minute.

And a 30 mpg car wouldn't fuel much faster (the more fuel efficient a car the less gasoline it needs per mile and thus the less time required to fill up enough to go that mile).  If we replace 30 mpg in the above equations we get:

(4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh)×3.3 kW÷(30 mpg) = 0.9387 oz per minute.

And that's with a Level 2 charging station; at a standard, Level 1, US NEMA 5-15 wall outlet, 1.44 kW, the fueling rate diminishes to a mere 0.2458 oz per minute for the Prius or 0.4096 oz per minute for the 30 mpg Internal Combustion Engine vehicle.

Don't wait for your fuel, multitask!

If cars really took that long to fuel, no-one would question the EV Driver paradigm of park-and-fuel.  No-one wants to spend an hour to go just 10 or so miles.  Most cars sit for hours doing nothing, when they could be fueling.  Consider instead of going out of your way to get that ¼oz of fuel for every minute you wait when you'd much rather simply go where you need to go and trickle in your fuel while you're off doing other things, wouldn't you?

Many will read this and say that's why electric cars will never be practical.  But you miss the point.  Now you're imagining a small, fuel pump at every parking spot dribbling in fuel while you're at work, shopping, catching a movie, whatever.  Of course such slow gasoline dispensers don't exist.  But that's not true for an EV.  Remember, there are over 12,000,000 NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 electric plugs throughout the United States—there're only about 30,000 gasoline stations by comparison.  An electric car can trickle in fuel at any one of these outlets so park-and-fuel isn't just a pipe-dream, it's actually quite practical, and very inexpensive.  After all, standard electrical outlets are ubiquitous, not so gasoline pumps.

So really the only question is, why are so many places, like job sites and malls and movie houses so reluctant to allow EVs to charge given we can only fuel at less than a fluid ounce per minute equivalent and at only pennies per hour?  Sadly, this is chiefly due to misinformation about what it cost to charge an EV and miscommunication that we EV drivers are quite willing to pay those costs for the convenience of not idling our EV without multitasking a charge.

Allowing this basic, trickle charging access to an EV could mean hours saved trickling that same electricity, waiting, with nothing to do.  Because that's not the way EVs are supposed to be driven.  Park-and-fuel is all we ask, at whatever price.  Please don't waste our time waiting for the pumping of ½ oz of fuel per minute.  Thanks.

EVA/DC January 2012 Meeting

Hi EV maniacs!

Please share this invitation with your friends/listservs.

Our January meeting will be on Wed Jan 18 from 7 - 9 PM at the Silver Spring, MD public library on Colesville Road, just inside the Beltway and only 4 blocks north of the Silver Spring METRO.  We will endeavor to start and finish on time, but there will be plenty of time for the best part of the meeting, BS-ing, before and after the planned agenda.

Draft Agenda

1. The DC Auto Show is in late January at the Convention Center and we want to be there.  Eric Cardwell, ace VP of our club, is heading up this operation.  Lots of good ideas are percolating already.
2. EV license plates and membership categories. Bryan Murtha will update us.
3. New EVs coming to market: Tesla Model S, Model X?, iMiev, Ford Focus EV, Toyota PHEV
4. Who bought/leased a new EV? Any issues?
5. Charging stations: New ones, Where, Issues?
6. Reveng of the Electric Car.  Movie premier in Baltimore.  How did it go?
7. Charging at work with 110 volt outlets.  Cheap.  Bob Bruninga update.
8. California ZEV and Federal MPG standards.  How does this affect EVs?
9. Other agenda items you want to discuss?

Charlie Garlow, your Prez and a host of fantastic volunteers.

How about the property tax rate in Fairfax, Virginia?

P.S.

Just a reminder about tomorrow (Wednesday's) EVADC Meeting.  And to say that we got some feedback on topics, including questions about the Chevy Volt and any difficulties, including the fire controversy [overblown, in my opinion].  Here is the previous message.  Please forward to others.  Bring a friend.

Couldn't agree more, Charlie!

The Commonwealth's Six-Year Transportation Plan Meets Today

My helpful Commonwealth Delegate Tom Rust, who is currently running unopposed, conveyed a bit of information which I certainly found interesting and I hope you will too.

N. Virginia Transportation Meeting Is Oct. 25

Board seeks input on highways, rail and transit projects

The Secretary of Transportation and the Commonwealth Transportation Board will conduct nine public meetings across the state in October and November.  These meetings are being held to give stakeholders the opportunity to review and provide comments on projects and programs to be included in the Fiscal Year 2013-2018 Six-Year Improvement Program.  This includes highway, rail, and public transportation initiatives.  Following the open house from 6:00-6:30 pm, there will be and opportunity for the public and transportation stakeholders to comment.  Written comments may also be submitted during this informal session, or they may be mailed or e-mailed until December 12, 2011.  The Northern Virginia meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 25 beginning at 6:00 pm at the VDOT office, 4975 Alliance Drive in Fairfax.

I plan on attending this meeting to speak about an issue very important to me at the Commonwealth level: Electric Vehicle access to High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes with single occupancy.

Electric Vehicles Too New for HOV

The Clean Fuel Club

In Virginia, we've had 3 different phases of the HOV easement for clean fuel vehicles.  It all started with House Bill 1881 and Senate Bill 771 of the 1993 session of the General Assembly, which established the Clean Fuel license plate and is the origin of the Virginia Code § 46.2-749.3. Special license plates for clean special fuel vehicles. (Unfortunately, the on-line legislative records don't go back as far as 1993 so I can't provide an exact link to the text of these bills.) Then in the 1994 session, Senate Bill 71 added an easement to allow Clean Fuel vehicles to use the HOV lanes as single occupancy as per Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2. Designation of high-occupancy vehicle lanes; use of such lanes; penalties. However, this bill only extended the easement up until 1 July 1997; the law was later amended by 1996 Senate Bill 274 and 1996 House Bill 585 to extend the easement to 1999 and by 1999 Senate Bill 1068 to 2004 and finally by 2003 House Bill 2316 to 1 July 2006.

It was a brisk, autumn morning while on my way to work my 1995 Nissan Altima was totaled by a minivan at the American Legion Bridge.  It was 2000 and the hot, new technology was the 2001 Toyota Prius and the 2001 Honda Insight: the first generation of hybrid cars.  I needed a new car, and I wanted one badly!  But the Prius was back-ordered for months and I needed to get to work; I couldn't wait.  So I resigned myself to the most fuel-efficient car I could get in the full-sized class.  I'm still driving that 2001 Toyota Avalon today.

Around this time the Federal Government started to get involved in national guidelines for HOV designation and usage.  On 10 August 2005, Public Law 109-59 was passed, adding Section 166: HOV Facilities to 23 United States Code, Chapter 1.  This set at the Federal level the allowances already specified by the Commonwealth, which was charged with defining rules for its Clean Fuel easement by 30 September 2009.  Yet while the U.S. Congress was providing an HOV easement for all, Virginia was beginning to clamp down.

Second-Class Clean

On 19 April 2006, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 1248 and Senate Bill 454, which amended Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2 to define a second type of Clean Fuel plate.  This new plate would begin issue on 1 July 2006 and entitle any vehicle which bore it an easement to travel on any HOV lane in the Commonwealth of Virginia except along the I95/I395 corridor.  Where as any car registered before 1 July 2006 would continue to be given carte blanche access to all of Virginia's HOV lanes with single occupancy.  With this new provision, the easement was extended another year where by both types of clean fuel plate would be allowed to use the HOV lanes outside of I95/I395 and the older plate allowed to continue using those lanes too.

I was quite angry when this was announced.  After all, I had wanted to get a hybrid, but they weren't available.  I certainly wasn't going to trash a five-year-old car for a new one at that point.  As an environmentally conscious individual, such waste would have been anathema to my nature.  So instead I planned.  I knew that my car should last another 5 years, and I knew the days of better technology were coming.  This was the seeds of the website you see here: if I couldn't have a car with clean enough fuel for all HOV, I'd get an even cleaner fueled vehicle for my next automobile!  I'd get an electric car.

This system of two-tiered Clean Fuel categories was extended to 1 July 2008 by 2007 House Bill 2132, to 1 July 2009 by 2008 House Bill 1014, to 1 July 2010 by 2009 House Bill 2476 and finally to 1 July 2011 by 2010 House Bill 214 on 11 March 2010 and by Senate Bill 552 on 10 April.  On 20 April 2010, I placed a $99 reservation on a Nissan LEAF.  Finally I was going to get my Electric Car!  We were told that the Southeastern United States would be allowed to order the car in December 2010, and assuming 6 months of production, we'd have our cars by June, 2011.  I might not be able to drive HOV single occupancy on I95/I395, but at least there would be I66 and VA 267, the Dulles Toll Road and Greenway.

Insult to Injury

On 10 December 2010, my dreams of driving electric were dealt a serious blow.  The night before the delivery of the first production Nissan LEAF, they informed all reservation holders in the Tier 2 market, which at that time consisted of the 7 states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, wouldn't be able to order their car until Late Summer 2011.  Late Summer 2011 ordering meant late autumn delivery at best; well after the end of the HOV easement 1 July 2011.

Why would I worry about that when the General Assembly had been steadily renewing the easement each year?  It comes down the second part of 2010 Senate Bill 552.  Just like 2006 House Bill 1248 and 2006 Senate Bill 454, the 2010 bill defined a third class of Clean Fuel plates with a further restriction: no more access to I66 HOV as single occupancy after 1 July 2011.  By delaying the car release in Virginia by 8 months, Nissan was injuring its customers not only by the delay itself but by the fact that no LEAF bought in Virginia would qualify to drive on the HOV lanes of either I95/I395 or I66 with single occupancy.  The 2011 Chevrolet Volt, with it's late 2010 release, would qualify, as well as any Smart ED leased here in addition to the Commonwealth's 2 or so Tesla Roadsters.  None of those cars were released before 2006 and thus none qualify for the original Clean Fuel badge, but at least the handful that got in before the deadline get to use I66 single occupancy — but not the LEAF, not the Ford Focus Electric, not the Tesla Model S.  Clean cars can drive, but Cleaner cars are left sitting in traffic.

On 28 March 2011, Virginia House Bill 1432 extended the HOV easement until 1 July 2012.  Yippie!  I can use HOV single occupancy if and only if I pay a toll.  And the badge in the middle: how can I spell anything with that?  It's ugly!

California

California knows how to treat environmentalists right.  Effective 1 July 2011, while the Commonwealth of Virginia was taking away HOV rights from the first generation of Electric Vehicles, California started restricting its HOV single occupancy to only cars with a White sticker, meaning Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (SULEV), Inherently Low Emission Vehicles (ILEV) and certain Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV).  The LEAF qualifies for this, but hybrid gasoline vehicles don't.  Not even the Chevy Volt qualifies in California.  Effectively, you need to be nearly Zero-Emission to get the White Sticker.  The White Sticker easement extends until 1 July 2015.

Yellow stickers for Hybrids and Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emission Vehicles (AT PZEV).  They were limited the first 85,000 applicants and expired as of 1 July 2011.  California is also considering a new Green Sticker to begin distribution on 1 January 2012 and restricted to the first 40,000 applicants.  It's unclear whether the LEAF would qualify for a green sticker, but according to the list of qualified vehicles, the 2010 Plug-In Prius does.

More information can be found in the California Clean Vehicle Incentives FAQ.

Maryland

In Maryland, Virginia's neighbor to the North, they also have an HOV easement, but they restrict it to plug-in vehicles only.  This means the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF qualify.  I like the Volt so I like this system.  I prefer Zero-Emission as the standard, like California, but the advantage of following Maryland's lead is that we could co-operate on the issuing of stickers and recognize them in both states.  Thus Marylander could use Virginian HOV lanes and Virginians could use Marylander HOV.  I also like the sticker approach because it ties the qualification to the vehicle and doesn't allow it to convey the benefit in perpetuity like you can with the original Clean Fuel plate in Virginia.  I don't mind people who were early adopters having an advantage for HOV usage, but it's time for a new generation of early adapters.  It's time for the Electric Vehicle.

My Speech

Now you know the background, here is what I'm planning to say tonight.

In 2000, when I bought my last car, it was next to impossible to get a hybrid.  Hybrid vehicles were, after all, limited to a handful of custom imports and hobbyist vehicles.  There were barely any of these new, clean cars on the roads of the Commonwealth back then.  Hybrids were, after all, expensive, untested domestically and weren't even available in major dealer showrooms yet.

At that time Virginia Code § 33.1-46.2 Section A Paragraph 6, allowing single occupancy HOV usage to cars baring Clean Fuel plates, made a lot of sense.  There weren't very many hybrids on the road so letting them use the HOV lanes wouldn't affect traffic congestion greatly.

However, as of mid 2011, we now have over two million hybrid vehicles on the road, and many of those are right here in Northern Virginia and around Washington, which boasted the fifth largest growth nationally in the hybrid market.  The Commonwealth has adapted to this, limiting single occupancy access to certain HOV areas, but this favors the oldest hybrids and doesn't encourage our citizens to help our business by buying new cars.

Today, hybrid vehicles are ubiquitous.  Plug-in and Battery Electric cars, however, are still rare.  These newer, cleaner vehicles are today where hybrid vehicles were back in 2000 and 2001: expensive, untested domestically and not even available in major dealer showrooms yet.  Just as the Commonwealth helped the nascent hybrid vehicle market to grow though the HOV easement, so too, I argue, that the next generation of even cleaner fueled vehicles should have that privileged.

It's time we cleaned up our clean fuel cars.  It's time to put zero-emission vehicles on I66 and I95/I395.  It's time for those busy and congested roads to produce no pollution for the housing that runs along these highways, where families live and children play.  Don't we want to stop our voracious appetite for hydrocarbons coming from nations which dislike us?  Isn't that the kind of kind of Virginia we should be striving for?

That part of the speech should run about 2½ – 3 minutes, which would be my allotted time; I'll therefore submit the rest of the speech as follows in written comments.

The way I see it, we have 6 options:

1. Keep things as they are, with new, zero-emission vehicles restricted to VA 267 and no access to I95/I395, nor to I66.
2. End the Clean Fuel HOV easement all together, which although fair would, I suspect, make no-one happy.
3. Evolve the requirements for the HOV easement over time, expiring dirtier cars and creating openings for cleaner ones.  We might not be able to tie this to specific CAFE standards according to the EPA, but at least we could work towards emission targets.
4. Simply put a time limit on the HOV easement, so that the oldest cars only qualify for say 10 years and as those cars expire, new slots open up for the new generation of cleaner vehicles.
5. Follow California by completely ending the easement for hybrid vehicles and only allowing Ultra-Low Emission, Inherently Low Emission or Super Ultra-Low Emission on our HOV lanes.  I don't expect the Commonwealth to be this draconian but I see it as still preferable over the Status Quo.  And finally…
6. Allow only Plug-In Vehicles, vehicles that can be plugged into the wall, to take advantage of the HOV easement.  As a resident of Northern Virginia I find this the best solution for the Commonwealth because it's the exact same rule which governs our neighbor Maryland.  In fact, what would benefit the residents of Northern Virginia most would be if Richmond and Annapolis could set up a joint commission and co-operate on the issuing of this Plug-In easement such that each state would recognize the other's right to use HOV single occupancy within both states.

And finally, if we're to enact any but the first two options, I would recommend that we end the use of the Clean Fuel plate in favor of a non-transferable sticker, like California and Maryland.  The ties the easement to the qualifying car and allows the Commonwealth to restrict usage to specific vehicles rather than to an owner, since it's the car we need to be clean.

I know I'm not making any friends with this viewpoint but in the long run, I see any of options three through six as in the best interest of the Commonwealth.  Let's keep Virginia green and I thank you for your time!

I know this speech will rub a lot of people the wrong way, but it's from the heart and I feel it must be said.  Will you join me tonight?

Two Years and 119 Cars! (Today)

Previously

…I looked back at my first post.

Today

Since that first post, I've added a number of cars to this blog; some mentioned occasionally, some quite frequently.  All of these up and coming or already arrived cars deserve a mention since they're all at least partially able to take the label of Affordable Electric Car and all but one mentioned in the Plug-in America Vehicle Tracker.

Chevrolet Volt

I first mentioned the Volt in my second post to this blog, back when it was still designed with 60 mi (97 km) range.  I've no doubt has a love / hate relationship with the Volt over the last 2 years, but don't get me wrong, the Volt is the right car for a lot of people, and anyone interested in an EV with a 40 mi (64 km) round trip daily commute should seriously consider this car.  I even know a place where you can get the Volt at MSRP!

BMW Mini-E

I haven't spoken much about the Mini-E — so far only in my EVSE installation post — but this car has been on my mind a long, long time.  When the leases were announced for 2009, I jumped on the chance to get one of the 500 East Coast orders.  But alas, my region wasn't one of the privileged ones, so there was no Mini-E for me.  On the bright side, at least I saved over $800 per month for the last 2 years!

Toyota Plug-in Prius

The holy grail, as it were, of the PHEV world is the Plug-in Prius.  For years, home hobbyists were converting their Toyota Priuses into Plug-in cars to take advantage of inexpensive electrical rates.  I first mentioned the Original Equipment Manufactured (OEM) Plug-in Prius in January and was much enthralled.  It may not be the EV of my dreams, but it's about bloody well time!

Toyota Rav4 (2002)

The 2002 Rav4 Electric was the only car from the late 1990s and early 2000s that survived to today.  This was due to it being the only car in that time that was available, for a brief, 6-month period, for customer purchase, unlike the long, lost and mythical GM EV1.  I first mentioned this car when I saw it in real life back in January, the very same one on the wikipedia page liked above.  Of course, since the 2002 Rav4 EV is no longer made, it's not on the Plug-in America list; at least not for that model year…

Nissan LEAF

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know it's not a question of what I have said about the Nissan LEAF, it's a question of what I haven't!  I first signed up on the mailing list for the LEAF in February 2010, and have been following it ever since.  Indeed, my first mention of the LEAF was as early as May 2010 in a massive post about the physics of fuel economy.

Smart ED

Although Plug-in America's database is quite thorough, there are some very important cars that have yet to make their list.  Nowhere is this more apparent than with the Smart Electric Drive, which I first mentioned to you back in January when I saw the first car ever leased in North America.

Next up

Some cars expected in the next 12 months…

First LEAF, First Smart Electric and the Solar Prius

First Electric Smart Car Delivered to Silver Spring Woman

My friend Mindy is the proud owner of the first, number 1 of 250, absolutely fresh off the factory floor, before any other in all of the American Hemisphere, Smart For Two Electric Drive.  She is the Gudy / Olivier (alt) of the East Coast and quite frankly my hero!  Now, Mindy didn't create Azureus but like Olivier, who took ownership of the very first consumer-level production Nissan LEAF on 11 December 2010, Mindy signed the lease that would make history.  At the Smart Dealership in Tyson's Corner, Virginia, Mindy braved the the nightmare Washington Snow Day of 26 January 2011 to attend an event featuring Penske Automotive Chairman Roger Penske And Smart USA President Jill Lajdziak.  And as a show of the tremendous dedication of Mindy to the Electric Vehicle movement and the Electric Vehicle Association of Washington, can you guess what Mindy did after the ceremony?

Well, sir, what she did was load that brand, spanking new first in the Hemisphere Smart Electric onto a truck and have it carted into Washington, D.C. for display at the Washington Auto Show!  Now that's dedication!

Solar Powered Cars

An interesting question (well, technically an aspiration) is posted at the end of the article about Mindy's car linked above:

FuzzyDemons wrote:

now with a soalr panel on top and generators on the axles it could almost have an unlimited range

Now, as anyone who spends 5 minutes talking to me knows, I'm in love with the idea of going Electric and living off-grid on Solar / Photovoltaic, Geothermal and Wind energy.  I'll probably never be able to achieve that in my lifetime, but it's a deep-rooted aspiration for which I pine — if only my HOA would approve Solar Panels… but that's a story for another day.  As it is, I thought it worth replying to FuzzyDemons to try and instill some reality in our collective dreams of free energy and decided to post this response, which I reproduced for you here:

FuzzyDemons,

You really should visit us at the D.C. Auto Show where you can see Mindy's car and sometimes even Mindy in person at the EVA/DC display ( http://www.evadc.org/ ).  You'll recognize us by the spider-translucent Tesla Roadster and the RAV 4 EV from the Wikipedia Page; but what I want to point out to you is the Solar Prius that our friend Bob Bruninga constructed right next to Mindy's Smart for Two EV.

You see, the Solar Prius has a number of photovoltaic cells covering its entire top surface, including the hood.  Now, solar cells have advanced in the years since he's done this but turning sunlight directly into electrical potential is a tricky business.  So don't be surprised when I tell you that after 8 hours in the sun, Bob's Prius gets about 4 miles of additional range.

You see, the surface area of a car is pretty small.  Yes, a well-constructed vehicle could increase its surface area and lessen its weight to achieve much better range from sun, but to really get a car solar-powered, you're best off putting panels on the roof of your house and installing some large marine batteries to capture that energy during the day so you can feed your car from it while you sleep — or simply take advantage of Net Metering.

Now, you may only get 4 miles per day from the solar panels, but that's 4 miles for free after the initial installation cost.  It doesn't take a genius to see that those 4 free miles you get can really add up: 4 × 5 = 20 miles per week; 20 × 50 = 1000 miles per year, and in a 50 mpg Prius that translates to 20 gallons of fuel saved.  At ^$3⁄_gallon, that's about $60 per year you can save by adding panels; when fuel reaches ^$5⁄_gallon, it's $100!

So, can solar panels on the car get you to work, or the store or the mall?  Probably not.  But they can contribute to your overall savings, which is definitely good.

As for generators in the axles, that's just Regenerative Breaking; the Smart Electric already has that.

Now just to clarify, the Solar Prius gets about 1/2 per hour of sunlight, so at 8 hours of sunlight per day, that translates to 4 miles.  Of course, the sun can shine more than 8 hours, so as usual, your mileage may vary.

Interviewed

There's an interesting story from the Washington Auto Show Press Event on Thursday, 27 January 2011.  I was watching over the Bob's Solar Prius when I spotted Victoria Riess of Planet Forward with her professional camera equipment taking video of the black car.  Happy to help if she had any questions, I approached her and then agreed to an interview.  Unfortunately, that was first time I'd ever seen the Solar Prius and didn't yet know much about Bob's amazing work!  See, Bob is a physicist so you know whatever he did has got to be extremely clever; he also has a really fetching hat!  In fact, Bob has a lovely placard on the side windows of his Solar Prius explaining how he did the work of creating this piece of engineering beauty.  So, naturally, my interview was pretty bad, to say the least, and so don't be surprised if it never sees the light of day.  However, Mindy was there also, minding her number 1, first, extra special Smart Electric — one of only 3 at the show, apparently!  3 Smart Electrics but only one Nissan LEAF?  The mind boggles, but there were other interesting cars there that I'll save for a later report…  In any case, I suggested Victoria interview Mindy as a better candidate for Planet Forward since she's the Gudy of the Smart Electric community and, quite frankly, also my hero.

Is Ford headed in the right track?

Ford's Impressive Sustainability Strategy

In Andrew Winston's piece, linked above, he argues that Ford may be too late to the EV game and wonders if the automaker has the commitment to see its lofty goals through.  I, for one, wish Ford all the best in this venture, as I do General Motors with the Chevrolet Volt, and look forward to seeing where Ford takes its Focus Electric and Plug-In Hybrids, Transit Connect Electric and C-Max Energi lines.  But for me, it's more a question if whether Nissan is too little, too late.

Clearly, I've been blogging a lot recently about the Focus Electric here — and am due to post my CES report someday — but I once wrote a pro and con evaluation of the Focus Electric on the MyNissanLEAF forum where I said I'd pay as much as $3,000 for the 6.6kW charger — again, search my blog and my posts on the MyNissanLEAF forum to see how much I gripe about the LEAF not having a 6.6kW or 7.2kW charger and also the missing Cold Weather Package trim — but man, the trunk space is a joke!  I don't mind too much in a commuter car, as my future-EV is so designated, but it makes Costco runs almost impossible since the back seat is typically already filled when I take the Avalon.  And I know folks in the semi-conductor industry that do not have positive impressions of what Ford is attempting, especially with respect to BMS (Battery Management System).

Would I get a Focus EV?

Well, if Nissan keeps pushing back the LEAF roll-out in the Washington, D.C. region, and the Focus Electric is supposed to go on sale here at the end of the year for the 2012 model, then heck, yeah, I'll consider it.  You can only poke us Tier 2 states in the eye so much.  If I had the money, I'd get a Tesla Model S 300-mi edition, but IMHO it's gonna sell for $77,000 and that's well too much to swallow!  So I'm still in the LEAF camp but keeping my options opened.  In 2010 we had only 1 choice: the 40 mi-on-EV PHEV Chevrolet Volt.  This year, we may have as many as 4 choices, including the recently available for leasing Smart Electric.  Maybe even more if the Plug-in Prius makes its debut in the 2012 series as planned.  Perhaps the Coda or BYD may finally get their acts together (but don't get me started on those Chinese cars), or any number of surprises that may come our way in 2011.

We live in interesting times, my friends.  Interesting times.

The 2011 Washington D.C. Auto Show

The Washington Auto Show is back again and this year, and this time I'm not just a gawker, I'm a staffer!  That's to say, I'll be helping out my friends at the EVA/DC to get the message out about the virtues of driving electric!  The show will be at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC and opened to the public starting Friday, January 2011.  It'll be 10 days of great cars, many of whom are battery-electric (BEV) or plug-in hybrids (PHEV), wonderful and exciting displays — including the EVA/DC Electric Vehicle booth — and your chance to meet me in person!  The show will finally close its doors at 18:00 on Sunday, 6 February 2011 so don't delay.  Tickets are $12 for adults; $5 for adolescents and tweens (6-12) and free for the babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.  The specific hours the show will be opened are as follows:

Public Days: January 28 - February 6, 2011

Show Hours: (No entry 1 hour prior to show closing)

Friday, Jan. 28 (noon – 10 pm)
Saturday, Jan. 29 (10 am – 10 pm)
Sunday, Jan. 30 (10 am – 7 pm)
Monday, Jan. 31 – Thursday, Feb. 3 (noon – 9 pm)
Friday, Feb. 4 (noon – 10 pm)
Saturday, Feb. 5 (10 am – 10 pm)
Sunday, Feb. 6 (10 am – 6 pm)

When checking out our fantabulous display of electric vehicles, including a Tesla Roadster, a Toyota Rav4 EV¹, a Solar Prius and a fresh off the factory floor Smart EV (subject to dealer availability), please show respect to the cars being show, as you would for any museum display.  If you're reading this, you're probably not the type to be blindly hating Electric Vehicles but I would like to ask as politely as possible if you hate EVs and what they stand for, take it out on us docents and lecturers, not on the generously donated and expensive, in some cases irreplaceable cars on display.  Yell and scream at us all you want; our feelings are easily mended, but treat the cars on display as if they were owned by your dear, sweet mother, okay?  Thanks!

So, what can you see besides cars at the D.C. Auto Show?  What, like I'm not enough of a celebrity?  Okay, well a complete list of guests and activities are listed on the Washington Auto Show website.

So come one, come all to the great exhibit halls!  Cast your gaze and be amazed!  The year of the electric car is nigh, so see the show and come say "hi"!

---

¹One of the Rav4 EVs displayed in that Wikipedia article will be the very same Rav4 EV you see at the Auto Show!

There's a new EVSE on the block

Sema Connect

Thank you Mahi for your presentation for the Sema Connect at last night's EVA/DC meeting!  Sema Connect is hard at work getting their Charge Pro line of commercial chargers installed at locations throughout the state of Maryland, including the Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) Airport daily parking lots.

Also on a personal note, thank you Mahi for sharing with us your unbelievably awesome official Plug-In Prius!  It's about bloody well time we started seeing those on the streets!