National Plug In Day September 28 - 29, 2013

[Taylorjd]

This weekend of September 28 - 29, 2013, events across the US and other countries PHEV and EVers are going to celebrate the third annual National Plug In Day, are you?

 

I plan to be at the Maryland Suburb in College Park: http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=6

 

Check for you local gathering: National: http://www.pluginday.org/index.php?source=pia

 

Let's get the Fusion Energi and C-Max Energis there!

Edited September 26, 2013 at 01:00 AM by Taylorjd

[shaggy314]

I will be at the one in Austin on Sunday and HOLY CRAP a lot of Teslas will be there (more than Volts even). Lots of Leafs (Leaves?). So far one CMAX Energi, Fusion Energi, and yes a Focus Electric. http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=61

Edited September 24, 2013 at 08:04 PM by shaggy314

[Marc]

I'll be attending the Albany one in Cohoes NY on Sunday. There are 2 Tesla's coming and I'm the only Fusion Energi! The most popular vehicle so far is the Nissan Leaf with 6. I want to check out the Tesla's!

[Russael]

I did go to an EV event at another nearby college (Schoolcraft in Livonia, MI), but it looks like they have one over in Ann Arbor AND Saline (very close together and on the same day... go figure).  I'm debating on going, but at the moment, there are only 13 registered members for the Ann Arbor one.  I think it's going to be a flop due to lack of advertisement.  I had no idea about this until this thread came along.

[meyersnole]

I did go to an EV event at another nearby college (Schoolcraft in Livonia, MI), but it looks like they have one over in Ann Arbor AND Saline (very close together and on the same day... go figure).  I'm debating on going, but at the moment, there are only 13 registered members for the Ann Arbor one.  I think it's going to be a flop due to lack of advertisement.  I had no idea about this until this thread came along.

 

Speaking of flop... there is not even one in North Carolina and there are plug ins all over the place. My neighbor has 2 Volts, there is a Leaf in the neighborhood too. This is also the first I have seen of this, although I think I heard something about plug in day on NPR the morning.

[howardbc]

I'll be at the National Plugin Day event in Phoenix. They had 40 cars signed up last time I checked. 

[Marc]

Yes, it definitely seems to be a word of mouth thing. I found my local one by accident. The fellow who was organizing the Central NY event put out a call on another Fusion Board to see if anyone would bring a Fusion to his event which led me to search for one in my neighborhood. 24 signups so far, enough for me to want to come out and see what's going on.

[Taylorjd]

Yes, it definitely seems to be a word of mouth thing. I found my local one by accident. The fellow who was organizing the Central NY event put out a call on another Fusion Board to see if anyone would bring a Fusion to his event which led me to search for one in my neighborhood. 24 signups so far, enough for me to want to come out and see what's going on.

Keep spreading the word :)

[Russael]

Speaking of flop... there is not even one in North Carolina and there are plug ins all over the place. My neighbor has 2 Volts, there is a Leaf in the neighborhood too. This is also the first I have seen of this, although I think I heard something about plug in day on NPR the morning.

 

There is now.

 

http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=121

 

Talk about your last minute set-up!  Only 1 vehicle is registered to attend, that being a Tesla S.  It's in Charlotte.

[Taylorjd]

There is now.

 

http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=121

 

Talk about your last minute set-up!  Only 1 vehicle is registered to attend, that being a Tesla S.  It's in Charlotte.

 

Sound like NC really needs to spread the word!

[Taylorjd]

One more day until National Plug In Day (#NPID2013):https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=582993895081757&set=a.165499530164531.32894.152792554768562&type=1
Do you have a Plug-in? then you should go. What to know more about EVs and PHEVs?, then you should go.

[Russael]

I registered to go to the Ann Arbor one.  A few more people have registered.  Hopefully more people are just going to show up than officially signed up. :)

Edited September 27, 2013 at 10:30 PM by Russael

[meyersnole]

There is now.

 

http://www.pluginday.org/event.php?eventid=121

 

Talk about your last minute set-up!  Only 1 vehicle is registered to attend, that being a Tesla S.  It's in Charlotte.

 

Unfortunately that is about 3 hours away.

[Russael]

The Ann Arbor National Plug-in Day is now concluded (well, concluded about 4 hours ago).

 

Out of the 14 vehicles that registered to attend, just about everybody did, sans 2 Teslas.  Volts galore (all 6 showed up), 2 Ford Ranger Electrics, 1 Porche conversion, a couple Prius Plugins (one was upgraded to plugin), the Focus Electric (was there for about 15 minutes), the campus EV fleet (golf cart utility class)  and me.  There was a clipper creek charger on display and there was a solar installer there as well.

 

The college was 19 miles away... made it there with about 10 miles left on my battery at speed averaging 45MPH.  So long as there wasn't traffic behind me, I'd putz at 45 in to 50, or 40 in to 45.  If there was traffic, I just did the speed limit which I'm sure made our Michigan Drivers angry enough as it was.  Plugged in to a free Chargepoint station for 1 1/2 hours, and then put my car out on display from about 11am to 3pm.

 

I was the first to arrive.  And I wasn't sure if I was in the right place.  NO signage at all.  Nothing.  Not even a paper arrow pointing to where the event was... just some orange barricades.  I understand it was a short notice event that the school faculty wanted to do... even a portable white board with marker would've been nice (and I suggested that to the coordinator).

 

I did enjoy myself and got to visit with all the other EV/PHEV owners, but as I expected, it flopped hard.  About a dozen spectators came and checked out the vehicles, and the rest of the time we pretty much visited with each other.  I was surprised at the number of people who asked me if I worked for Ford... when I told them I work at the Cable Company, they all looked surprised.  Then they figured out I was an enthusiast who just did my homework. :)

 

They're heavily considering doing the event again next year, and if they do, hopefully they'll be able to get some local advertizing with the news and get some signs to show where the event actually is. :)  Everybody was extremely friendly, nice, knowledgeable, and eager to answer questions.  One of the Electric Rangers were for sale for 5k (not bad for a vehicle with 8500 miles on it... too bad it needed batteries).  Was somewhat beat up though.

 

I look forward to participating again next year if it comes along.

 

Add: Forgot that there was a brand new Nissan Leaf there as well, brought from one of the local dealerships along with a representative.

Edited September 29, 2013 at 12:46 PM by Russael

[howardbc]

I am happy to report that the Phoenix National Plugin Day event was a HUGE success here! There were at least 40 cars on display and hundreds of interested people asking many questions. The cars being shown were Teslas, Focus EV, C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi, Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, plus a few DIY cars/trucks. The President of our local EAA (Electric Auto Assn) did a terrific job organizing it. There was also a representative from the Sierra Club who was very helpful. He had a table set up with flyers, etc. 

 

I received many positive comments on my car (white Fusion Energi) and even handed out flyers I had made up with my car's history, information/stats on it. I was there over 3.5 hours and the people just kept coming! I wish I had a nickel for every question they asked! I bet the President of the local EAA and the Sierra Club man are still there as I write this.

 

The event was held in a location where there is a car show every Saturday night - mostly classics. But there were more people in our plug-in car area than anywhere else. Next year, we're going to need a bigger space!

 

Correction after getting figures from the President of our local EAA (Electric Auto Assn) club: He said there were actually 52 cars on display and he estimated that the number of interested people could have been over 1000! I only know that I was there for many hours and it was non-stop questions! The Teslas were the easiest to explain. But it was a little frustrating trying to explain what MPG I get with a plugin hybrid. Does anyone know of a website that does a really good job of explaining what a plugin hybrid is and does? I have found some sites with older car models but I would love to find something current with really good simple pictures or graphics. Thanks. 

Edited September 29, 2013 at 10:48 PM by howardbc

[Taylorjd]

Yesterdays College Park PlugIn Day was great, I think all 34 cars showed. We had a few give-a-ways, free food and 2 free of charge level 2 chargers were available and good number of people interested in the cars came by. Sounds like today's Washington DC event will even be bigger with the press showing up. For yesterdays photos see:

 

https://www.facebook.com/poolesvillegreen/posts/584622171585596

 

• 11 Nissan LEAF
• 6 Tesla Model S
• 5 Chevrolet Volt
• 3 Toyota Plug-in Prius
• 2 Think City
• 2 Ford Focus Electric
• 1 Other
• 1 Toyota RAV4 EV (2012 and later)
• 1 Ford Fusion Energi
• 1 Tesla Roadster
• 1 Ford C-Max Energi
• 34 total
   

[Russael]

I am happy to report that the Phoenix National Plugin Day event was a HUGE success here! There were at least 40 cars on display and hundreds of interested people asking many questions. The cars being shown were Teslas, Focus EV, C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi, Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, plus a few DIY cars/trucks. The President of our local EAA (Electric Auto Assn) did a terrific job organizing it. There was also a representative from the Sierra Club who was very helpful. He had a table set up with flyers, etc. 

 

I received many positive comments on my car (white Fusion Energi) and even handed out flyers I had made up with my car's history, information/stats on it. I was there over 3.5 hours and the people just kept coming! I wish I had a nickel for every question they asked! I bet the President of the local EAA and the Sierra Club man are still there as I write this.

 

The event was held in a location where there is a car show every Saturday night - mostly classics. But there were more people in our plug-in car area than anywhere else. Next year, we're going to need a bigger space!

 

Correction after getting figures from the President of our local EAA (Electric Auto Assn) club: He said there were actually 52 cars on display and he estimated that the number of interested people could have been over 1000! I only know that I was there for many hours and it was non-stop questions! The Teslas were the easiest to explain. But it was a little frustrating trying to explain what MPG I get with a plugin hybrid. Does anyone know of a website that does a really good job of explaining what a plugin hybrid is and does? I have found some sites with older car models but I would love to find something current with really good simple pictures or graphics. Thanks. 

 

I would say the best way to explain your fuel economy is to use the Miles Per Gallon Equivalent that the vehicles include.  That shows your average fuel economy including the electricity you draw from the wall.  I think it is the most appropriate representation of the amount of energy you use while cruising down the road.  I suppose if you take your daily commute and graph it out, showing your electricity usage and your gasoline usage, and then put another car on there to compare to (such as a Fusion Titanium with the 2.0L Ecoboost, or even the 1.6L Ecoboost), would show the difference quite nicely, especially for cost savings for gasoline only.

 

One thing that irritated me about some of the cars is that they had decals stating the car got 300MPG.  Well, that's great, but you're not accounting for the power you're pulling from the wall, so it's kind of a misnomer.  You're not getting 300MPG for free.  You're just getting the energy from somewhere else, even though it's far more efficient.  Even if you were driving on solar energy and may be driving for free, you're still consuming energy for propulsion and I think that should be stated.

[howardbc]

Thanks, Russael. I think I will go look at my window sticker again and remind myself of what it said for MPG. 41MPG? Something like that. Then I can quickly add that one uses no gas when running on just the battery. There's just no easy way to explain a plug-in hybrid. Describing the incredible regen process is the hardest to get across to people. 

[Taylorjd]

...

 

One thing that irritated me about some of the cars is that they had decals stating the car got 300MPG.  Well, that's great, but you're not accounting for the power you're pulling from the wall, so it's kind of a misnomer.  You're not getting 300MPG for free.  You're just getting the energy from somewhere else, even though it's far more efficient.  Even if you were driving on solar energy and may be driving for free, you're still consuming energy for propulsion and I think that should be stated.

 

I think it is fine to state your MPG as what gas you are actually using. I actually never track my power use (just seems hard to do so). I do think it is important that prospective buyers know and can compare how much over all power the car uses (not sure how well MPGe does that, but I think it is a good attempt). For PHEVs, they should look at the EV range, the overall range and the MPGe and the Hybrid MPG (with of course the cars other assets or short comings). 

[shaggy314]

We put signs on our cars about miles of oil free driving. Mine had 3500 of 4700 miles. If you start making it complicated, people tune you out. I answer the questions they ask without too much qualifications. How far can I go on battery, how much does it cost to charge (ALWAYS shocked them it was only $.80 or so), how fast can you go, how long to charge...

 

It's easier to explain, I've gone 4700 in a little under 4 months, put gas in the car once, and that sometime next week I likely will go fill up. That said, you and I know there is SO much more to it, but unless they are serious about buying, don't car about charging rates $, but maybe the time of charging on the various speeds, etc.

 

If only I could have the Focus' 6.6 kw charger. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the three Ford's together (CMax Energi, Fusion Energi, and Focus Electric) in a row.

 

We had a little rain off and on, so we didn't get much turnout, did have a healthy number of cars and ride givers. The most popular were the 5 or so Teslas and the Fisker. We had plenty of Leaves, a few Volts, a Rav 4 EV, Toyota Pickup home convert, Jeep home convert, and 1 or 2 others. A bright point was a Nissin dealer bringing 3 new cars for testing as well. No other dealers were interested, including either of the 2 Ford dealers less than 5 miles away. Granted one was closed Sunday, but the electric company was there in their Volt...

[Taylorjd]

...

 

We had a little rain off and on, so we didn't get much turnout, did have a healthy number of cars and ride givers. The most popular were the 5 or so Teslas and the Fisker. We had plenty of Leaves, a few Volts, a Rav 4 EV, Toyota Pickup home convert, Jeep home convert, and 1 or 2 others. A bright point was a Nissin dealer bringing 3 new cars for testing as well. No other dealers were interested, including either of the 2 Ford dealers less than 5 miles away. Granted one was closed Sunday, but the electric company was there in their Volt...

 

We had one Nissan dealer a our, providing test drives, but no Ford dealers (I know they were asked). I think the dealerships and manufactures keep missing opportunities to connect with the public in a positive and meaningful way.