My Award

For the third annual National Plug-In Day festivities today, I joined dozens of fellow EV drivers at Nissan of the Eastside at Bellevue for a day of sharing stories and drooling over Model S sedans.

The weather was terrible, but the camaraderie was not!  The day of socializing began at Magic Nissan in Everett with about 10 other LEAF owners.  We had a great time talking EV-specific stuff, of course, but we also used this hour-long stop to catch up on each others' lives.  The LEAF drivers in the Seattle-Everett area have really started to get to know one another, and some I would call friends now, too.  One couple just recently had solar panels installed at their house, which was awesome hearing about.  And, we had an opportunity to preview the soon-to-be-released window sticker that will be available for Seattle area LEAF owners; Trish Haveman did an awesome job on it, and I look forward to sharing pictures and plastering our LEAFs with the sticker once it goes public:)

In first meeting up at Magic Nissan, we planned to have an EV caravan for the trip to main event.  While it was not a world record road train, having seven LEAFs in one line on the road was pretty cool!

Yes, I got out of my car--on Hwy. 99--to take this shot.

It looks like EVs are really catching on!

In a way, I am pleased with the biblical rain from earlier today.  The downpour had all of us hunkered down under a large tent.  And the close quarters actually facilitated folks talking with one another!  I sported my BC2BC jacket, and had a few enthusiasts ask me about the trip and the West Coast Electric Highway.  Having a captive audience that wanted me to talk about electric vehicles was dreamy.  I was in heaven!

The moments of glory just got better when the awards ceremony got underway.  There were quite a few awards presented:  most EVs owned, fastest EV (I did enjoy raising my hand at the M.C.'s cue, "Raise your hand if you've driven your EV 95 mph."), etcetera etcetera.  

When the M.C. was ready to award the longest trip in an EV, one other driver and myself were left with our hands raised.  We both drove from Canada to Mexico, and back, this past summer; David and his wife drove their gorgeous Tesla Model S and me, of course, in a LEAF.  I thought I'd better try to one-up the sexy car, so I raised my voice and shouted to the crowd:  "This summer, I drove thirty-six hundred miles over seventeen days in our Nissan LEAF...with my 5-year-old daughter!"  

The wildcard, Sabrina, was the money play once again!  The crowd applauded and I was awarded the "Longest Electric Trip" certificate.  My Award is proudly displayed on our refrigerator!

I may just have to get a frame for My Award.

EVangelism: How to Convince a Tall Guy to Buy a LEAF?

A few days ago, a local EV owner sent me a message about a fella he knew who was interested in the Nissan LEAF.  It turned out, that the "fella" was named Alex, and was actually a tall drink of water, like myself, at 6'4".  Apparently, Alex had inquired about the LEAF with some owners and had even gone on a test drive at a local Nissan dealership, but was hesitant in pulling the trigger on a purchase.

From the factory, the LEAF is not accommodating for tall drivers.  Considering that the LEAF is sold in seven of the Top 10 Tallest Countries in the world, not designing for tall drivers is an oversight on Nissan's part.  At 6'11", I have figured out how to get our LEAFs to work.  And getting things adjusted so that it just works is what being in the 99th percentile (for height!) is all about.  Alex must have figured that whatever I was doing may work for himself.  We decided to meet.

That's more than 13' of dudes right there!

We decided to meet at Peter Kirk Park in Kirkland for the show-n-tell, as the location was not far from Alex's residence.  I had Sabrina and Charlie with me, so having a nearby playground was a priority. There was EVSE nearby, too, just in case I needed to charge before returning home.  Alex and his lovely wife arrived, and were excited about trying out the LEAF.  Seeing that there were two of them and three of us, I decided to go ahead and just toss them the key fob to take the car on a test drive.  Yes, I can fit in a LEAF.  No, I am not a miracle.  Thinking about fitting all five of us in the car is both comical and absurd.

It used to be difficult for me to let anybody drive my ride, no matter how well I knew them.  With the LEAF, so much has changed.  Driving an electric car is so much different, so much more fun, so much of a complete shift in how a vehicle can be, that I now look forward to the opportunities in having people drive my car.  With EVs, the importance of getting butts in seats to help drivers decide on a purchase is so true. I hope that Alex enjoyed the drive, and chooses an EV for his next vehicle.  That's what I was preaching today; EVangelsim.