Archive for 2011

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EV Tax Incentives

At the end of 2011, three of our key federal electric vehicle tax credits will expire: incentives for consumers and businesses installing charging stations, affordable two and three-wheeled EVs, and those for plug-in conversions will all be left behind. But what keeps me awake at night are ongoing challenges to[…]

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First Time Fast Charging

Recently, I took a quick trip from Santa Monica down to Cypress, CA. to the headquarters of Mitsubishi USA to visit with David Patterson, Chief Engineer, Mobile Emissions Regulatory Affairs & Certification for Mitsubishi’s R&D division. He is the guy to talk to about their iMiEV the next EV to[…]

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Join Us as We Party with the Plug Ins

2011 has been another triumphant year bringing plug in vehicles to the marketplace, and it’s time to celebrate! Join us at Party with the Plug Ins, our fall gala and awards celebration. This year we will be on Treasure Island in San Francisco at the beautiful Winery SF. The doors[…]

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National Plug In Day: An Accidental EV Wrangler

Special for Plug In America by Alexandra Paul I have a lifelong phobia of organizing get-togethers. I avoid anything more complicated than having my book club over for a potluck. So what did I say when Zan Dubin Scott, Plug In America’s Communications Director, asked me to recruit EVs for[…]

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Where Do You Gas Those Things Up?

Last week, Cathy and I took the Roadster for a car show and week of island hopping through Washington’s San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It was a lovely trip and unique in our EV road trip experiences in that we did the entire 450-mile trip using[…]

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AB475 Update

Plug In America met with staff in Governor Brown’s office yesterday to discuss AB475. It was clear that lobbyists for GM and other stakeholders have been working hard to sway their opinion We were able to educate them not only on why it is important to get this issue right,[…]

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Why We’re Asking the Governor to Veto AB 475

Assembly Bill 475 has already passed both houses of the legislature and now sits on the Governor s desk awaiting his signature. The bill was designed to update and streamline the restrictions for parking in public charging spaces. However, after numerous amendments, AB 475 now hurts more than helps consumers[…]

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How Many Plug-in Vehicles are Available in the US?

You requested it, you got it! Plug In America has updated our Plug-In Vehicle Tracker to allow filtering of vehicles by availability. When visiting the updated Vehicle Tracker, you will notice a new filter option, entitled “Availability”. The new filter will let you view only vehicles that are either currently[…]

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Tesla Roadsters Escape LA

If you live in California, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard about “Carmageddon”, the closure of I-405 on the weekend of July 16th. To escape from this traffic nightmare, Plug In America member Renee Swenson organized an “Escape from LA” Tesla Roadster rally. Around 10 Roadsters drove from Los Angeles[…]

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Imitation is So Flattering-Nissan’s New Ad

Yes, we love Nissan’s brilliant new Leaf ad! Especially because it looks SO much like our very own “Cell Phone” Public Service Announcement (PSA), distributed worldwide in November 2010. Are we sayin’ that one of the world’s largest automakers, capable of hiring one of the world’s largest advertising conglomerates, copied[…]

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A RAV4 EV with the Heart of a Tesla

I recently had the privilege of driving what I secretly fantasized might be the clandestine automotive love child of an illicit tryst that could have occurred in the midnight hours between my 2001 RAV4 EV and 2008 Tesla Roadster whilst parked next to each other in the garage. Bill Bergen,[…]

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Energy Secretary Chu on the Future of EVs

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu deserves his Nobel Prize just for his stance on EVs, alone. Chu said a few words at a recent L.A. press conference announcing installation of Coulomb Technologies’ 500th charger. Mayor Villaraigosa was there to bask in the green glow, as was Coulomb’s founder & CTO,[…]

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Driver’s Initiative Gets First Plug-in To Alberta, Canada

Plug In America inspires change, but it’s the actions of Plug In America’s supporters that are the most inspiring. One example: Andrew Bell. He took the initiative to create what may be the first plug-in hybrid in his province, Alberta, Canada (population > 3 million). It took determination, but as[…]

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We Need Real Energy Pricing

In “The Real Price of Energy”, which appeared in Friday’s Los Angeles Times, and can be read here, Ronald Brownstein argues that the price of oil, and electricity from nuclear or coal, fails to reflect the cost of catastrophic disasters, or chronic environmental harm. Federal oil drillers are liable “only[…]

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What Is Different This Time?

Some people claim that electric vehicles failed about 10 years ago in California, because people don’t really want them. I would contest that. Electric vehicles were withdrawn and destroyed by their manufacturers as soon as they were legally able to do so, but during the time they were offered, the[…]

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Florida Libraries Get EV Guide; Texas Next?

Plug In America this week sent copies of our consumer resource guide, “Charged Up & Ready To Roll: The Definitive Guide To Plug-in Electric Vehicles,” to all main libraries in Florida, funded by a generous donation from supporter Andrew Roddy. Last week we sent the guide to all main libraries[…]

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Sierra Club Moves from Protests To Plug-ins

The Sierra Club, the largest and one of the most influential environmental organizations in the United States, today launched its Go Electric campaign to promote switching from gasoline to electric vehicles (EVs). This may be the biggest commitment to plug-in vehicles any environmental organization has shown so far. The World[…]

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West Coast Libraries Get EV Guide

Plug In America has mailed copies of its consumer resource guide, “Charged Up & Ready To Roll: The Definitive Guide To Plug-in Electric Vehicles” to every public library in California, Washington and Oregon. The states that will see the most new EVs and PHEVs in the coming year now have[…]

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The Road Ahead: Accelerating EV Production

As I write this, at least two of Plug In America’s co-founders have taken possession of their new Nissan Leaf electric cars, and three drive Tesla Roadsters. Other drivers are steering new Chevy Volt plug-in hybrids on the roads. More are being delivered every day. Is Plug In America’s work[…]

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A Day in the LEAF

“I read the news today, oh boy About a lucky man who made the grade” On the verge of coming down with a cold, it was a pleasant surprise to hear from Tim Gallagher, Nissan’s West Coast Communications Manager. He gave me the news that I could borrow a LEAF[…]

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Volt? What Volt?

Perhaps taking their cue from the historic events taking place in Egypt, the members of the Chevrolet Volt Customer Advisory Board (CAB) are staging a mini-revolt of their own. Chelsea Sexton shared this with us: “Just a funny little diversion, but a few of you might enjoy it. The Volt[…]

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Reaching Out to Auto Dealers

In some ways, it’s a bit premature to be reaching out to auto dealers, since most of them aren’t yet selling electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). On the other hand, now is the time to let them know that Plug In America can help them succeed when they[…]

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Understanding Electric Vehicle Charging

Trading a gas pump for a plug is a wonderful thing. It’s far more convenient, takes less of your time, and saves you from breathing toxic fumes and smelling like gas for hours after fueling. Charging is a different experience than pumping gas and understanding the subtleties takes time. I’ve[…]

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Celebrating the Chevy Volt at the SFEVA

Almost no one has been pushing for plug-in hybrids longer than the two guys behind CalCars.org — Felix Kramer and Ron Gremban. They recently took delivery of their new Chevy Volts and brought them to Luscious Garage in San Francisco for show-and-tell at the monthly meeting of the San Francisco[…]

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Fleets Traffic in Plug-in Electric Vehicles

Savvy consumers snapped up most of the 20,000 initial orders for the new Nissan Leaf electric car and uncounted thousands of orders for the new Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid (or extended-range electric vehicle, if you prefer). But individual consumers aren’t the only ones. Some major commercial fleet managers looking at[…]

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