The Trip from San
Jose (SJ) to Los
Angeles (LA) would have taken 2 days using my
Blazer |
Also there was no public EV charging between SJ
and SLO. Possible EV charging was unconfirmed, so
this time I used an ICE to get there |
Finally an oasis of EV civilization: the First
Bank of San Luis Obispo (SLO)
charging their Electric truck |
A 5-20 outlet for local conversion EVs is a good
addition to the standard: one induction and one
AVCON charger setup |
From SLO to LA was slow with returning holiday
traffic. The off and on shore oil rigs were a
common site, weighing heavy on the fragile
ecosystem |
After my motel check in, I went the LAX Budget to
pickup my rental EV. I was lucky, EVs are usually
double booked and even with a reservation you
could be burned! |
Freshly charged and washed, I picked up my EVrentals.com
NMHi
gen2 EV1. There was no owners manual, but there
were EV
Charg- ing maps. My wake-up
range was 114 miles |
I had hours before dark, so I went touring
Hollywood with the EV charging guide provided. I
found EV charging at Amazon.com
books |
There was plenty of EV charging all over LA. I had
no competition for charging at the Century
City Shopping Center |
I had a blast my first day with the EV1. At the
end of night, I even found EV charging at the Ralphs
grocery store |
On Tuesday I went to the SCAQMD in
preparation for Wednesday's EVent. I had to
remind them the EVent was occurring(!) |
I had them make sure all the power was on at the original
EV charging project display (now in decay) |
The SCAQMD site
overlooks the cause of the LA pollution:
extensive
use of ICE
on freeways in a fragile ecosystem (desert) |
I enjoyed the rest of the day, heading to Newport
Beach, using one of their five City
EV charging spots |
They adapted an AVCON charger to their RAV4
connector. I got out my Zappy
and toured the area |
I found additional EV charging at Firehouse near
by. I went back to my EV1 ... |
...when a City
Officer kicked me out of the EV charging spot
stating it was his! There was no desig- nated
City parking sign |
I gave up the spot and headed North along the
coast where I found one of the LA
electric power plants (note the scrubber
plumbing) |
Day one of the workshop, I came
early to secure my Inductive charging. I carrier
my Zappy in the EV1 trunk (cool!) |
The EV charging in the front of the SCAQMD build
already had EVs charging and the spots were
quickly filling up |
I used my Zappy to scoot around, helping guide
EVs to available charging spots |
There was a wide range of EVs that attended the
CARB workshop #2 |
A CARB repre- sentative brought one of the very
few Li-ion Nissan Altra EVs |
These RAV4s had the GM inductive charging port
installed (which is not optimized and charges
slower) |
All the stalls were full so EV charging positions
had to be improvised |
Even a local conversion EVs (VW) attended the
EVent using the older existing outlets |
EVs were positioned to make a good presentation
if the media arrived |
AC Propulsion brought two of their sporty Tzero
EVs |
One of them sporting a bright red interior |
The original Southern California EV1-Club Chapter
members were well represented and |
the Northern California EV1-Club Chapter member
from 'Voltageville' ... |
Ed Huestes, a Vacaville City official had driven
down in his EV1 and came early to obtain a
charge. |
GM had brought the rebuilt bus to be
displayed with their EV1s. It looked more like a
locomotive than a bus |
The media and attendees milled around awaiting
the press conference |
An attempt to show a 'clean air' CNGV failed as
officials would not let people in the enclosed
tent with the engine running |
As soon as the press conference began with their
standard speech ... |
the EV proponents crowed in front with full
visibility and ... |
brought out their signs of EV mandate support.
They were purposefully conspicuous |
As soon as the Press Conference was over,
everyone headed to the SCAQMD building. The
public had to sign up to speak in front of the
board |
The auditorium was just as segregated as two
years ago. Pro EV on the Left, and con EV on the
right |
Speakers faced the public with their back to the
board. The morning session was: EV drivers
stating the pubic wants EVs |
(CNG station)
The afternoon was the oil and auto makers stating
the public does not want EVs, but do want fuel
vehicles |
On the day two, the amount of EV
drivers were only 30% of day one. The public have
lives and jobs to attend to. The Oil and Auto
makers had funding to push their views on
everyday |
EV charging was easier, as the EV spots were
taped off
(keeping ICE out!) |
All methods of charging were utilized. Older EV
charging outlets were both 14-50 and 5-20 |
The halls of the auditorium were where competing
groups had quick meetings as to what strategies
to use |
(CNG tank)
The morning was the methanol fuel cell promoters'
(Oil and Ngas) presentation with very inaccurate
data. |
In the afternoon, a GM manager (a pussy red-faced
boil of a man) clearly stated ... |
'GM will not continue making EVs if we can not
sell them' ... |
(Insight)
and will focus on Oil powered hybrid and fuel
cell vehicles' |
(CNG refueling) The Automakers stated their SULEVs
would satisfy a PZEV
standard |
The CARB mandate allows Automakers to just make nEVs to
meet the mandate quota, rather than highway EVs |
The results and summaries of the workshop should
be on the CARB site in August 2000 |
With the workshop waning, some of the
attendees were outside for final look at the
Tzero |
Too bad tire burning Tzero joy rides were not
given this time as at previous EVents |
So here sits the fully capable EV. Ready to be
sold, but the automakers will not make them |
I took this time to see the original EV charging
in the down stairs parking structure |
These must have been put in when the only EVs
available were conversions |
As people leaving, I ask a couple of SCAQMD
employees, 'So why is the employee parking lot
full of SUVs? ... |
Answer: 'People buy what they want'. I asked,
"So, you just work here, you aren't
committed to clean air? ... (they shrugged and
walked off). |
The SUVs lined up making a parking lot traffic
jam with every- one trying to leave. The last to
leave were the noticeably quiet Japanese
Automaker reps. I ask them if they were from
Toyota. |
They timidly said yes. I told them to make their
RAV4 EV available to the public. The public are
screaming for it. They were more interested in my
Zappy(?) |
Disgusted with the Oil and Auto makers, but
satisfied we did our best to push for a
continuance of the EV mandate, I unplugged and
left, heading for Budget |
You have to carry your rental receipt to go
on-site to use their EV charging. You have to
avoid all the ICE cars in your way, that were
parked weird. |
Gobs of GM Inductive and ... |
AVCON conductive EV chargers ready for use. |
I took my last joy ride of the day and blasted on
the roadways with greatest of ease. The EV1 is a
joy to drive and well worth the rental price |
(Insight)
Or you could make the Automakers happy and drive
their Oil powered ICE hybrids |
