The other night a friend stopped by unexpectedly. Well, with this guy you should expect such surprises. From the quite of the outdoors emerged a light that shined through my house windows. As I opened the door, and didn't hear a sound I realized it was my old friend Warren with an electric vehicle. He owns a Nissan Leaf, and a Ford Focus Electric car, but this was a new vehicle that he was borrowing from work.
Last year Warren and I had gone to the LA Auto Show, and we test drove the BMW i3 there during it's introduction. They had several vehicles there so hundreds of people were able to test them over the week that the show was running. This vehicle is seriously quick, and nimble. I could see myself driving a car like this if I had the money. The light display at night is something out of a Tron movie as you can see from the photos.
The light that it cast on the plants in front of my house was strange as well. It has a blue halo around the top of the bushes.
Overall it was fun learning more about this machine. Warren is always loaded with information on new technology. Presently he loves to see how far he can go on a charge. Last year we took he Nissan Leaf to the Auto Show, and managed to barely get to a charging station at a Nissan dealership in LA after the show. It was a free fill up, but it took some time waiting for other vehicles to get charged as well. At least they were having a special event there so we got some free hot dogs, and soda to hold us over. Eventually more charging stations will pop up, and electric cars will become less of a novelty.
You still can't beat human power though. I road 90 miles with only 6 Cliff bars for energy, and water. Total cost was less than $7. During that 6 hour time I would have eaten food that most likely would have cost that much even if I had been driving a car. So the way I see it the ride was nearly free. Also I didn't have any emissions. Well, none that I want to talk about here.
You still can't beat human power though. I road 90 miles with only 6 Cliff bars for energy, and water. Total cost was less than $7. During that 6 hour time I would have eaten food that most likely would have cost that much even if I had been driving a car. So the way I see it the ride was nearly free. Also I didn't have any emissions. Well, none that I want to talk about here.