Five years in and Plug In Day 2013 show you how it has grown from a quaint Santa Monica get together to an international event. Long Beach alone attracted over 200 electric cars and motorcycles, with well over 500 attendees.
Plug In Day 2013
In the video below, you will hear a few people talk as well as interviews. We start off with Kitty Adams who put on and coordinated Plug In Day, as well as Co-Chairs from Adopt a Charger. Paul Scott, Plug In America Co-Founder will talk about how the electric vehicle (EV) world has grown in leaps and bounds, while Ed Begley Jr. talks about his first EV in the 70s. Harlan Flag of Hollywood Electrics gives his take on this fabulous day. Finally, Cyril and Kevin, both motorcycle riders and owners tell us how it feels to ride an electric motorcycle for the first time.
Besides all the wonderful speakers that could be heard, there was a 40,000 miles original Toyota RAV4 EV for sale for… $10,000. Makes you wonder how the people who bought the 60,000 for $60,000 feel about it. A lone CODA and Fisker Karma came, as well as a local activist’s converted Geo Metro. The Nissan Leaf Nismo tantalized many and we found out how it feels to drive it!
Hollywood Electric 24 Hour Race
A quick word from Hollywood Electric’s Harlan Flag after an impressive first time try out at a 24 hour motorcycle race:
“Thanks Nicolas! It was a great weekend and we’re super stoked with the results. I’m still recovering from all the sleep deprivation.We placed 4th overall, 1st in our class (we were the only ones in the 150 class) on a custom Zero FX Supermoto. Young Lee, M1GP’s owner and organizer, was concerned that the Zero was too powerful to be on the same track as the rest of the bikes so we detuned the bike as much as possible to minimum torque for the race and we competed alone in the 150 class! We completed 1262 laps of the 0.625 mile kart track at Willow Springs International Raceway to complete 4th overall only two laps behind third!We had a few charging issues to overcome in the beginning, mainly the batteries and charging equipment we had requested never arrived, but we borrowed a couple of batteries from Susanna Schick and Terry Hershner rode all the way down from Santa Cruz with the adapters we needed. Unfortunately we didn’t get those adapters until 10 hours into the race, but once we did, we were in good shape and quickly gained back some of the ground we’d lost. We’ve learned form the experience, we have no doubt that we can end up at the top next time.Lots of credit to Jeff Clark for organizing the race effort and prepping the bike. The other riders were Jeremiah Johnson, Adeyemi Bennett, Troy Siahaan, Aaron Wilson, Brian Randleman, and Aaron Guigar. A friend of mine took a bunch of pics I’m waiting for her to send me, so I can probably get those to you later today.”
Needless to say, as the years go by, plug-in vehicles are showing a sustained and continued climb in sales number and adoption. Consider this, when hybrids were introduced about 12 years ago, they never achieved the success EVs and now plug-in hybrids (PHEV) have seen in the middle of a recession. This is a sure testament that many people realize electric vehicles fit their lifestyles. As every month brings us good news about better battery technology, better electric drivetrain and finally better and lower prices, electric cars and motorcycles will continue to become an efficient choice of locomotion.
