I made it down to Whitewater, Wisconsin today.
The university was hosting a pretty nice Earth EVent including an alternative car show.
The big draw for me to the event was that one of the speakers was Marc Geller. You may have heard of his name in connection with DontCrush.com, PlugInAmerica, or the building of the first modern PHEV.
Marc spoke for an hour about his experiences trying to get an EV. After failing to get his hands on an EV-1 and others, he finally leased a THINK. After the lease on that car was up, he was actively involved with groups trying to prevent the collecting and crushing of commercially made EVs. Later, he was able to purchase a RAV4 EV, which he currently is still driving.
After his presentation, it was open showing at the Alternative Car Show. Before the MC introduced Marc, he spoke a bit about a few of the cars that would be at the show. The first one he mentioned was an Amazing Electric Geo Metro some guy built. Aparently the MC knew of my car through my YouTube videos, but didn't know I was going to be at the show until I showed up! He was VERY excited about it!
The car show included: ZENN, plenty of Honda Insights (MK1 and the new Insight II!) Lots of Prii, several utility NEVs, and a couple of Smart Cars!
Not a bad show at all!
I spoke with plenty of people including a guy who works in forklifts (maybe that's what we should do with all our old motors.....) and an experimental aircraft builder with a friend who ran his motor-glider with an Electric motor! (Homebuilt electric airplanes!!!!! Full-size! With people inside!)
There was a student video producer there who shot an interview with me. Then, he went for a short ride in my car as the final shot for his video. When he mentioned that the car had a very particular sound to it, I asked if it sounded like a futuristic cougar. He agreed that it, in fact, did.
The absolute highlight of the day was at the end of the car show, when most people had left, and an Insight owner left his key on and killed his battery.
To the rescue, I jumped in with cables and an electric car.
I have NEVER seen a car jump-start so fast and easy.
Insight = tiny engine. Electro-Metro = HUGE BATTERY BANK. What a combination.
Here's the response to the jump-start.
For more photos of the event please
click here