East or West

So what coast does the most miles in an ActiveE???  There is one way to find out.....go to wotnogas.com and check out the friendly competition between the left and right coasts.

If you are an ActiveE driver and have not signed up yet please do so....let's have fun with this one.

4,000 on the cheap

4,000 miles at a cost way less than gasoline....are these cars some of the best kept secrets in transportation...yes.

I'm not a scientist but I do know enough to understand when I'm saving money, let's look at what I'm getting at.

I just reached 4,000 miles in my ActiveE, all on electricity of course.  My previous car got a real world average MPG of 22.  That is what I got by simply dividing the gallons I took when filling up into the miles driven each time I filled the tank.  Gasoline cost around $3.70 per gallon by me - cheap for gas.  So I divide 22MPG into 4,000 and I get 181.9 gallons which I multiply by $3.70 and get $673.03 - that is pretty much what it cost me in gas to drive 4,000 miles in my previous car and this is in about 75 days.

Now lets look at the ActiveE - the average cost to go 100 miles in an EV is around $5 in electricity, but I'm Northeast and we get hammered with our rates so I'll bump that to $7 of electricity to go 100 miles.  Again I do the simple math of dividing 100 by 4000 and I get 40 and then multiply that by $7 = $280.

Lets see, gas powered = $673 and electric powered = $280.   My insurance is the same and leasing the ActiveE is about the same as the other cars I lease but the EV adds a few more unseen cost savings...no tune-ups.  That's right, none.  Yes, BMW covers maintenance anyway but that runs out after some time and BMW might remove that one day, Mercedes did.  We all know how much regular maintenance can cost....so the ActiveE, as luxury cars go, is pretty reasonable for me.  I'm not one to pay attention to what a car costs me because I focus on the 'fun' a car brings me.  The ActiveE brings me 3 benefits, it is fun, it is economical and it is clean.

Lastly, I'm seriously enjoying the car and so is my family.

Just imagine

One of the benefits of driving an EV is that you begin to look at things a little differently...in a good way.  You start to look at the world around you and think about how EVs can improve our environment and not just the green one but our cities.

For example, the other day I went to give a presentation a fellow ActiveE driver in Jersey City.  While I was crawling along in heavy city traffic, surrounded by cars of all sizes and large diesel trucks, the noise was almost deafening - remember, I've been driving a very quiet EV for nearly 3 months in the suburbs so I really notice loud vehicles now.  I could even feel when a truck or car with loud exhaust began to roll the engine/exhaust vibrated all the way into my cabin....not pleasant.  Then there was the pollution, either from the trucks or cars that obviously have never had a tune-up.  Finally the heat....I could really feel the heat radiating off of the vehicles around me.

As I crept along in a calmer and more relaxing environment, inside my ActiveE, I started to think about what would happen to this city if 50% of the cars were electric.  Just imagine the benefits to the residents of Jersey City and commuters and visitors to the city.  Less noise, less pollution and less heat...would we be less stressed and anxious during our commute and would people feel more comfortable walking around the city streets....just think about it.

EV racing

Now this a really cool story from Autoblog Green about Grand Prix de Pau Electrique

One of the quietest and cleanest races I'm sure...not to mention safer since the danger of fire is nearly eliminated.

I've posted videos of both the 1st race and 2nd.  Turn up the volume so you can hear it.

2012 Grand Prix de Pau - GP Electrique Race 1

2012 Grand Prix de Pau - GP Electrique Race 2

EV randomness

Just some pics I find interesting...

Up at the Schiff Land Trust

Look how far we have come in transportation.  I told the driver of the old Impala the BMW was all electric...he had zero interest.  Shame really...kinda scary to think we used to burn leaded gasoline

That's ok guys...I'll wait

3,000 EV miles

It has been 60 days and I just reached 3,000 miles.  That is 3,000 EV miles which means I did them quietly, smoothly and cleanly.  Being a BMW it was also exhilarating and very comfortable.

During these 3,000 miles I even joined some of the other ActiveE drivers in naming their cars...mine is Serenity

EVs work...period.

EVlicious EVent

The NJ East Coast EVent was a huge success today, 30+ EVs and over 20 were ActiveEs...thanks to Tom Moloughney our host and fellow Electronaut.  I remember the first event we had at his place in  August of 2009 with the MiniEs, I think there were just 8 cars.  You can see my original post on that past event here.

In just a few years the EV buzz has escalated, bad press or not, you can't stop the excitement about these cars....they are coming and this time they are coming from many manufacturers.   These are not the days of the EV1 when there was just one manufacturer, today we have over 10 serious brands announcing or have released EVs for the public.  That's right, it is not just GM alone, it is now GM, Tesla, Toyota, Ford, BMW, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Nissan, VW, Audi and Coda to list the key EV brands with 100% EVs or plug-ins.

Today at the NJ East Coast event we had present; BMW ActiveE, Tesla Roadster, Mitsubishi MiEV, Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, Toyota Prius Plug-in, a ZENN and a converted pick-up truck...very cool.  There were even a couple of film crews.

So without further ado here are the pics from today

 I showed up early - my ActiveE is on the right

 Soon more began to arrive

 Some MiEVs pulling in

 We had two Nissan LEAFs come today

 ActiveE row

 A custom EV

 In a word...EVlicious

A naked ActiveE - we are allowed to remove the stripes if we like

ActiveEs to our left

ActiveEs to our right

 We are an ActiveE family

 This is called a ZENN

I fantastic day and now time to head home

As an FYI I did about 55 miles round trip to get to the event, mostly highway, with steep hills and at times over 70mph. Car was full of stuff and 3 people including me.  On the way I was in EcoPro no heat and on the return trip EcoPro was off and I had the AC on the entire return trip...still had 38 miles left when I got home...I'll take it!!