Saturday night my wife was about to leave for a Halloween costume square dance. Shelley was away at her Marching Band competition (they won first place in their category and first place overall!). The Highlander had a dead battery and wouldn't start, and Debby had to leave right away. She asked me for the keys to my truck and I said "but I have to pick Shelley up later!" and Debby said "use the bug!" I thought, "duh, she's right, why didn't I think of that?"
At this point the biggest drawback to driving the bug is having to remove the car cover and putting it back on later. I'm such a lazybutt.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
LA County Fire Department Car Show
When I set up at the West Hills Fall Festival two weeks ago, the Fire Department had parked one of their rigs nearby for kids to gawk at. Sometime during the day a fireman walked over to me and gave me a flyer for the LAFD car show, and told me I should take my car there. So I did - the show was yesterday.
When I built the car I didn't really give much thought to taking it to car shows but as long as people tell me I should, and as long as I have the time free, I'm thinking what the heck. It does give me the chance to spread the word about how cool electric cars can be.
So yesterday I showed up and got placed in the parking lot along with a whole bunch of souped up and restored classic cars. It was pretty much:
blue '55 Chevy
green '55 Chevy
green '55 Chevy
me
brown '55 Chevy
red '55 Chevy
yellow '55 Chevy
You get the idea. Anyway as a car owner you get there, pitch up your EZ-up, unfold your lawn chair, and plop in it. The other guys to either side of you do the same, so after a while you end up having conversations with your neighbors. Later in the day the guy next to me (the one with the '55 Chevy) said that my car seemed to be getting the most attention. People would walk down the aisle saying "nice car, nice car, nice car, WHAT THE HECK?, nice car, nice car", etc.
Some pictures from yesterday:
When I built the car I didn't really give much thought to taking it to car shows but as long as people tell me I should, and as long as I have the time free, I'm thinking what the heck. It does give me the chance to spread the word about how cool electric cars can be.
So yesterday I showed up and got placed in the parking lot along with a whole bunch of souped up and restored classic cars. It was pretty much:
blue '55 Chevy
green '55 Chevy
green '55 Chevy
me
brown '55 Chevy
red '55 Chevy
yellow '55 Chevy
You get the idea. Anyway as a car owner you get there, pitch up your EZ-up, unfold your lawn chair, and plop in it. The other guys to either side of you do the same, so after a while you end up having conversations with your neighbors. Later in the day the guy next to me (the one with the '55 Chevy) said that my car seemed to be getting the most attention. People would walk down the aisle saying "nice car, nice car, nice car, WHAT THE HECK?, nice car, nice car", etc.
Some pictures from yesterday:
Monday, October 3, 2011
West Hills Fall Festival
I took the car to the West Hills Fall Festival yesterday to show it off, what the heck, free booth! I wanted to see if the general public would be interested. The festival was in the parking lot of Field's Market. I got an awful lot of traffic. At an event llike this, you really meet all types, let me tell you. At one point Ed the grocer came along and was all surprised to see what his whacky customers are up to.
I made a little sign with a poster board on it and my daughter Shelley did the artwork. She's quite the artist. Nice poster, Shelley!
I made a little sign with a poster board on it and my daughter Shelley did the artwork. She's quite the artist. Nice poster, Shelley!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Recent stuff
Thursday was a school holiday for Rosh Hashanah so I could go to work without having to drop four kids off at two schools, so I drove the bug to work. I didn't really get a lot of work done since we are an engineering company and everybody wanted to see it.
(work needed to be done) / (bunch of nerds) + (homebuilt electric car) = not much work done
Yesterday I took the day off so that Debby and I could go to the Alternative Energy Vehicle Expo at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. We drove the bug, of course. At first I had a little range anxiety so I brought the charging cord plus an extension cord. We left our house, went on the 101 to the 405 to the 10, and to the event. We ended up parking in the general parking area where there were no outlets. For some reason my range anxiety had fizzled out and we just attended the show. When we left we came home down the PCH and over Topanga into the valley. We got home with plenty of battery left! Total trip was over 60 miles. Someday I will find out what the maximum range is, but I'm in no hurry.
Tomorrow is the West Hills Fall Festival at Field's Market. Shelley has a Jazz Band performance there so I figured I'd ask the event coordinators if I could set my car up for exhibition, and they said yes. I don't even have to pay for a booth! Should be fun...
(work needed to be done) / (bunch of nerds) + (homebuilt electric car) = not much work done
Yesterday I took the day off so that Debby and I could go to the Alternative Energy Vehicle Expo at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. We drove the bug, of course. At first I had a little range anxiety so I brought the charging cord plus an extension cord. We left our house, went on the 101 to the 405 to the 10, and to the event. We ended up parking in the general parking area where there were no outlets. For some reason my range anxiety had fizzled out and we just attended the show. When we left we came home down the PCH and over Topanga into the valley. We got home with plenty of battery left! Total trip was over 60 miles. Someday I will find out what the maximum range is, but I'm in no hurry.
Tomorrow is the West Hills Fall Festival at Field's Market. Shelley has a Jazz Band performance there so I figured I'd ask the event coordinators if I could set my car up for exhibition, and they said yes. I don't even have to pay for a booth! Should be fun...
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