Our Nissan LEAF goes to Meetups, Meetups, Lots of Meetups

One thing about being among the first to own a very new and different kind of car is that you want to show it off and connect with others who share your enthusiasm.  When your car is one of the first affordable electric cars made, you also want to show it off to members of the public who might be interested.  So, in its first four weeks as a member of our family, we and our LEAF have been to lots of get togethers.

Local LEAF Delivery Celebration
Gary G, Gary Hill and his wife Jeanine and I got together at the local Fuddruckers, a terrific burger restaurant, to get our first looks at each others' cars.  They received their cars at Fontana Nissan on consecutive days late in March.  I picked up ours one day later in Costa Mesa.  Omkar and Mark "TRONZ" joined us and Mark brought his very cute kids.

Jeanine organized a formation for the cars and the Hills' proud license plate "IBELEAF" was front and center.

Green Day at Orange Coast College
Mike Walsh joined Elise Ranauro from Connell Nissan at the Orange Coast College Coast Green Day and showed off his blue LEAF along with another one from Connell.  I joined them briefly  to show some support.

Tuesday Car Show at Fuddruckers
Fuddruckers in Lake Forest, Calif. holds a car show every Tuesday afternoon in their parking lot.  People bring all kinds of cars, from Corvettes and 1960s and 1970s muscle cars to Ford Model As from the 1920s and anything else you can think of.  Gary and Jeanine Hill brought their new white LEAF on a whim one day and were surprised that this group of confirmed gear heads was interested in his new EV and they were very respectful as well.

Gary Hill had access to a prototype Toyota Prius Plug In Hybrid last Tuesday and invited us to bring our LEAFs to round out the EV contingent at the Car Show.  Gary G and I brought our cars along and there was a lot of interest from the other car guys and folks who showed up just to enjoy the cars.

Gary Explains Plugging-in at the Fuddruckers Tuesday Car Show

Zero Emissions Conference at the AQMD

A Zero Emissions conference was held last week in Diamond Bar at the Air Quality Management District offices.  I drove our LEAF there to hear the morning session, a panel discussion about zero emission commuter and private vehicles.  Speakers included executives from Nissan, Honda, Metrolink (commuter trains) and Foothill Transportation (bus transport).  I was able to do some Level 1 (110 Volt) charging at the AQMD/SCE solar canopy charging stations.  This was my first public charging experience.  After I unpacked the Level 1 EVSE that was supplied with my LEAF and found the correct plug and circuit breaker, I was in business.  The two hour charge added about seven to ten miles to my driving range.

Two Chevy Volts were also charging, along with some 

Quantum AQMD plug-in hybrid Ford Escape SUVs

I parked my LEAF in front of Foothill Transport's Eco Liner electric bus for a while and I was able to introduce the LEAF to some conference attendees.

San Diego LEAF Gathering in Mira Mesa at Hometown Buffet

I accompanied Gary G on a trip last Saturday morning to San Diego County to join the meetup at Hometown Buffet in Mira Mesa.  A group of about twenty very enthusiastic and active LEAF owners and future owners had a lively breakfast meeting.  About ten LEAFs were on display, including Randy's red LEAF with upgraded sound system.  I had a great time meeting these folks and chatting about their experiences and great ideas.

That's the news from the latest meetups.  More LEAF news, a report on our driving range and other details in my next post.