July 11: Visiting a rival

I will take it to work all week, including Wednesday when I go to Santa Monica to drive a Nissan Leaf electric car. I wonder how they'll take to seeing a competitor in the parking lot. Not far enough to worry about range, though I will look for a charging spot in Santa Monica. Should be a lot of them, since that city is supposed to be very EV friendly.

Next Saturday there are a few events in the OC I want to attend, but I have to find 240 volts in order to do it. It's about 45 miles to Irvine. I can get there but I can't get back. I will do a little research, which is all that's necessary to drive your EV almost anywhere, right? I'll see.

In a couple weeks I have to go to San Diego, which is 145 miles away. No way to make that in the i-MiEV. So I'm thinking of driving it to the train station and taking the train to San Diego. That whole process will take longer but I will be able to work on the train instead of cursing the traffic. Maybe it'll be better. Who knows? I will let you know.

By Mark Vaughn