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| I hosted the East Coast meet at my restaurant in Montclair, NJ |
To mark the one year (and midway point) of the ActiveE field trial, meets were organized on both the East and West Coast on Sunday, April 7th, by some of the Electronauts. Here on the East I put together the event and out in California a few people including the Blue Skye Coastal Cafe. California is such a big state it's really difficult to have only one meet and allow for everybody to make it. On the East most people could get to my place on a single charge, except really for the Electronauts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I did have someone come from Connecticut which was a 312 mile round trip and as always Don Young made the trip from Shelter Island, NY which is about a 140 miles each way. I appreciate everyone who came, but especially those who drove hundreds of miles and had to stop along the way for hours to recharge just so they could be here.
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| The ActiveE cake! |
We had 15 ActiveEs come, as well as a brand new Model S, a Honda Fit EV, a Tesla Roadster, a Mitsubishi iMiEV and a Zero electric motorcycle. The weather cooperated and was clear and even made it up to 60 degrees which is actually cool for this time of the year, but lately we have had much colder than normal weather so 60 degrees was definitely a win for us. I ordered a custom cake that was made in the shape of an ActiveE and it was a big hit. We met for about two and a half hours and talked amongst ourselves as well as to curious onlookers who stopped by to check out the cars.
We even had three representatives from BMW's ActiveE technical team come and join in. BMW always sends representatives when we host these meets and it's really appreciated. While they can't offer privileged technical information, they are able to answer questions about service related problems and such. At one point they even pulled out a computer and hooked up to one of the cars to download information saving the owner a trip to his dealer which made his day. This kind of participation is really great.
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| The West Coasters: Photo by Joel Bartlett |
Out on the West Coast they met for brunch and some good photo-ops before heading out. Most of the people who went had traveled well over a hundred miles so they had to make stops along the way to charge. At least one dedicated Electronaut drove about 500 miles for the round trip and had to leave the day before just to make it. That just proves California is just too big and we really need to chop it up into three states! ;)
One thing that was said frequently was how it's hard to believe the program is already half over and many don't want to think about giving up their ActiveEs. This all sounds too familiar to me. I can remember lamenting over the thought of giving up my beloved MINI-E but then the ActiveE came along and helped take the edge off turning it in. Will the i3 offer that same relief? I suspect for me it will but many of the others at the meet aren't 100% convinced yet. The non-traditional BMW styling and the lack of much information on the car even as the launch is less than a year away has many Electonauts wondering what their next move will be. I think if the i3 does deliver the same or better range as the ActiveE (94 EPA range rating) then many will transition from the ActiveE right into the i3, but the range is on everybody's mind now. The fact that the battery is so much smaller than what we have in the ActiveE has many concerned, even though it's a much lighter car. On a day like today when people were driving long distances to get together the need for range and a robust infrastructure really stands out.
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| The ActiveE East Coast team |
