Some details about National Plug-In Day here. In Sarasota we're tentatively planning an EV meet downtown at Five-Points Park with media and some presentations followed by a silent EV parade to electrify St Armands Circle (TBC) for a couple of hours expo. Various groups will be involved, the whole thing is being supported by Plug-In America and the local Sierra Club as well as the city of Sarasota. Note it for your calendars on Sunday, September 23rd and check back here for more details over the coming months. If you're willing to bring your EV, especially if it's a new Model S(!) please contact myself, Larry or Ken Stokes, and be prepared to have lots of people taking pictures. :biggrin:
National Plug In Day - Sarasota - "Electrify the Circle" National Plug In Day is set for Sunday, September 23, 2012. It is an unprecedented nationwide observance drawing global attention to the environmental, economic and other benefits of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs). In Sarasota this event has adopted the tag line of "Electrify the Circle". Forum member Ken Stokes is the City Captain in charge of organizing this Sarasota event. All local EV supporters are encouraged to attend the festivities. We are also looking for local owners of Plug-In vehicles to participate in the EV silent parade and display their cars. Here are the details: 9:00am EVs stage at Five Points Park in Downtown Sarasota along Central Ave & 1st St. 10:00am - 10:30am Mayor's Proclamation and Awards Ceremony 10:30am - 11:00am EV Silent Parade over Ringling Bridge 11:00am - 3:00pm EV Expo "Electrify the Circle" at St. Armands Circle (Owner's EVs on display in the circle) 11:00am - 3:00pm Free EV Rides & Drives by local car dealerships (Filmore Parking Lot at St. Armands Circle) Chargers are located near Five Points Park and portable chargers will be provided at St. Armands Circle. (Bring your charging cords) An event flyer and map is attached to this posting. Charger locations are displayed on the map. We have parking for 34 EVs. Those interested in guaranteeing a spot in the parade should contact Ken [email protected] or me [email protected] as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing you in beautiful Sarasota. Larry
We were just informed that Tesla will be bringing a Performance Model S to this event! :biggrin: So far we have over 30 plug-in EVs signed-up to participate in the silent parade and display at St. Armands Circle. I'm attaching a revised version of the flyer that has better contact information and another copy of the event map. Feel free to forward them to people you think might be interested. Larry
Plenty of reports coming in the next day or two I'm sure. Great to see various TMC members there! Here's the press gallery http://galleries.ticketsarasota.com/?id=355808#http://cdn.heraldtribune.com/gallery-images/2012/09/23/zoom/2913658.jpg And news story http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120923/ARTICLE/120929844/2416/NEWS?Title=Electric-cars-roll-out-for-National-Plug-In-Day
Our first Sarasota National Plug In Day Event was a great success! We had a fantastic event! As City Captain of the event, TMC member Ken Stokes worked tirelessly to organize Sarasota's first National Plug In Day and everything went off flawlessly. Ken Stokes addressing the crowd of EV enthusiasts. About 50 Plug In EVs participated in our silent parade. Nigel led the procession in his Roadster. The Mayor of Sarasota was riding shotgun with him. Following him was Alex Thompson, TMC member Jordan Thompson's son driving Jordan's Roadster. One of our County Commissioners was riding shotgun with him. (Alex and Jordan traveled all the way from the Space Coast to support our event.) Car number three was a White Performance Model S that Tesla was kind enough to haul over from the East Coast store. It goes without saying those were my personal favorites, but we did have a nice selection of other plug in EVs. :redface: The silent parade was led by Teslas. Starting with Nigel's Glacier Blue Roadster, followed by Jordan's Brilliant Yellow Roadster and then the White Performance Model S. Of course we had more than Teslas. We had a ton of Chevy Volts, more than two dozen, several Nissan Leafs, some Fisker Karmas, a couple of Mitsubishi i-MiEVs. a CODA, a Wheego Life, an assortment of electric motorcycles, bicycles, cars and truck conversions. Pics of people taking pics of Model S's... Larry
Great photos Nigel. Thanks! Larry PS I particularly like the photo of the fedgling photogragher. :wink:
National plug in day celebrates electric cars and their benefits Electric cars roll out for National Plug In Day Here's a local cable TV video: SNN: St. Armond Electric Car Expo Contrary to the caption on the video the first gentleman speaking was Chris Sharek, the coordinator of the Expo portion of the event. The second gentleman speaking was Brian Hanrahan, a FPL representative.
The pics of "Thunder Guts" are here only because the car was pretty cool and the owner was none other than Brian Johnson from AC/DC! For those with google+ accounts, try this link: Jordan Thompson - Google+
He showed us how to start it... Push in the two magnetos, adjust the advance, apply the choke, give it some gas, push the starter, and pray it will start - Funny, I just push the "D" button ;-) When it starts, though, now there is some thunder!
City of Sarasota official flikr photographs: cityofsarasota P.S. The lady in my car with the Tesla grin is not my wife...it's Mayor Suzannze Atwell.