EVs at the DNC
10:53 PM Aug 24, 2008
I drove all the way to Denver yesterday with Colette Devine and Cayenne Greenwell to attend the DNC. Twenty hours with two beautiful women in a Prius driving through some of our country's most striking terrain (Utah) was as fun as you can imagine. Chris Paine provided a camera and asked us to shoot interviews for his upcoming "Revenge of the Electric Car", so we stopped near sunset at an incredible overlook to shoot each other answering questions about what we think of the coming EV revolution. While there, we got some great interviews with a foursome of young Italian men who looked liked they'd just returned from running the 4X400 meter relay in Bejing. They were all over the idea of driving electrically in Modena.
After arriving after 1:00 AM, we were pretty tired this morning when we headed down to the "Electric Vehicle Rolling Showcase", a gathering of 10 EVs, including two eBoxes from AC Propulsion, and the crown jewel of the group, a privately owned Tesla Roaster on loan from Elon Musk's brother. The venue was in a park next to the convention center where preparations were being finalized for the DNC. There were dozens of enviro groups representing all manner of causes.
I have to mention here that I've never seen such security before in my life. Whole squadrons of police in riot gear roaming all over. SUVs with specially constructed side and rear running boards with what looked like about ten riot geared police on each. I have to say, we all felt pretty safe from the run of the mill bad guys. They authorities are clearly worried that something big could happen. Word around town is that some 30,000 people are working security here.
We gave rides in the vehicles all day long and shot interviews with as many as we could till the batteries died. The best were of people getting out of the Tesla, of course, and the eBoxes, driven by our new best friend, Owen Emory. We've got four more days here with the goal of getting some of the top delegates, Senators and Congressional reps in the cars. Our number one goal, however, is to get Senator Obama in the Tesla. Long shot - maybe, but when you consider that we're showing technology that addresses the economic consequences of spending over $700 billion for foreign oil, the national security consequences of depending on oil from our enemies, and finally, the environmental consequences of burning that oil in internal combustion engines, then maybe Obama's people will see the benefit in having him come by for a press conference.
Stay tuned. I'll try to post something every night...if I can keep my eyes open.
Paul