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Fellow Clean Car Supporter,

Plug In America marks a significant milestone with the engagement of our first full-time employee, Managing Director Jeanne Trombly. Jeanne has worked for more than a dozen years in the nonprofit sector as a dedicated fundraiser, manager and social entrepreneur. We are delighted that she's chosen to join the PIA team, where she'll be focusing her initial efforts on fundraising and the development of a strategic plan.
 
Chelsea Sexton, our Founding Executive Director, has stepped down from that post, but continues to be heavily involved in the heart of all we do and remains on our board. More, below, about Jeanne's background, and more to come in future issues. 
   
 
Plug In America Welcomes Jeanne Trombly, Managing Director
 
Jeanne, who served as regional fundraising director for American Farmland Trust, launched her own organization, Fiber Futures, where she helped catalyze consumer demand for "tree-free" papers and assisted the paper industry in using a more sustainable non-wood fiber blend.  She has a broad network base in the clean tech community and writes about the sector for science magazines.  She originally covered California's electric car movement in the early 1990s. She serves on the board of the Solar Living Institute and is a former board member of Urban Ecology and Amazon Watch.

PIA Goes to Washington

Overflow crowds jammed "Plug-in Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington?" last month's two-day conference in Washington D.C. Hosted by the Brookings Institution and Google.org, the event's prestigious line up-politicians as well as reps from the auto and battery industries, electric utilities and Plug In America-strongly suggested that plug-ins are now a matter of when, not if.

Many of the event's speakers sounded notes long trumpeted by PIA advocates, whose co-founder, Chelsea Sexton, sat on a panel with Shai Agassi of Project Better Place called "Imagining the Plug-in Future." Generally, plug-in vehicles' environmental benefits were repeatedly stressed and their national security rationale brought to the fore. Advocates and utility execs discussed grid capacity. Some voiced concern about the day when tens of millions of plug-ins charge up all at once. Yet near unanimity prevailed: the infrastructure can handle the number of plug-in cars expected in the near term.

Likewise, politicians from both parties, long-term alt-fuel advocates and staunch automaker-misstep defenders all agreed on the need for policies promoting grid electrification for automobiles. Tory Clarke, head of GM's North American operations, maintained expectations for the Volt's November 2010 release. And Fred Smith, CEO of Federal Express, sounded as if he couldn't get plug-ins into his fleet.

It was impossible to leave the conference without feeling the excitement of being part of an idea whose time has come.

No Plug, No Deal!

Stefano Paris, Plug In America's Documentarian, reminds us that we must continue to advance PIA's "No Plug, No Deal!" campaign: Call an automaker today and demand a plug-in!

When I visited my local Chevy dealer the other week, the enthusiastic salesperson greeted my coworker and me only to be taken aback to learn we were there to sign on to the Volt waiting list. After checking with his sales manager, he returned, rather perturbed, saying that there was no Volt waiting list. "Thanks," we said, wondering if we'd be back in two-and-a-half years. Shaking our heads on the way out, we passed the $53,000 Chevy Tahoe 2-mode Hybrid, which, according to Green Car Journal, is the 20-mpg Green Car of the Year.

Later I visited http://www.pluginamerica.org, found the Chevrolet telephone number (800-222-1020) and gave them a call. After navigating the phone menu towards new products, I was greeted by a guy named Ryan. I asked if I could be added to the Chevy Volt waiting list. He didn't know immediately if there was such a list, but started navigating his internal computer systems and discovered a data entry screen under their Volt pages where he could enter prospective customers' info. I gave Ryan my name, address and telephone number, which placed me on Chevrolet's Volt mailing list. Voila! Ryan recommended that I call again in the fall of 2009. He said, as GM repeatedly has, that the Volt isn't scheduled to be released until late 2010.

-Stefano Paris, Simi Valley, CA

Please Help Liza Charge Ahead

Passionate plug-in fan Liza Stoner will have an unusual "What I Did Last Summer" story to tell her ninth-grade class in fall. The determined 14-year-old EV activist left Minneapolis, MN on June 16th to begin a 1,585-mile bicycle ride with the goal of encouraging electric car production. Destination: Washington D.C., where Liza plans to deliver a petition urging Congress to pass legislation granting tax credits and incentives to American EV manufacturers. Liza hopes that every mile of her lengthy journey will inspire Congress to act, although her main goal is to "raise awareness about the need for electric vehicles."

"They are zero emission and emit no CO2, and we can get energy from renewable sources like solar and wind and waves to charge these cars," Liza told Plug In America. "I think we need them if we're going to keep going…and to combat global warming."

The inspiration for Liza's trip was none other than the film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"  "It made me really angry, and I wanted to do something," she says. "So I decided to go on a bike ride."

This remarkable young lady is riding 40- to 70-miles-per-day for 36 days to help get electric cars on the road as quickly as possible and to benefit America's great plug-in promise.

PIA is sponsoring Lisa on her journey, which you can follow on her blog. Please sign her petition and consider making a contribution to PIA to help ensure that Lisa triumphantly crosses the finish line to a cooler and cleaner 21st century.

A Short Drive to TomorrowPlug-In 2008 Conference Banner

Don't forget to check out Public Night at the inaugural "Plug-In 2008 Conference & Exposition: A Short Drive to Tomorrow," on Tuesday, July 22 in San Jose. PIA's Chelsea Sexton will be speaking!

See plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the exposition floor and learn about the potential for vehicles that average 100 miles per gallon, allow you to plug in at home instead of filling up at the gas station, and lower fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Exposition hall open: 6 - 7:30 p.m.
  • Panel discussion on topics including how consumers can help bring plug-in cars to market more quickly:
    • 7:30 - 9 p.m. Speakers on the "Transforming Our Transportation and Energy Futures" panel:
    • Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, Google.org, and former Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy
    • Mark Duvall, Program Manager, Electric Transportation, Electric Power Research Institute
    • Chelsea Sexton, Plug In America co-founder and former General Motors EV1 Specialist

For information on full conference registration, visit http://plugin2008.com/conf/?id=conf_reg.

Plug In America Around the Web

Do you visit social networking sites such as YouTube, MySpace, or Facebook? So does Plug In America. Whether you're a PIA member or not, come check out our pages. Feel free to join our groups and add PIA as a friend. Social networks are a great way to show your support and share PIA with your friends. If you do not have an account, signing up is easy:

RAV4 EV Sales Heat Up on eBay

Combine the small number of Toyota RAV4 EVs in private hands (roughly 300) with their owners' undying adoration and you've got a market where the cars rarely change hands. Probably only a half dozen or so are sold each year via word-of-mouth transactions. Fewer still are sold through online auctions, but it's here that market value seems to be set.

RAV4 EV

After a months-long hiatus and coincident with four-dollar-a-gallon gas, three sales have recently closed on eBay. The first RAV sold there for $69,850, setting a record in the process. The car, a 7-year-old that was originally a fleet lease, had merely 48,000 miles on its odometer. Three weeks later, a high-mileage example (128,000) sold for $45,989. Perhaps bidders were cautious about its high mileage, despite its owner's declaration of ongoing good performance. There's no evidence that RAV4 EV battery packs suffer a dramatic drop-off as they age or accumulate miles, thus this sale could actually have been a bargain.

The third car, which had been driven only 19,000 miles, sold at the end of June for $53,000. Perhaps word of this one, located in Hawaii, was limited. But some say it was the bargain of the bunch. One thing's for certain: RAV4 EVs, if put back into production, would sell like hotcakes.

Choosey Students Choose Electricity

A group of plugged-in 7th graders at Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Francisco recently donated a hefty $1,500 to the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Assn. (SFEVA). The students endowed the association after a research assignment to find worthy non-profits they wished to help. PIA hopes that by the time they're driving, these students will be able to purchase production EVs, and that these future leaders' budding philanthropy inspires PIA members to donate to PIA, in turn.

Become a member of Plug In America

Become a member of Plug In America today and receive one of these timely new stickers. Click on the sticker to go to our membership page.
Sticker

More than anything, we hope and anticipate that you'll be able to slap it onto the bumper of your new EV or plug-in hybrid EV within a year or two. Your $25 membership will help bring about this inevitable reality sooner than later. Specifically, it will help us cover such expenses as website hosting, printing, advertising, media outreach and our participation in public events and conferences. You can contribute online or by check. Please click here to find out how. PIA thanks you!

Sincerely,
Linda Nicholes
Plug In America

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