We need an info sheet/card!

[Jimmydreams]

Initially, when the Leaf hits the streets, there will be lots of questions by people who know next to nothing about the car.....and these questions will be A) alot of the same ones over and over, and B) FUD that needs dispelling.

Would anyone care to design a nice info sheet or (preferably) a business card that has some pertinent info that will answer these questions?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of:

I get ___ miles per charge on average in this EV.
It takes ____ (average time) to charge each day.
I save an average of $)___ per month using electricity instead of gas.

(and then some FUD facts)
Each mile driven saves ___ amount of CO2.
It takes ___ gal. of gas to process and deliver just 1 gallon of gas for your car.
Only ___% of electricity in the US comes from coal.

etc.etc.etc.

Suggestions for layout, better questions/comments/answers?? I'd like to come up with something FACTUAL that we can print up to hand to people as a means of spreading the truth about EVs.

(OR, if this has already been done, and someone post a link?? :lol: )

 

[Ready2plugin]

Good idea. Something else to think about is that a lot of us have solar power at home that helps to charge our EV, which is good to promote. We should also research where our electricity comes from. Here in CA we do not have any coal plants that I'm aware of, most of our generation comes from Natural Gas and Nuclear plus some Hydro. There is SO MUCH disinformation out there, which most car and oil companies will continue to feed, that we need to do our part to give unbiased, correct, and as much useful information as possible.

 

[cinmar]

I agree on source of electricity. Also, and I don't know how best to address it, but amount of time to charge and gas mileage equivalent may vary depending on your habits and type of charging. Maybe add - charged with a L1 or L2 or L3 charger, with a very brief explanation of what that means. And maybe a check box for freeway miles vs. around town miles.

 

[garygid]

I already have an "Info" card, listing NissanUsa and MyNissanLeaf. If they are really interested, you might ...
tell them to invite you for a good meal somewhere, and you will:
1. tell them all about it
2. answer all their questions
3. give them a really good URL
4. explain what a URL is
5. give them a ride when you get your LEAF

Or, some other variation.

 

[mwalsh]

Excellent idea!

 

[Ready2plugin]

I'm also thinking about having cards made up that say "Buddy, can you spare a charge?"...that is if GM dosn't try to get a trademark on it first .

 

[garygid]

Harder for them to get a trademark on terms we use here "in pubic", I would think?

e-roam, e-roaming
e-fuel, edie, e-hose,
"gmish" (bad word, do not step in it)
etc.

 

[Dav]

Found it! http://evnut.com/rav_mag_sign.htm

Any of you that do not know about Darell Dickey's EVNut.com website need to visit it. Primarily RAV4-EV and EV1, but loaded with information.

And the page above that shows the magnetic door signs people made for displaying the RAV4-EV at cars shows and other events.

 

[LEAFfan]

Found it! http://evnut.com/rav_mag_sign.htm

Any of you that do not know about Darell Dickey's EVNut.com website need to visit it. Primarily RAV4-EV and EV1, but loaded with information.

And the page above that shows the magnetic door signs people made for displaying the RAV4-EV at cars shows and other events.

For the LEAF, I will change that range figure to 140 and the mph to 90. :lol:

 

[cinmar]

Found some possible examples to use for handouts: http://www.eaaev.org/Flyers/index.html Or, just use these.

 

[Jimmydreams]

Found some possible examples to use for handouts: http://www.eaaev.org/Flyers/index.html Or, just use these.

Nice. Great link. I'll morph them into something I can use. :mrgreen:

 

[Jimmydreams]

For the California drivers....

If someone tries to tell you that charging your car will use more coal and harm the atmosphere and blah blah blah, lay these numbers on them:

Electric Power Net Generation by Primary Energy Source and Industry Sector, 2008

California Electrical Generation By Percentage
Coal........................................................1.1
Petroleum................................................0.8
Natural Gas.............................................57.7
Other Gases............................................0.8
Nuclear...................................................15.6
Hydroelectric.......................................... 11.6
Other Renewables..................................11.9
PumpedStorage ......................................0.2
Other.......................................................0.3

(source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/california.pdf)

Less than 2% TOTAL Coal and Petroleum generated electricity!

(but where the hell is that 'other' juice coming from? Don't they cover all the bases with what's above it? :? )

And for the US as a whole:

 

[garygid]

Geothermal?
Burning Garbage?

 

[Azrich]

JimmyD, your idea is great. I'd been thinking of something like this too, but you have taken it to a new informative level about the generation of the electricity.

I was sharing a little about EV's with my gifted 6th grade class yesterday. One girl said, "My mother said that electric cars will make more air pollution than gasoline cars because of the electricity plant burning coal."

This is the type of thinking we need to change with correct information. Even though you and I will be charging with solar power, the public is thinking COAL! BLACK SMOKE! A card or half sheet paper to hand out would be helpful. I'm in on working on this info sheet.

PS - where could I get the electricity generation for Arizona? I know Tucson's plant is coal - a full train load a day! But they are expanding their solar panel fields to generate more.

 

[JasonT]

PS - where could I get the electricity generation for Arizona? I know Tucson's plant is coal - a full train load a day! But they are expanding their solar panel fields to generate more.

There was a great table that I am pretty sure I saw linked in this forum that broke down each state by their electricity generation sources in percentages. I am unable to find it at the moment. Here is a display from 2007 which says 38.7% coal for Arizona. If I am doing my math right looking at the raw data from that eia.doe.gov site, it looks like in 2009 Arizona was down to 35.5% coal.

 

[Jimmydreams]

JimmyD, your idea is great. I'd been thinking of something like this too, but you have taken it to a new informative level about the generation of the electricity.

I was sharing a little about EV's with my gifted 6th grade class yesterday. One girl said, "My mother said that electric cars will make more air pollution than gasoline cars because of the electricity plant burning coal."
This is the type of thinking we need to change with correct information. Even though you and I will be charging with solar power, the public is thinking COAL! BLACK SMOKE! A card or half sheet paper to hand out would be helpful. I'm in on working on this info sheet.

PS - where could I get the electricity generation for Arizona? I know Tucson's plant is coal - a full train load a day! But they are expanding their solar panel fields to generate more.

That's exactly what I'm thinking about. Combat FUD with facts, combine THAT with real life experiences and I think we'll be able to make serious inroads to common misperceptions.

 

[garygid]

5 or 10 sheets of info, in a .doc file so we can edit if needed, but NOT require color printing, would be super.

Include the links for the graphs and data, so others can more easily verify data and build a similat document for another state.

Starting with CA, we can gradually "archive" a document for each state.

If you get a first draft for CA, I will be happy to look it over.
It could serve as a model, and outline, for other states.

 

[planet4ever]

Plug In America has a useful FAQ sheet:
http://www.pluginamerica.org/learn-about-plug-ins/frequently-asked-questions.html