Ok, so I work in a high tech company that's in a city listed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley#Cities" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, even though there really aren't (AFAIK) that many tech companies in that city. Most are in adjacent/nearby ones.
My work has a bunch of Chargepoint EVSEs: 2 outside, the rest inside the parking garage which you you'll definitely see if you arrive late enough (you'd pass at least one set on the way in or out).
Within the past week or so, I was unplugging my blue Leaf from our Chargepoint EVSEs in the garage and a random guy approached me. Conversation started like this:
random guy: "Tesla?"
me: "No. I wish. Nissan Leaf."
I told him the Tesla Model S (we do have a couple at work) costs more than twice as much but has much longer range and is way faster. He asked me about range and charging. I pointed to him the speed of the 208 volt EVSEs and how it's really slow to charge at 120 volts (showed him the stock L1 EVSE in my trunk). I told him it'd be fine as a secondary vehicle if your commute's short enough (mine is ~12 miles each way, so no problem) and that charging is free @ work. I gave him some caveats about range vs. speed and factors like heater use.
He brought up driving it to LA and the # 400 miles. I said... nonono, you wouldn't want to do that in a Leaf unless you wanted to take a long time to charge along way but I did mention Tony's BC2BC drive in his Leaf. The guy had some old Corolla w/over 100K miles. I offered to give him a demo/ride around the area, but he declined (we were in 2 levels down in our parking garage).
I'll have email the guy when I have more time. Appears the guy is in a technical role and he'd been w/the company over 4 or 5 years. I'm semi-amazed by this being in CA and in Silicon Valley that he'd mistaken my blue Leaf for something from Tesla!
:?:
My work has ~40 PHEVs/EVs, judging by our internal "voluntary" list of those cars and their owner name/email address.
In a separate conversation maybe a month earlier, at a company event, I approached a guy wearing Google Glass. I don't know him but he and I were involved in a required company "skit". He asked about charging and asked something to the effect of whether those were DC fast/quicker chargers. My reply: no way, too expensive and no reason to do it. I mentioned to him the $15.5K http://nissanqc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as being the cheapest and only compatible w/the Leaf and i-Miev, for now. I told him they were J1772 level 2 and the approx time it could take to charge. His reply "oh, I had no idea."
He said he was considering a Spark EV because of its torque. His commute is on the longer side partly because of having to make it over the hill from Santa Cruz or Scotts Valley, IIRC. I told him about CA compliance cars, the Spark EV's slow 3.3 kW OBC and GM's "support" of Frankenplug along w/the various DC FC standards.
So, this person wasn't nearly as uninformed, but still, he didn't seem to know about charging (DC FC standards, OBCs, etc.) I wouldn't expect most non-EV enthusiasts to know about such details nor CA ZEV compliance cars. I sent him a very long email w/all sorts of links w/supporting info.
