Roll out / Ramp up suggestion for Nissan. A way to get seen

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Gavin

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
471
Location
Albuquerque, NM
A way to get seen in a few more states without having to spend a lot of money.


I know that Nissan is planning at the beginning to roll out the LEAF in December in only 5 areas (10 cities?). And I understand why. And I even agree with it.

But I do think Nissan could do one thing that would take just a bit of work, but could give some long term benefit...ie, help sales with the national ramp up come 2011 through 2012.

Pick a person from a number of states that is not one of the roll-out states. This could be fairly easy to do:

The set up.

These people will have to be from a good sized city. At least 100k, preferably with a college.
They will have to live within 25 miles of a Nissan dealership.
They will have a home with a garage and either have a home charging system or agree to get one installed.
The will have a daily commute of less than 50 miles.
They will have to be well versed in EVs and the pros and cons.
They will have to agree to....well I will leave that for the next list just below **....

The pay-off.

Nissan will get the LEAF seen in more cities, more states. And quickly. I see tons of Nissan LEAF ads...which is GREAT. But what use is all the national ads if most states won't see a single LEAF for 2 years? Eyes on by the consumer is a big big deal. Seeing them working, running everyday, out on the road will calm lots of worries, will kill a lot of the FUD you know the gas cartel will be pushing.

Local Dealerships will get to see a LEAF, touch a LEAF, have some mild hands on experience with the LEAF before they have to see and service tons of them...gives them a nice slow pace to get up to speed on this new tech.

Info Info Info. Nissan can tell these "out of roll-out area" owners that they must give either weekly reports or weekly blogs to Nissan about the LEAF. How it works in each area. Range in certain climates, at certain elevations etc etc.

**Eyes on Eyes on Eyes on. Nissan can make it a provision that one Saturday a month this LEAF needs to spend a few hours at the local Nissan dealer so the Dealer can let the public see it. Eyes seeing the LEAF on the road is great. Eyes seeing the LEAF sitting in a showroom is just as great. Customers can see it close up, ask lots of questions etc etc.
Early adopters are great "tools" (I say that affectionately). Use them. They want to promote EVs. They want to brag about EVs. To show them off. To inform the public about them. The Good. The Bad. The GREAT. So one Saturday a month those dealerships can promote that they will have a Nissan LEAF in the showroom for the public to see and learn about. The LEAF owner, as part of the agreement for getting a LEAF at roll-out vs having to wait a year or two, would have to agree to get the car to the shop by 11am...the shop can wash and vaccum the car and then get it in the showroom from noon to 4pm...then they clean it again and the owner gets it back by 5pm...nice and clean and fully charged. A win win. And I can't imagine any early adopter not agreeing to this. And if they didn't, well I'm sure the second in line at that city will.

Long story short, Yes Nissan get 98% of your roll-out LEAFs into those 5 roll-out states. But then do a small amount of leg work, poll some people here or from your reservation list, and get 2% of the roll out LEAFS into 10 or 20 other states. True it will be a very small number, but it will actually produce great press and free advertising in those 10 to 20 states. Far beyond the minimal work required to make this happen.

Your dealerships get free press and foot traffic, the early adopter will be well versed in EVs and prepared if chosen well and you get tons of easy info on how the LEAF does in many different sites and climates and such.

As I said...Win Win.

I can easily recommend a person in Iowa and a person in New Mexico. And I'm sure we can find a person in Texas, Colorado, Flordia and tons of other states. :)

Thanks

Gavin


ps...if you make it two from each "add-on" state/city, well then, with the same agreement, you can have a LEAF in the showroom every other Saturday. ;)
 
pss...I selfishly pick Albuquerque as one of the cities...a very green city with lots of solar and wind power...and it would be a good test as the city is a mile high in elevation. Plus Albuquerque and the surrounding suburbs is 500k people. More than a third of the entire state population lives there.

Gavin
 
I will volunteer to be the Leaf-shaker (like flag-waver) for Orange County CA.

It is mostly all wall-to-wall "city" here, in the "greater LA area" (which is roughly 100 miles by 60 miles, and perhaps 13,000,000 population).
 
Even though I'm in a 'rust-belt' state, I'd love to see one in my garage; we've got 20 Nissan dealer's in Chicago Metro within 31.2 miles of my town (one less than 1.6 miles away from me) and we're close to a very large community college as well as the wife works at a big local high school so lot's of exposure both parked and driving.

I'd even let them 'wrap' it like BMW did with the MINI E test so everyone knows it's special ... I'm used to it because we had one of the first smart's as well as the New Bettle back in '98 (of course that one was also a TDI which was even more rare at the time). Hopefully JessicawithNissan is reading this ...
 
If we could get about 10 to 20 "volunteers" here at this thread alone, well that might help convince Nissan. Hopefully from various states and cities.

I volunteer for Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have a dealer close by, I have a two car garage that will have a charging station and I commute about 20 miles a day total.
I work at the University of New Mexico Hospital and the car could be parked either on campus (lots of foot traffic) or at the hospital main entrance (100k patients and visitors a year come through the door). Or, better yet, I could easily alternate. Parking some days on campus, some days at the Hospital.
On top of that I would gladly give weekly reports or blog entries...and would happily let the local Nissan Dealership show off the car one Saturday a month until the ramp up hits this state (at which point I don't think my LEAF would still be needed as the Dealership would have plenty to show off and sell).

Mmmmm, any other ways to "sell" myself? No accidents. Don't drink and drive. Not an aggressive driver. Late 40's and pretty mellow. Not shy. Fairly articulate. Gets along well and plays well with others :)

Gavin
 
Well, obviously an EV nut like me would volunteer up here in Iowa City; I was crazy enough to try to proxy-buy an Aptera, knowing full well that if something broke, I'd have to ship it back to CA and back to me at my own expense, plus some possible tax liability issues ;)

That said, people here should be aware of that, too, in this case. Few Nissan dealerships are going to be prepared to maintain the vehicles off the bat. And a company like Nissan is smart enough not to assume that everything is going to go perfectly.
 
Here I am in San Antonio!

Most of my transport is by EV, I'm retired and can make my own schedule, and my small business is devoted to lithium batteries and battery management equipment. Have a background that includes sales, trade shows, and internet marketing. Member of Plug in America and the Electric Auto Ass'n.

Brilliant marketing idea, Gavin!

Andy
 
I also think it's a mistake to limit initial distribution to EV project cities. With the limited range, these vehicles are not going to be seen much beyond them!

I also volunteer to get my Leaf early. Also in Orange County, CA (the north end), and commute daily to West Los Angeles (LAX).
 
mwalsh said:
I also think it's a mistake to limit initial distribution to EV project cities. With the limited range, these vehicles are not going to be seen much beyond them!

I also volunteer to get my Leaf early. Also in Orange County, CA (the north end), and commute daily to West Los Angeles (LAX).

I disagree. With a potential 'game changer' like a mass produced EV, you don't want the vehicles haphazardly distributed where there is little to no infrastructure to support them. With the internet, twitter, facebook, etc., if these things do what they say they will do, they WILL be noticed nationwide.

But the same thing holds true if all people hear is "it's a great car, but then I ran out of juice and I was stranded for 18 hours while I recharged off 110v!"

It sucks if you're not in a initial roll-out zone, but Nissan HAS to control the initial buzz to make this work. Everyone here is an early adopter and Nissan would have no problem selling us a car and having good buzz. But they have to have their own infrastructure complete as well. The Average Joe out there needs the work done for him.....you and I are willing to do the work ourselves. ;) How many people do you know do this much research, investigating, comparing and SALIVATING over their average new car purchase? We are a VERY small minority. The rest are....well....'average consumers' would be the best way to put i. :cry:
 
No, I agree. You can't throw 50k LEAFs out with no infrastructure and no guidelines...but :)

They can, and maybe should, get them to people like "us" around the country. Vet the heck out of us who would like to be a early adopter but who aren't in the roll out areas. Make sure we will be good ambassadors for EVs. That we are ready and we know the pros and cons.

Give a car to Karen in Iowa City and she will run it like a charm. She will likely have few complaints (and any she does have, well Nissan will want to hear them). But you won't get any posts of, "Waaa, I broke down....Electric cars suck."

Now give a LEAF to my daughter in Phoenix and she very well might have problems and issues (I love her to death...brilliant mind...but she would 100% likely run out of juice one day...no ifs ands or butts). She is in a roll out area...She could buy a LEAF on day one. But she, right now, would be totally unprepared for an electric car. She can learn. But she hasn't yet.

Now, with all the LEAF commercials on the airways you can bet that somebody will say, I WANT ONE, and will get one without doing any research. And they will be on page one on some newspaper or tv show. Roll-out area does not equal "no problems" just like out of Roll-out area does not equal "problems". There is a math formula there somewhere ;)

Controlling roll-out is hugely important. But truthfully the person is more important than the area. It's just that releasing by area is much easier to do. But that doesn't preclude Nissan from also spreading a few LEAFs around outside these roll-out areas...in fact it would be a good idea...it just might not be an idea Nissan either thought of or that Nissan wants to take the extra effort to do...

Which is why I think we could offer Nissan this without Nissan having to put in the effort. We can pre-Vet ourselves and sell ourselves to them. They don't have to go looking for 10 or 20 knowledgeable EV enthusiasts to spread the LEAF around to different states and get them seen in different dealerships....We can give them 10 to 20 served up on a silver platter.

:)

Gavin
 
Gavin said:
Which is why I think we could offer Nissan this without Nissan having to put in the effort. We can pre-Vet ourselves and sell ourselves to them. They don't have to go looking for 10 or 20 knowledgeable EV enthusiasts to spread the LEAF around to different states and get them seen in different dealerships....We can give them 10 to 20 served up on a silver platter.

:)

Gavin

1000% agree. I think Nissan will vet us a little bit through the salesmen. They are going to be specifically trained to ask all the pertinent questions before saying "sign here, CONGRATULATIONS!" Because of the initial desirability, I would think they might even turn a few people away simply because the person is unrealistic or hasn't done their due diligence.

Hopefully, we'll know more at the end of June!!
 
Jimmydreams said:
mwalsh said:
But the same thing holds true if all people hear is "it's a great car, but then I ran out of juice and I was stranded for 18 hours while I recharged off 110v!"

18 hours?? Now, that's what I call bad planning! You mean you ran out of juice 100 miles from home?

I'd be willing to bet 98% of the "stranded" reports (and there will be some) are cases where the driver is within 5 miles of where they expected to be able to recharge. Just sit back, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and put together a great adventure story to tell your significant other when you get home an hour later than you expected to.
 
People, let's not get The EV Project confused with Nissan rollout. The entire state of California is included in the initial rollout. The Leaf will be available statewide this December, assuming there are enough to go around. :)
 
Maybe you have information that we do not have.

So far, around 5000 a month are expected (50,000 a year), right?

Presumably the EvProject (4700 vehicles) will get priority for first deliveries.

I have not seen anything that would indicate Nissan is planning to release the Leaf in areas without at least "some" J1772 charging stations installed.

Please, do you know otherwise? How?
 
Everyone will have the option of a home-based charge interface - therefore every Leaf owner can have an automatic 'starter' infrastructure. Since 90% of drivers don't run 100 miles, that non-problem is solved right from the opening gate.

The folks from Nissan made it clear that the I5 corridor is the first route to be electrified, followed by I10 from LA to Phoenix.

Here in San Antonio we have ten total 120V charge points and four 240V units - all 'public' use outlets provided by private parties - not a single J1772. And we won't need them for a good long while.
 
Perhaps that is the point: even though public 240v "sockets" exist there, that there is currently no way to use them to charge the Leaf, since the Leaf's 240v EVSE is apparently not "portable?
 
no problem with one of these in your trunk, a heavy duty extension cord to the 240V AC 50A outlet, and a cord/adapter set to the Leafs DC charging port. It will happen, it's just a matter of when. 2 hour recharge possible if you can get most of the 50A's of current.. (12KW)

http://www.manzanitamicro.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=42&category_id=14&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64

and

http://www.manzanitamicro.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61:pfc50detail&catid=42:info
 
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