Cross Country EV caravan - Ride the Future Tour

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benswing said:
Thanks for posting the photos and following along. We've met some Leaf owners in Atlanta and Chattanooga so far. Looking forward to meeting some more!

Zero is not sponsoring the event, but I have met some of their guys and they are supportive.

I always ask before bringing my motorcycle into a hotel. People have been very gracious and generally let me charge in the foyer or the room without. Second thought. It surprised me at first, but now it has happened so often that I'm getting used to it.

We had an amazing visit to McMinnville and talked to a lot of interested people.

We've got some great pictures of Terry riding through the lobby of the hotel. We did a tour of ZERO on Friday (sorry, no pics allowed in the R&D dept). I think I like their motorcross bike which could replace my numerous oil burning bikes.

We did a stop at Brammo electric motorcycle, also, in Ashland, Oregon. Thry had just had a battery fire, so things were somewhat out of whack. That's about it for EV motorcycles and scooters for our rally. The rest of our event was devoted to EV's and the industry that makes it possible on the west coast. Our checkpoints included AC Propulsion, Tesla factory, museums with EV's, etc.

So far, the coolest thing has been Elon Musk signing one of our cars. Anyhoo, keep spreading the good EV word.
 
benswing said:
I always ask before bringing my motorcycle into a hotel. People have been very gracious and generally let me charge in the foyer or the room without. Second thought. It surprised me at first, but now it has happened so often that I'm getting used to it.

That's great that they're so accommodating! I've heard too many stories of push-back on EV drivers asking for a charge. I'm starting to get some slack myself at work for getting free fuel during the day (from coworkers, not the company - they are cool with it). I just stopped charging at all.

TonyWilliams said:
We've got some great pictures of Terry riding through the lobby of the hotel. We did a tour of ZERO on Friday (sorry, no pics allowed in the R&D dept). I think I like their motorcross bike which could replace my numerous oil burning bikes.

I didn't know they were working on a motorcross bike, that's great! I hope in the near future, they branch out to more power sports - dirt bikes, ATVs and the like. My 4-year-old son is starting to show a lot of interest in that type of thing, I'd love to get him something electric in a few years...
 
GetOffYourGas said:
TonyWilliams said:
We've got some great pictures of Terry riding through the lobby of the hotel. We did a tour of ZERO on Friday (sorry, no pics allowed in the R&D dept). I think I like their motorcross bike which could replace my numerous oil burning bikes.

I didn't know they were working on a motorcross bike, that's great! I hope in the near future, they branch out to more power sports - dirt bikes, ATVs and the like. My 4-year-old son is starting to show a lot of interest in that type of thing, I'd love to get him something electric in a few years...

Here in Fremont, California at the Teslive event, I rode a $38,000 electric BICYCLE and one of the ZERO street bikes.

Pretty fun time. Terry Hershner road along on a different ZERO demo street bike. They had a static display of the off road bike, but no real batteries in it.
 
Here's a quick update on our progress across the country in all electric vehicles. Oklahoma turned out to be an exciting state to visit these past couple of days.

Went noodling for the first time and caught a 40-45 lb catfish! Noodling is fishing by finding a hole, putting your hand blindly into it and grabbing the fish by the mouth. It was awesome!
969740_764216811308_418038474_n.jpg


On the leg to OK City we stopped by Moore to help clean up after the Tornado wreckage. We saw stretches of town that were several miles long that were completely leveled by the tornado. Not even trees were there because they had been uprooted. We picked up rubble on the property where a house used to stand and found children's books, a shoe, a shirt and other things that showed people lived there recently. Even though the tornado hit 2 months ago (to the day), there is a massive amount of work to do. Just wanted to do my part.

If you can spare some change and donate to https://servemoore.com/give/, I would really appreciate it. I saw their operation firsthand and they are a well organized group of volunteers.

Here I am next to the wheelbarrow and pile of rubble we removed from the property so the family can rebuild.
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So Ben, why did you skip Phoenix? Northern AZ has very few EVs/charging stations compared to Phoenix. I'm surprised! We would have had a very large group to meet you here.
 
Southern California LEAFers can come out to welcome the Ride the Future Tour group to the west coast at two meetup opportunities on Friday, Aug 9 and Saturday, Aug 10.

On Friday, we'll be meeting at the group's hotel parking lot in Orange County between 4 pm and 6 pm (depending on the group's arrival time). Everyone will be very welcome to join us. Bring your LEAF or other EV. After a brief meetup and chat, the group will be heading for Newport Beach to hang out and get to see the Pacific Ocean after having departed from the Atlantic at the start of their trip. LEAFers and other EVers will be welcome to convoy with them to the beach and hang out there.

On Saturday, the group will be in LA and eventually hanging out on the Santa Monica Pier between 5 pm and 7 pm. Interested LEAFers, and other EVers are very welcome to join them on the Pier.

Details in the So Cal LEAF Branch thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9695&start=520" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
for a cross country tour, the group (ben excluded) sure dont meet up on time, attempt to meet with the public, or interact with its fans much.
 
The Ride The Future Tour will be meeting in two locations in Orange County this afternoon and evening, Friday, Aug 9:

1) at 4 pm, Comfort Inn parking lot, 23061 Avenida de la Carlota, Laguna Hills: meetup with local LEAF drivers and any other EV or interested folks.

2) at 6 pm, Balboa Pier and Cabo Cantina, Newport Beach. Hang out, press and maybe TV coverage.

Please plan to come to one or both stops if you can make it.

They also plan to be at the Santa Monica Pier charging area between 5 pm and 7 pm, Saturday, Aug 10.
 
gasmiser1 said:
Any word on a meeting/showing public appearance in San Luis Obispo tomorrow?

No, but if you "Like" the group on Facebook, they send out updates about a day ahead of each stop.

Here is a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RideTheFutureTour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By the way, I'm sure that you're aware that charging opportunities along the Big Sur coast are have to come by. If you can be of any help with ideas or strategy for them, I encourage you to comment on Facebook.
 
Yes, I have been following them on Facebook. Recently, team member Duane contacted me to charge up at my Cambria home while they stay in San Simeon near Hearst Castle. The LEAF and at least one motorcycle will charge here.

Additionally, I told them about Ragged Point Hotel and restaurant , plus a couple of other stops along the way to Big Sur.(all L1 outlets)

Once they leave my home in Cambria, there aren't any more L2 charging opportunities until the Big Sur campground.
 
Duane mentioned to me that he had found a charging benefactor in Cambria and I was wondering whether that was you, after I noticed your location. Very nice of you to help out.


I was following Tony Williams' progress when he did the trip north in his LEAF last year, and one thing I recall is that many of the businesses along Rt 1 are powered by generator and they were not willing to allow any kind of charging. Duane was wondering what other EV drivers had done to get through that stretch. I told him that Tony drove part of the route at 10 mph in the wee dark hours of the morning. Sounds like you might have found some good alternatives. Even L1 is better than nothing and much appreciated in a pinch. In fact, the scooters and the A2B bicycles are using 110 V outlets and lots of battery swapping for all of their charging.

If you feel like it, please post here about your experience with the crew visiting you place.

Cheers.
 
Glad to help. It's so frustrating trying to convince local businesses here on the Central Coast to install an EVSE charging dock. Businesses can't relate without EV ownership, per my experience.

As one heads North from San Luis Obispo, public charging opportunities fall off a cliff to be non existent.

I'll post an update after the group comes by this Tuesday for charging up at my home :D
 
A few comments about our meetup with the RTFT group in Laguna Hills and Newport Beach last Friday night.

The RTFT was the brain child of Susan Arciero of Xenon Motors, which markets electric scooters. She dreamed up a cross country tour from Charleston SC to Google in Mountain View. Nissan was the only EV maker who wanted to participate and they provided a 2013 LEAF SL and a driver, Duane, who retired from Nissan's Infiniti division recently. In addition to Susan and her daughter with two of the Xenon scooters, they have two riders on A2B electric bicycles, with support from an A2B company staffer, and Ben, who is riding a Zero electric motorcycle. Just recently, Terry, who placed 2nd on his heavily modified Zero motorcycle in Tony Williams' recent BC to BC Rally, has joined the Tour group for the rest of the way to Mountain View. A three-man film crew headed by Jonathan Becker is making a documentary about the Tour, called "We're Getting There".

On Friday, Forum members Garygid, LeafyD, JeremyW and I met with the group at their hotel in Laguna Hills for a lively talk about the electric transportation and the progress and challenges we've seen. We had a free wheeling discussion, some of which was filmed by Jonathan and the crew. Later on, Jeremy and I met the group at Balboa Pier, where they got to dip their feet in the Pacific for the first time since leaving the east coast.

We were very interested in the methods that the group used to charge in their cross-country adventure. Duean, the LEAF driver mostly charged at campsites using the 50 Amp RV connections that are so familiar to long distance EV drivers. He also was able to use the receptacles for the wall AC units in motel rooms. He is carrying three EVSEs, including a standard portable AV unit, as well as what appeared to be a small prototype AV unit and a standard Nissan Level 1 unit. He said that the only DC QC that he had used was at Nissan HQ in Nashville although he was thinking of getting a quick charge on Saturday at either Tustin Nissan or Connell in Costa Mesa before heading for LA.

The Zero motorcycles can use L2 J1772 connectors, and I know that Terry's modified Zero cycle can use multiple J1772 connectors to charge at something like 12 kW.

The Xenon scooters and the A2B bicycles are using 110 V household current wherever they find it, and they use extensive battery swapping. The scooters have a range of about 120 miles, and the bicycles can go about 25 miles on a charge.

Here are a few pictures:

IMG_1602s.jpg
The 2013 LEAF SL piloted by Duane, with Susan's Xenon electric scooter.

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JeremyW, Garygid, LeafyD and Terry with Terry's awesome modified Zero bike

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Ben tries out my Stromer electric bike.
 
More pictures from Friday night in Newport

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Jeremy on the Balboa Ferry

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The group poses in front of the Balboa Inn

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First touch of the Pacific
 
Thanks for the great writeup Phil, I should have some pictures tomorrow afternoon, with more next week. Sent off the film this afternoon. :cool:

And yikes I need to keep going to the gym. :?
 
The group came by my house in Cambria today to charge up the 2013 LEAF and the 2 Zero motorcycles. Terry's Zero was highly modified with multiple on board chargers to juice up super fast. Really neat to meet and help out with the group's charging needs. Next stop will be Big Sur campground for the night. Cambria to Big Sur will be approx. a 74 mile ride without any public charging. I mentioned to them that Ragged Point Hotel and Lucia, CA might be the only 120 vt outlets along Highway 1.
 
Ride The Future Tour is asking for a big turnout at Google HQ tomorrow, Friday, Aug 16, 5pm, for the end of their cross country 44 city EV tour.

If you are in the area, please consider turning out to meet and support this amazing team.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=310382479107265&set=a.208331845978996.68372.208306649314849&type=1&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
The trailer for the film about the Ride the Future Tour is ready! The film will be called "Kick Gas".

The producers are looking for sponsors and an Executive Producer to help with finish funding. If you know someone who is connected and would like to participate, please share the trailer with them.

Please watch the trailer linked below. Early in the trailer you might glimpse me in the black shirt smiling next to Terry Hershner as he talks about the batteries in his e-bike.

(Note: I have no connection or financial interest in the film or the project, I'm just a fan and I enjoyed meeting the participants during the tour.)

Here's the link to the trailer.

https://vimeo.com/89461695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
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