This weekend is a big weekend for electric vehicles: Sunday,

September 23rd is National Plug In Day, organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association

For example, the Chicago area EV enthusiasts are gathering at the Christian Community Church parking lot,1635 Emerson Lane in Naperville, IL at 2pm to open the doors of dozens of electric cars and electric conversions to community members who want to talk to EV drivers and learn more about the cars.

Seattle's event will have plug-in vehicle owners parking our cars at Seattle Center around the International Fountain at 1pm, where they will post signs saying how many electric miles they have driven in their vehicles, and be prepared to answer questions from passers-by.

There are more than 50 events across the country!  Find an event near you and check out some awesome cars and show your support for the electric vehicle!

 

Tonight's second screening of Revenge of the Electric Car at the Tribeca Film Festival was followed by a 45-minute panel discussion with Dan Neil, Elon Musk, Chris Paine, Carlos Ghosn, and moderated by David Duchovny.  Actually, not just a panel discussion... a very vibrant, inspired, action-packed panel discussion.  Duchovny, a former electric Toyota RAV-4 owner and EV enthusiast, opened the talk by jumping right into the questions the audience members had on their minds after seeing the film.  What did they think of how they were portrayed?  What are Nissan's and Tesla's plans for the future and what has happened in EV development since the crew stopped filming?

Updates from the car makers were positive: Musk predicts Tesla will be paying off their Department of Energy loan ahead of schedule and sales of cars are up, while Ghosn claimed Nissan has a list of 250,000 people ready to buy the LEAF and his main problem now is that he can't build the cars fast enough to meet the high demand.  But auto journalist Dan Neil made sure to provide the checks and balances necessary to keep the car makers on their toes and into a heated conversation, not just a sales pitch for their cars, making them prove their claims with real facts, figures, and accurate projections.  At one point Neil said the battery technology is still at the bleeding edge of chemistry and engineering and that "you're not going to see EV semi-tractor trailers on the road any time soon."  To which Musk quickly replied, "yes you will."  The audience cheered.

Tonight's panel discussion illustrates what many EV enthusiasts have known for years- the technology isn't just coming, it's here, and electric cars in the mass market has a certain inevitability in the air.  What some audience members were most pleasantly surprised by would have to be the confidence of the car makers in electric vehicle technology.  The film follows these companies as they struggle to create the cars and take what most would call a huge gamble on the technology and the buying habits of the public.  But as Ghosn said in tonight's panel, "if you want to take a risk on something, this is a good one."

This summer Swiss visionary Louis Palmer and his friendly team made several stops in Southern California on their global whirlwind tour with their spectacular Solartaxi Electric Vehicle.  One of the stops was at AeroVironment in Simi Valley.