San Francisco's NDEW event

[Richard230]

Yesterday I received a message from the San Francisco NDEW organizer that their event this Saturday, for which I am registered to display my Zero, has had so many requests for entry of automobiles that they are having to limit the length of display times and they are warning that people showing up to display their EVs may be turned away due to the site's parking lot not being large enough to accommodate all of the entry requests.  Kind of makes me wonder where the visitors who are supposed to be checking out the EVs will park?  This could end up being a typical SF mob scene.

I guess electric vehicles are very popular in San Francisco.  Could it be the high gas prices? Or maybe it is the slow speeds and traffic jams that are prevalent in the city?   

[HadesOmega]

I went to the Cupertino electric drive event last week it was a little dead.  We had 3 Energica Evas though!  Been going for the last 3 years and it seems like it gets smaller every year =(

[Richard230]

The SF event last Saturday was pretty much a dud.  Just two Zeros showed up and the other fellow left after 30 minutes.  There were not even all that many cars being displayed and the only dealer that I saw was an e-bike distributor. Photos attached.

[HadesOmega]

Bummer did an folks come by and ask questions?

[Richard230]

Bummer did an folks come by and ask questions?

Yes, one.     Most of the people at the event were either vendors of stuff or ideas, or owners of the cars being displayed.  One nice fellow gave a ride in his car to a family visiting the event to show them what driving an EV was like.  By 1pm some of the parking spaces were being freed up as EV owners started to leave.  I left around that time, too.  The event was supposed to end at 4pm.

What really attracted the neighborhood was the 25th Sunset District Fair that was being held at the adjacent community center and library. There were hundreds of people attending that event and more were walking in all the time - and not bothering to even glance at the NDEW parking lot.  Early on I walked around it and took the attached picture, which doesn't even begin to show the scope of the Fair.

[HadesOmega]

Aww that's kinda sad.  At the one I went to there was a festival going on in the park across the street.  Some people came by and looked at the cars and stuff.  We had quite a bit of people come look at the motorcycles and ask questions.  A lot of people don't even know they exist =P

I got to test drive a Nissan Leaf.  The last Leaf I drove was the 1st gen ones boy has it come a long way.  They only had the 20kwh version though.  It was a nice car with lots of tech in it but crikeys $38,000 price tag!?  I got to swap bikes with one of the Energica owners too it's been a minute since I rode an Energica I still like it.  But it's amazing how much larger it feels compared to the Empulse.