Nissan is about to drink GM’s milkshake with a breakthrough, affordable, next generation electric car that will be beat the Chevy Volt to market, cost half as much and work twice as well. Plus it looks ten times cooler.
If you’re like me you would have found yesterday’s gathering in Santa Monica a very sexy day at the beach. And by sexy I mean hot and arousing, the way I get when serious people talk serious talk about renewable energy, about the revolution that’s needed to respond to climate change and about the reality of current world situation. You know, the kind of stuff never discussed on television or in the newspapers anymore. The kind of stuff that transcends the bread and circuses offered to the masses today.
The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Parking Lot post Roundtable
But let’s face it, I’ve got a pretty unconventional sense of sexy and as one of the ace marketers of my generation I know what brand of sex sells best to the people. That’s why I’d always like the features and benefits of any product I introduce to the mass market to be pointed out by someone like the young woman in the sunglasses above. Having the world’s greatest car is nice. But knowing how to sell it best is the kind of genius I can appreciate.
That’s just one reason I spent 12 hours on behalf of the South Bay Environmental Services Center talking to people at the Palos Verdes Street Fair last weekend. And when you hear the questions folks ask at events like these you instantly realize just how little people know and understand about what’s happening to our climate and their world. Most have no idea. It’s not their fault either – their local governments and the mainstream media have failed them big time. That’s certainly the case here in Torrance, California where I live and work.
The good news is that positive things ARE happening and our efforts are starting to make a difference. It’s all happening excruciatingly too slowly of course, and at the pace we’re currently on we are quite simply as doomed as doomed can be – but in the meantime it IS starting to happen and the first signs of momentum are now starting to show. As all Lakers and NBA fans know, if you’ve got Mr. Momentum wearing your jersey you’re going to go on a scoring run. It’s a slam dunk.
That’s my friend, Dency Nelson, with his EV RAV4 at last year’s EPN Energy Fair. Dency charges his plug-in electric car using the clean, renewable energy he produces from the solar panels on the roof of his Hermosa Beach house.
They’re each great examples of how well solar works here in the South Bay, but only Dency’s house will feature your Creative Greenius as a volunteer docent. I’m just saying…
Reliable sources inform your Creative Greenius that Manhattan Beach is about to be named the first Southern California city to be part of BMW’s test of the new plug-in Mini E, the EV version of the popular Mini Cooper.
It’s true, I have declared it thus this very day, marking this date as the beginning of the end of the Exxon/Mobil era.
Consider this fair and legal warning, world’s largest and most polluting oil company – I’m giving you 10 years to pack up and hit the road. Otherwise I will have you evicted and we will seize your assets. Mark your calendar and let’s start collecting empty moving boxes for our poison pals in petroleum.
Last year your Creative Greenius was on the scene in San Jose, California providing the most straight-forward, brutally frank and insightful coverage of anyone at the event.
This year Plug-In 2009 will be on my turf here in So. Cal. and once again I’ll be giving you the unvarnished Greenius straight from Iowa on the Beach
Legendary singer-songwriter and electric car advocate, Neil Young is out with his latest song and it could easily become the first anthem for the rapidly blowing-up EV movement in America. The rockin’ number is a tribute to Neil’s innovative and totally Greenius re-powering of his 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible with plug-in electric power.
Tonight, in the latest adventures in LincVolt, Neil Young and the LV Team went out for another test drive.
On this journey, viewers experienced an extraordinary first — Neil debuted a song while driving. Singing to a soundtrack on his Mac laptop, Neil performed the new song “Johnny Magic” while playing air guitar.
The song is dedicated to Neil’s mechanic Johnathan Goodwin.
Right after the jump, TWO great video versions of this new instant classic:
1. Frank doesn’t know too much about electric cars and didn’t do much research before recording his segment.
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2. Frank doesn’t like electric cars very much and doesn’t want you to either.
I immediately began to wonder why. Why was Frank hating on EVs? What’s behind Frank’s bete noir car thing with EV’s? Why did he call his report, “Electric Cars Still Years Away?” Does he really believe that fairy tale?
This was a mystery that only the Greenius could solve.