If you build them....

One of the aspects of being in the program that I have enjoyed the most so far has been talking to people that express interest in the car. Some people could care less, others ask a question or two and say something like "the auto manufacturers will never make these for us, it would make too much sense. Plus they're in bed with big oil anyway". But the last group, the one's who's eyes light up when they look at the decals on the car and realize they are looking at a zero emission vehicle, they're the ones I love to meet, and meet one I did today. I went to the bank this afternoon and when I came out there was a guy standing next to #250 admiring it. As I approached he looked at me and said "I've read about these. You don't know how jealous of you I am" I immediately knew this was going to take a while because he wasn't going to let me go before I answered all his questions. I wasn't in a rush, and I really love talking about the car, about our need to reduce the country's oil dependency, the need to reduce the greenhouse gasses we emit, and a host of other EV related issues. We stood there in the 90 degree heat for about ten minutes and I must have answered about 20 questions until I asked him the question he was dying to hear " Do you want to take it for a drive?" He lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. I handed him the keys and said "Lets go". We drove around town for about 10 minutes and I dropped him back off at the bank. He loved the cars power, the regenerative braking and the overall feel you get with an electric car, as it's really a different experience than driving a car with an internal combustion engine. He thanked me 100 times and told me he'd be reading this blog from now on. His parting words were the same thing I hear over and over again: " I just hope the car manufacturers finally realize that we want these cars, and that we'll buy then if they build them" You hear that BMW? GM? Ford? Chrysler? Toyota? Honda? etc.. Build them and we will come! And Robert, I enjoyed this afternoon as much as you did, keep the faith.