Four Chevy Volts and a Tesla Roadster Come to Visit My MINI-E!

The parking lot of my restaurant today was an EV supporters dream!
 In addition to my MINI-E and my friends Tesla Roadster, we had four Chevy Volts stop by and hang out for the afternoon. That's right, there were four Chevy Volts in one place today and it wasn't a GM assembly line! There are only 15 Volts in the entire country on the road being driven by private citizens (The Volt Consumer Advisory Board Members) and four of them were in my parking lot for about three hours this afternoon. Lyle Dennis from GM-Volt.com and I organized the event. We had a bunch of people stop by and ask questions about the cars, the CAB members even gave some people test drives in their volts and Lyle even let me drive his volt for a while which was a great experience.

The car is everything it has been billed to be. It was powerful, had smooth acceleration, was nimble and felt like I was driving a luxury car, not at all like an economy car. You can't compare the driving experience to that of a Prius, which many people are trying to compare the volt to. I've driven a 2010 Prius, and it isn't in the volts league at all, not even close.

I would like to thank Lyle and the other three volt CAB members Mike Maria, Eric Rotbard and Robert Becker, as well as Michael Thwaite for bringing his Tesla roadster by. It was great to meet everybody and talk electric cars for a while. Reducing our oil dependency can be a lot of fun sometimes!

You can also check out Lyle's GM-Volt.com blog for more details on the day, he's going to do a post on the event tomorrow (Sunday 11/14)

I have to repeat how impressed I was with the volt. In my opinion GM has really nailed it with this car. The fit and finish was very good, it was very nimble and responsive and had that great quiet driving experience of an electric vehicle that I have come to really appreciate. I'm betting these cars will sell very well for a long time. It is definitely the best EREV/hybrid option available on the market today.

I'm Hosting a Chevy Volt Party!

Lyle Dennis of GM-Volt and I have put together a Chevy Volt meet for this Saturday, November 13th from 11am to 2pm at my restaurant, Nauna's Bella Casa in Montclair NJ. Lyle is a member of GM's Consumer Advisory Board for the Volt and along with the other members, got his Volt yesterday. Lyle spoke to two other CAB members here on the East Coast and they too plan on bringing their Volts also.


This should be a really great way to get a look at one of the most anticipated cars in modern history before they are available to the public. We will have the cars on display in the restaurants parking lot.

Nauna's Bella Casa
148 Valley Road
Montclair, NJ 07042
www.naunas.com

Very few people have had an opportunity to see this car so far, much less three of them at one location. I'll have the MINI-E there also, but this is really going to be a Volt day! More details on the event  later. You can also check out Lyle's GM-Volt blog for information.

Update: There will also be a Tesla Roadster there on display as well as my MINI-E so it will be a really great showing for the future of electric transportation.

Mini-E East Coast Meet Up #2 details

The second Mini-E East Coast meet up was held at Nauna's Bella Casa in Montclair, NJ on Sunday, November 8th from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. The meet went very well, as we had 14 Mini-E pioneers, two MINI representatives and a surprise guest, a Tesla roadster. We all chatted for a while outside and then moved into the restaurant to a fine lunch of pizza, wraps, fried calamari and shrimp. When we were finished, we were treated to custom made MINI-E cake (see picture) prepared by a friend of mine, Linda Viscardi. It was great to see some of the other Mini-E participants as well as Marian & Hugo from Mini, whose attendance is really appreciated.
Here's a rundown of the attendees:

Stuart Greenberg (#277), Paul Heitman (#484), Chris Neff (#402), Ian Stocks (#495), Gordon Miller(#217), Robert Hooper (#304), Cliff Saunders (249), Justin Stokes (#368), Paul Eng (#339), Jim Mclaughlin (#458), Ken Barbour (#466), Tim Gill (#486), me (#250) & Don Young (#364) who unfortunately got stuck in New York City traffic and arrived just as everyone was leaving but stayed for a while to chat.
Plus Marian Hawryluk and Hugo VanGeem from MINI USA and Michael and Pamela, the owners of Tesla roadster #T566.

Mini E Meet-Up Part Two is set for Nov. 8th

Calling all East Coast Mini-E field trial participants! On Sunday, November 8th at Nauna's Bella Casa, 148 Valley Road in Montclair, NJ we will be holding the second East Coast Mini-E group meeting. The first meeting we had on August 22nd was a very informative exchange of experiences and questions. There will be MINI representatives there to answer questions and to get feedback from us. Lunch will be served to the trial participants at NO COST. Please RSPV to me at: tom.moloughney@gmail.com so I can plan the food side of the meeting and have a table set up for the group to meet at. Bring your stories, ideas, cameras, appetite and of course, your Mini E! There is a 60amp charger on site to charge up before you head home.