Well, my Polarizing Tesla Pick Up got a mention on Inside EVs!

So after seeing lots of concepts for Tesla pick up trucks featured in articles I felt I needed to get something out there that I felt was more in line with what Elon described. While I don't believe it will look like this or may even be wilder, I did put on my sci-fi truck driven off a movie set for a weekend and came up with this. Following Elon's verbal descriptions from various on-line conversations I compelled this check list that lots of people must have missed:
1. "It will NOT follow conventional form factor"
2. "It looks like something driven off a sci-fi movie set"
3. "Many people may not like it, but I do, and worse case if not many buy it, we'll make a normal truck.. that's EASY."
4. "Will be as good a truck or better than an F-150, and a better sports car than a base 911"
5. "doing this will be hard... very hard" (I only spent a few days, so please be gentle :P )

I posted this on a few Facebook car design groups and the Tesla World Wide owners group... the results were very polarizing. While it got a lot of likes, those who didn't where vocal, but most of them were expecting a clone of an F-150.... not going to happen guys! This morning I was sent this article from INSIDE EVs. And haters are just as vocal, I just feel I'm doing my part to warm people up to expect something different. After all, if we kept doing the same ole same ole, we wouldn't have Tesla.

 Did this one quickly after a few "it's not rugged enough" comments:

 a packaging comparison to show the bigger bed etc..

Flame on!

Lease ended for the Voltzwagen...

So in November 2017 the lease on my 2015 VW eGolf expired. Now I had reserved a Tesla Model 3 2 years ago hoping that by then the Model 3 would be out... well it is.. sort of. At least to those who are employees, or current Tesla owners. Only recently, end of December 2017, did non owners start getting their configuration emails. My current estimated delivery isn't until Feb-April 2018, so rather than going back to gas, or buying some secondhand EV, I decided to purchase my eGolf and have it until my Model 3 becomes available. Since then many things have happened, for starters I moved from  the San Francisco bay area to... Texas!  And so far we love it! Cool thing is the eGolf is a very rare car out here as they don't sell them in TX right now. Bad part is the dealers don't have eGolf techs to fix things. Thankfully nothing has gone wrong with mine, aside from the charge port  getting stuck for a short period during a cold snap( I was able to fix it myself). So in the process of becoming a Texan and prepping for the change to a Tesla Model 3 I got the VOLTZWAGEN new plates! FUTURE3 because soon the eGolf will change to a Model 3 and I always wanted to drive the future, now it will be in the form of the game changing automotive icon, the Model 3!
      More to come as things get closer, but lots of new exciting EV's have come to light since my last posts!!! I got to see and sit in a Model 3 in Denton TX as an early owner did a cross country tour with his very own Model 3 (You You Xue), and it's far better in person than any photos!
cheers!
-Alx

You can see I had removed the fender decals here, because I was prepping to return the car, but decided to keep it. I may put them back on soon.

Actually reserved 2 Model 3's, one for first available, and the second to hold for the dual motor performance model down the road:)

here's is You You's Model 3 at the Denton Supercharger on Christmas Day, great guy, nice car, although it was cold that night! Will add a link to his road trip soon.

National Drive electric week is close at hand again! Be sure to check for your local events and if you have an EV to show off, then stop by, if you are still on the fence, stop by, take a ride, ask questions, talk to people who live with these cars everyday and see how they work in everyday life! I'll be showing and giving rides in mine!

Here's some more pics I've been hording, below is the new much bigger and much faster infotainmnet touch screen in the 2016 and newer model SEL's

Here's a shot of my car in for it's 10,000 mile "service" basically rotated the tires, topped off the wiper fluid and checked for any software updates... all for free:)

Here's a look under the hood, the plastic black cover makes it look more like a gas motor bay, but there is actually plenty of empty space in there and all this orange cables give it away.
Here's a window sticker from a 2016 e-Golf SEL. Lease rates can vary depending on availability at the time, but generally still around what I paid.

There are now over 9 or 10 e-Golfs at my workplace, mine of course still stands out :P thanks to my VOLTZWAGEN decals and wraped roof and mirrors!

Fun with bigger rims! Thanks to a generous donation of size via photoshop! See those rims look good, their just too small :)

Quick take #1

here's a quick video about my 10,000 mile service and the changes for 2016 models so far. One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that the cheaper SE model comes with a 3.3 kWh charger and not the SEL's 7.2kWh charger. That makes a big difference IMO.
Enjoy, please subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit like if you like these videos.
Thanks!

Alx

Episode 2 part one and two My impressions of other EV's

Here's a 2 part video of "why the E-Golf" and my driving impressions of the other available EV's at the time the E-Golf came out in November of 2014.

and don't forget to finish off with th shorter part 2!

enjoy! I know these are a bit long, but I promise the next ones I will keep to shorter bites!
thanks for watching and if you found these helpful them please let me know and pass them on to your friends!
cheers
-Alx

MotorWeek loves the e-Golf!

MotorWeek loved it's experience with the e-Golf. So much so they were sorry to see it go from their long term fleet.

Ramblings : Episode 1 : drive modes and charging

Here's the first full length video. Shot all with one Gopro Hero 3, edited in imovie at 2 am. Sorry for the odd audio and lots of 'ums'. I'll get better, promise. These are intended to be more 'owner's impressions rather than an official car 'review', there are plenty of those out there. So I thought I'd give real world impressions since I've had the car a while now. Subscribe to the youtube channel to keep updated when I upload new videos and follow this blog as well for more.
   Thanks for stoping by!
-Alx

Video Teaser!

Just had enough time to slap this teaser together for now. Full review to come.

NDEW 2015 conclusion

I took the EGolf to 3 Events this past week for NDEW2015 in Northern CA. I was the only VW egolf at all 3 events! I had a great time though, talked to a lot a cool people and probably sold more EGolfs than any salesman ever!

     I even had some people ask me what dealer I worked for! And most were shocked to find out it was my car and I was just there as the owner. They said that VW should have more enuthsiastic customers be the salesmen because I got them all excited about it and wanting to know more. I thought I was just being nice by asking if they had any questions😊.
          It was clear to me after the first few people came around that 99.9% of people don't even know the EGolf is real.... Many thought it was a prototype not for sale, a hybrid, a self made conversion, or a future model but not for real yet. this made several things really clear, VW sucks at advertising this car in the US. Dealers and VW corporate have made little attempt to show people the benefits of EVs like the EGolf in the US, and VW really does need to pay me for this!
          Talked to many people who were on the fence about EVs, or people who had a Leaf but we're looking for better options. Even one guy who had a BMW i3, but now wishes he waited a month for the eGolf to come out because he doesn't like the looks or the quirks of his i3, but loves the looks, price and better drive dynamics of the eGolf.
        The 'VOLTZWAGEN" was a hit for sure, and my clever little touches with the fender decals and my euro plate drew in many lookers, who then ended up asking all kinds of questions for quite a while. I even took a few for a ride to show them the smooth quite ride, and punchy acceleration it has.
       The events themselves were a mixed bag. One was hidden in an office parking lot. The other was at a house in a residential area, and the last one ,in Cupertino, was the biggest. But by no means what I was hoping for. I was hoping Tesla would've brought out the Model X for display. Chevy would've brought the 2016 Volt and even the concept Bolt, and Nissan would've had the 2016 Leaf there.... But zero of those things happened. Not even the big EV Rally happened.... Just a car show of EVs. There were in fact some cool conversion cars there, from a pick up to a Shelby Cobra EV and even a fellow Golf EV converted from a MK3 Golf. A few other home made contraptions and a single food truck rounded it out. Of course Nissan, Ford and Chevy had a presence there for test drives, but no VW, no Fiat, no BMW, not even Toyota was present.
         So although I was a bit disappointed in the events, I still had fun, and probably educated more than I learned, which leads me to believe I'm doing the right thing!

Stay tuned for my video review of the eGolf soon!
-ALX

Stay charged!

Just building this site up right now, but keep checking back as I will be adding photos, reviews and hopefully some videos about the VW e-Golf and other EV fun facts soon!