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!

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

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

NATIONAL DRIVE ELECTRIC WEEK 2015

Well this would be my first time ever knowing about or going to any of these National Drive Electric Week events. I just got back from the San Mateo CA one today. I got to display my E-Golf there since I was the only one there with one to show off. It was a big hit and in fact I spent the whole time talking to people who wanted to know more about it, that I never had a chance to walk around the rest of the show! I'm hopefully going to make it to the one in Palo Alto tomorrow, and then the Cupertino one next weekend. I did talk to a fellow E-Golf driver who worked for Plugshare for a while and swapped stories and modification ideas. Overall it was a fun time and I'm glad I went to represent what I think is one of the best EV's out there. The only problem is that not many people even know about it. So in essence VW should be paying me for this...  seriously :).