Electrified Blondes in Convertibles For Everyone!

I have seen the future my friends and it looks exactly like a 76 degree January day filled with beautiful people driving gorgeous plug-in hybrid and plug-in electric cars.  Come with me now as I take you there…

And do not let anyone tell you that you must wait for this tomorrow, because you don’t.  It is already here today.  Your Greenius was there and I have the photos.

It looks like Mrs Greenius has found her next car!

Saturday, January 17, 2009, Santa Monica, California – Inaugural Parade West

Electric cars everywhere you looked, quiet as a mouse and making a total mockery out of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler who could have been making these cars for the last decade, but instead had to be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy and shame-filled failure before they would start even  talking about making these cars.

But now change has come to America, the people are more than ready, and the cars are here.  Only the car company’s are still waiting and still making and selling cars that contribute to global warming.  The Creative Greenius suggests you let those cars rot on the showroom floor.  No one needs to buy another new gas powered car.  Keep your old car, or buy an inexpensive used car.  Save your money.  The Plug-Ins are coming and you should wait till they get here before buying your next new car.  Otherwise you’ll just be buying a dinosaur that you’ll have to pay to convert or dispose of.

That’s Zan Dubin Scott speaking to a throng of press and public at the Santa Monica Civic.  She lives in a solar powered house and drives an electric car.  You could too.

Zan wants to make sure she gets Paul Scott’s intro right.  He’s one of the co-founder’s of Plug-In America and he’s also Zan’s husband.  Few have done more for the Plug-In Car movement.

Chris Paine, Director of “Who Killed The Electric Car” at the podium.  He has been part of this movement from the beginning.  Now he drives a Tesla.

Chris is currently working on the sequel to his blockbuster hit, “Revenge of the Electric Car” and had a crew shooting footage at the event.

That’s Ed Kjaer at the podium above.  Since 1999, Ed has been Director of the Electric Transportation Division at Southern California Edison. Besides knowing about as much as anyone about electric cars, Ed is a great speaker and one of the coolest guys you’d ever want to meet.  If everyone could hear Ed talk about the smart grid and how plug-in cars make it possible to inventory electricity then we’d already be building that grid today.

Another of my favorite people on the Southern California environmental scene is State Senator Fran Pavley who also spoke at the press conference. See, you really should have been there.  If you had been you would have heard the women I’m pegging as a future United States Senator from California.

In 2002 when she was just a freshman California Assemblywoman, this former school teacher worked with Bluewater Network (which later merged with Friends of the Earth ) to author the Assembly Bill that made California the first state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in automobiles.

From there she went on to author and spearhead AB 32 our Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.  So you KNOW I’m a huge supporter of hers and a big fan.

Speaking of women I’m fans of… That’s glamorous Plug-In America President Linda Nicholes and film and television star, Alexandra Paul, long known for her passionate advocacy of electric cars

When it comes to advocacy for Plug-Ins, Stefano Paris (below) has been everywhere and anywhere digitally documenting every key event and then sharing his work on the web site he hosts as his contribution to electrifying our transportation.  That’s Mr. Paris shooting new footage from the back seat of AC Propulsions’s E-Box.  Look for the footage soon as part of his event report on his web site.

There’s three different plug-in alternatives for you below, a Tesla, a Mitsubishi MiEV and a Plug-In hybrid coverted Prius.  Plug them in, charge them up, drive silent, drive clean.

You say you’re looking for something a little larger?

This might have been the most important electric vehicle at the parade.  It’s going to change the world of our Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.  Right now the dock workers and the people who live near the ports are choking on the worst air pollution anywhere in the area.  The ports need to go all electric and the groups whining and moaning about it need to stop killing people with their greenhouse gases and replace their old world equipment.  This driver told the press he loves his electric truck.

Toyota keeps talking about making a plug-in but don’t hold your breath till they bring it to market.  Meanwhile the plug-in EV RAV-4s they made in 1997-2003 are still working just fine – the ones they didn’t crush and actually allowed people to buy.

People use them every day in every way to do what they need a small SUV to do.  The batteries work just fine.  Imagine that.  You’d think the batteries couldn’t even get you out of the driveway the way Rick Wagoner at GM keeps making excuses and dragging his feet.

That’s right those are solar panels that all electric Toyota RAV4 is towing.  That’s EE Solar’s RAV4 and it has gone over 116,000 miles oil free.

A school teacher owns this car.  I spoke with one of his very proud students who was also taking photos of the car.

We can dump both Killer Coal and Big Oil by generating our electricity with solar panels and charging your electric car with the all clean, all green energy from the sun.  That’s what our friend Moira and her husband Dency do.

I told you the beautiful people were all there.

This is Tom Gage the President and CEO of AC Propulsion.  I’ve heard him speak at the Plug-In conference.  The man is brilliant and his company makes advanced technology products you can drive today.  If you can afford them.

This gentlemen in the green AC Propulsion shirt, clearly Tom’s stunt double, was at the event in Santa Monica, and although he is in fact also brilliant, he is not the actual Mr. Gage. He is none other than Paul Carosa, AC’s VP of Engineering, part owner, and one of the company principals.  There is no truth to the rumor there is cloning going on at AC Propulsion’s facility… unless you’re talking about the electric vehicles.

Proof of that is the actual electric plug-in EBox which was at the parade in all its glory.

Not only is this Stefano Paris’ favorite car, it’s Tom Hanks’ too. That “V2G” over the wheel stands for Vehicle to Grid.  You can read all about it in my Greenius guide to plug-ins and my coverage of Plug-In 2008.

And if we’re going to talk about movie stars I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Nicole Kidman of the Plug-In movement, the always radiant, Chelsea Sexton, was also on hand to share her first-hand experiences with GM’s ill-fated EV1 and the future of electric cars.

And of course, your never humble Creative Greenius was on the scene to bring you this first hand report with my own photos as well as the superb camera work by Debra Bushweit Galliani who took the following shots.

I’m sorry new President Barack Obama wasn’t able to join us in the gorgeous California sunshine and warmth.  I understand he was on the railroad train all day.

But he was here in spirit as the Santa Monica Civic parking lot and the surrounding streets were filled with Yes We Can people who are changing the world at every given opportunity.  I was very proud to be there to share the morning and the excitement with them and to continue to learn from some of the best.

It’s happening here in the Golden State my friends and soon there will be electrified blonds in convertibles for everyone because we are the straw that stirs the drink.

See?  One voice really can change the world.