National Drive Electric Week

I think it would be great to release the graphic. I'd certainly get one made for my self and wife. If I find the other owner in Las Vegas I'd have one made for them as well.

 

I hope to pick up my test T-shirt tomorrow. If it looks good, I'll post the front and rear graphics. If it doesn't look good, I'll make revisions and post those graphics.

 

Excellent! Thank you.

 

The T-shirt looks OK printed on the dot-matrix printer my local T-shirt shop uses for 1-off shirts. The fade-out at the edges wasn't as fadey as I'd like, but I'm happy with the result so here are the PDFs for the front and rear. They are transparent-background PDFs, meant to go on a colored background (black for me)--they won't work on a white T-shirt. When I used the T-shirt company's rented design software (Inksoft, I believe), I put the front graphic as high as possible and centered the rear graphic between the shoulder blades. Here's the actual shirt with rear wheel skirt courtesy of @KentuckyKen,

 

Is there text in white that is not showing up in the PDF file?

 

Yes. I used a transparent-background PDF because I wasn't sure if I used a black background it would match the black color of the T-shirt. Here's the result:



If you have a local T-shirt shop that has a website that lets you design your own T-shirt, pick a colored T-shirt, import one PDF file for the front (position the graphic at the top) and import the other PDF file for the rear (center the graphic between the shoulders). If that's a problem, tell me what color you want the background to be and I'll be happy to email you a PDF file with that background.

 

So far results here have been poor. One place wants a minimum of 36 in more that 2 colors. Another needs a really small (i.e. pixelated) file. I'm going to get on the phone Monday and start calling.

 

I've done a couple of things with Zazzle
I set it up and could "sell it" in their store if I cerified I had the rights to the images. $28.95 for a qty of 1.

@insightman - you own the images and could do this. They give you a minimum of 5%

T-Shirt
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People on this board could then order in the size/color they wanted and I'm sure wouldn't mind you making a dollar or two.

 

Ann Arbor Tees, the company that made my T-shirt, accepts up to a 10 MB file and another company in the area, Underground Printing, can do the same. They both use InkSoft software to let people design their own garments. Perhaps you could call InkSoft and ask if a T-shirt store near you uses their software. Their support number is 800-410-3048.

 

Went to Zazzle. $29 for the shirt. Another $25 to get it here before the 14th. Yikes! And no.

I'll call. Thanks.

 

I apologize for getting the T-shirt graphics out too close to the deadline to be economically feasible.

 

Hey, no problem! I'm still looking into local places. You did great! If I can't get one locally I'll order one for the next show. Now to keep the weight down so it still fits next year...

 

Time to plug my event now

I don't think we have any Clarity PHEV's registered, but will have my BEV and one from FORTH (available for test drives). Local dealer would have been happy to bring the PHEV and provide test drives at the event, and was signed up to do so. But, since we aren't in California...

Owner cars:
Tesla Model 3 15
Chevrolet Bolt 5
Nissan Leaf (2011-2017) 5
Tesla Model X 2
Toyota Prius Prime 2
Audi e-tron 1
BMW i3 REx 1
Chevrolet Volt 1
Chevy Spark EV 1
Corbin Sparrow 1
Fiat 500e 1
Ford Focus Electric 1
Honda Clarity Battery Electric 1
Nissan Leaf (2018+) 1
Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid 1
Tesla Model S 1
Think City 1
Toyota RAV4 EV (2012 and later) 1
Volkswagen e-Golf

We'll have multiple dealers giving test drives (new and used) and will be giving away a couple of $2,500 prizes good towards a purchase or lease. We also have something on tap not likely to be seen at any other event (we'll actually have two!):


Registrations start to pick up a bit in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully a Clarity or two will sign on. Right now the local dealer has a couple of CPO units, and I will probably borrow one of those for display if they still have one.

The good news is we always get a lot of folks without EVs that register and/or attend, which is pretty much the whole point. Right now non-ev attendees are at about 50%. Portland General Electric customers will get info about the event in their September bill, and social media and radio promotions start next week.

If you are in the Portland area, drop by!

https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1949

 

Just came from a Cambridge MA event that got cut short due to rain. Not a huge turnout but there were a few people interested in hearing about the Clarity. Most had (of course) never heard of the car. Everyone was surprised by the EV range and gas fuel economy. I did hear a lot of skepticism about going full EV even with the decent charging infrastructure we have in MA.

The funniest part was to find that Toyota sales people are as clueless as Honda’s are. Toyota registered their plug in and the salesman showed up with the hybrid. He literally brought the wrong car.

Jaguar sponsored the event and was giving test drives of their new EV. Impressions were not good. The car was underpowered and ponderous. Tesla has nothing to fear on that front.

 

Next Sunday in Northbrook, Illinois, there are 2 Clarity registered, eager to see the second one, since i haven't seen another Clarity in Chicagoland yet.

 

Two in Las Vegas. Quite a bit of interest shown. Answered a lot of questions. I told people to sit in it and got similar reactions, "Wow, this is beautiful!" "It's so big." A lot of surprised reactions at the size of the trunk. Most people loved the styling (surprise!). The Crimson Pearl got a slew of positive reactions. 47 miles on electric with the size of car got their attention.

The other owner, Lan, has a base modern steel metallic with grey interior. Really nice color and color combo.

 

I took my Clarity to the Montpelier Drive Electric today. Mine was the only Clarity. No one had ever heard of it except the one other Clarity owner who dropped by to chat. In VT, people are so used to dinky cars that they are not really interested in a larger car because they "know" they can't be efficient. Or they are looking for 4 wheel drive. The Clarity looked enormous amidst the Teslas, Leafs (Leaves?), Volts, Bolts, Ioniqs, etc.

The most interested person was a Florida snowbird who drives a Buick LeSabre. I told her that she would probably not be troubled by the loss of EV range in the winter because it is warm there all the time and when it gets too hot she is in VT. I told her that her 1,400 mile drive to FL would be a piece of cake and she would not have to suffer with range anxiety. If I could drive 1,500 to KS, she could drive to FL.

I looked around, but was not eaten up with envy. The Teslas seemed nice (I like bright red), but when the guy talked about how he could go from 0-60 in 3.? seconds, my eyes glazed over. I also realized that I am not organized enough to drive to KS in a Tesla. I would have to actually think about where and when to charge etc. Also, I charge on 120v. I would have to think about timing my charging because it would take so long to charge from empty. I can barely remember when my Fitbit needs charging.

 

Just got home from the Hattiesburg, MS, event which - despite temps in the mid-90s and a heat index of 106 - was very well-attended with a plethora of M6 and M3, four Bolts (not sold in our state), a Leaf (from a local dealership), an i3, a Volt, a Ford C-max Energi and me. The Volt owner and I took turns explaining serial vs parallel hybrid systems and a surprising number of Tesla owners were very interested in the Clarity: They expressed appreciation of the rear seat room, the size of the trunk and the pearlescent paint. The most common reaction was, "It's so BIG for a Honda!"

 

Actually, a Tesla will set up a charging "schedule" for you in its navigation system or you can visit the Tesla trip-planner on their website.

When it can plug itself in (and I am richer than I am now or the price comes down by many $K), I will buy a Tesla.