The All-New Smart ForTwo (453) Electric Drive: Reviewed

It's been a hot minute since I've posted about my antics in the EV world. I'm sorry for that, but if you're not following me on Twitter, you should be! That's where the up to the minute stuff happens. I recently took an Amtrak to Memphis, by way of New Orleans, as part of a mini-vacation and also family business trip (dad has a car he wants me to sell, one that isn't electric). This trip afforded me a wonderful opportunity: I could stop in at the Smart Center of Buckhead, in Atlanta, and test drive the new 453 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. The manager for the Smart center is Mr. Emmanuel Lindsey, and he is one of the most knowledgeable Smart ED folks I've ever met. At the time of my visit, they only had a single electric that was available to test drive -- but they had three that had just been unloaded from the truck and were awaiting their pre-delivery inspections. So, what did I think about the EPA lower-rated, higher horsepower second act?

In short, I like it a lot and would recommend it. I can't say I love it, and I'll get into why in a moment. First, let's look at what Smart got right. The 453 has a greatly improved suspension: instead of jarring you over speed bumps and pot holes like the 451, it almost floats over them. I've been told, by the now defunct Smart center of Cary, that the Smart 453 shares the same front suspension as the current C-Class. It certainly feels like it, as the handling is head and shoulders above the outgoing model. The new car also features height adjustable seats -- helpful since they did not add a tilt or telescoping steering wheel. All Smarts now have cruise control, auto up/down on both windows, and a bluetooth radio as standard features. Much to my dismay, but probably to the delight of many, the ignition switch was put on the steering column instead of being directly in front of the gear shifter. Other notable improvements included better headroom in the coupe (which matters for someone of my 6 foot 3 inch stature), and a tighter turning radius! The new electric motor has a little more horsepower (80HP, up from 74HP). The battery has stayed the same, at 16.7kW. I was really delighted to find out that the go pedal still has the kick-down button (this is a stopper that limits you to 75% engine power output, you had to press harder to engage 100% power to the motor). They also included a charging indicator light, which glows white to illuminate the charging port when you first open the charge port door.

Another notable departure is that the dual-gauge pods are a single gauge pod, showing % Motor Power and % State of Charge (Battery) in easy to read analogue gauges. The center cluster is nicely done, updated with a color display that easily relays all the information you'd expect: charge level, speed, miles, range estimate, and even suggestions on prolonging your driving range. Despite being 300lb heavier (2450lb vs 2150lb on the 451 ED), the new model still zips right along with ease carrying two passengers.

The model I test drove had less than 20 miles on it. The range estimator, with a 100% charge level, said 39 miles. It dropped to 37 miles when Emmanuel turned on the AC. During our test drive -- which included a small freeway stint --

the range estimator continued to clime up to 49 miles of range, at 95% power when we returned back to the dealership. Upon returning, Mr. Lindsey showed me the two Electric Cabriolets that were pending delivery inspection. The new cabriolet has a quieter top motor, and it opens the roof in about 10 seconds -- a 3 second improvement on the older model. Unfortunately, Smart decided to redesign the tailgate. This is why I can't say I love the 453. The new tailgate isn't as deep as it used to be, and the top's rails are stored standing up, as opposed to laying flat, so they protrude into your cargo space when stowed. That's a big problem for such a small storage compartment. While we are talking tailgates, they also eliminated the charger-in-the-tailgate on all models, instead offering a clip-in hard wall bag to store the unit in. The bag could also be used to stored bottles, cans, or loose vegetables.

Overall, I think that the improvements outweigh the caveats. I'm not ready to upgrade, but should something happen to Gopher, I'd certainly consider the new model. I also want to thank Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead for retaining their Smart Center franchise. I've got a gallery link of all the photos I took here. Check them out, and if you are in NC and want a Smart 453 ED, Mr. Lindsey said that they would ship the car right to your door from their Atlanta dealership.

Delivering Jason's 500e to South Carolina

This post is being back-dated, as I forgot to write it up when it happened.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my friend Jason bought this robins egg blue Fiat 500e. When he drove his Mercedes C250 up to Raleigh, he asked me a lot of questions about living with my electric Smart car for a year. He told me that if he could get into one for under $200/mo, it would be saving him money and it would save his a hefty over mileage fee on his Mercedes lease. I asked him what he thought about Fiat's, and he said he liked them, so on Sunday we went to Westgate Imports which had 15 used 500e's on the lot. He fell in love with a $9,998 low mileage 2015, which he bought and I agreed to deliver it to his home (380 miles away).

I had my route fully planned: Tanger in Mebane, Havana Phil's in Greensboro, Mallard Creek Park and Ride in Concord, Lowell County Library, overnight in Columbia at my friend's house, then a charge at Fountain Inn before making it to Columbia, SC. Each location was between 70 and 80 miles apart, well within the range abilities of the Fiat. The initial stop went as planned, Tanger was not busy and I was able to plug in quickly. I was reading Paul Orfalea's autobiography Copy This!, and grabbed a tea from one of the restaurants before taking off for Greensboro. This is where I hit a snag. I'd used Havana Phil's charger back in April when I drove my Smart ForTwo Electric Drive Cabriolet to the Greensboro Odyssey event. However, Phil's single-plug ChargePoint was giving a charging error on the Fiat. I won't lie, I had a moment a panic...had the on board charger failed? I pulled out my phone and found that the Greensboro Coliseum had installed a ChargePoint dual plug station just a few weeks ago. I had 20% power, so I was able to get there easily.

As I was plugging in, a maintenance guy in a truck drove past. 10 minutes later, as I'm reading my book with the AC on, four maintenance guys roll up on a golf cart and ask me a million questions about the car. They'd never seen anyone use the charger, didn't know how it worked, and couldn't believe I was driving this car 380-miles using free charging infrastructure. The local's recommended Stamey's Barbecue for lunch, noting that President Bush had eaten there. The food was good, and they didn't rush me from the counter after I finished my food and camped out reading my book for an hour.

My next charge wouldn't be until Concord, at a park and ride. I had one staff member inquire about the car while I was waiting. Keep in mind, I'm spending 3 to 4 hours at each location to recharge this car. I had one more charge stop before I'd reach my overnight in Greenville, which was the Lowell County Library in Belmont, NC. Due to the crazy traffic, I took back roads to get from Concord to Belmont. This was the only time I've ever seen an EV charger that was placed on a sidewalk. It was truly the strangest location, almost an after thought. However, I wasn't the first car to use it. I was really glad it existed, because I would not have made it to Greenville otherwise. 

The drive to Greenville was not smooth, it was late at night and I missed an exit and had to take a longer way to my destination. I was really scared, because the battery had been at 0% for at least two miles. I got to my friends street and couldn't find his house. Finally, I managed to get to his home and plug in. I'd been on the road for right at 12 hours at this point. My friend had swapped over a 6R20 plug for me, but the circuit wasn't upgraded to be a 20A 240v, so I had to charge on Level 1 speeds. That was OK, as I planned to get a full sleep and only needed to go 20 miles for my next charging stop at Fountain Inn. 

This was the second most annoying stop behind the Park and Ride because there was nothing to do. I had to wait an hour for the Subway to open, on a Saturday, so I could get breakfast. However I only needed 2.5 hours here to make it to Jason's house. I left Fountain Inn and drove down 26 at highway speeds with the AC and Cruise Control on. I arrived at Jason's house with 30% battery leftover, and used my charging adapters to fully charge the car from his oven's power outlet before he got home. When we got home, he drove me in the Fiat downtown and we located all the charging stations he would be using. He treated me to a meal, and then dropped me back off at his house so I could wait for my friend Nate to pick me up and take me back to Raleigh.  It was quite the adventure -- and not something I'd want to do frequently. However, the fact that it could be done is what's important.

Mission: Myrtle Beach

Let's talk about the trip stats before we get into the detail. 427.1 miles door-to-door from my home to Myrtle Beach and back. Let it be known that I am crazy, the good kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that looks at a hypothetical situation and says, "Let's try!"

I don't remember who, but a member of a group of friends that I attend an annual conference in Myrtle Beach told me it was a shame my little Smart couldn't make it. I've had Myrtle Beach on my radar ever since, and it happens that I had a good push to do it: a neighbor from our last neighborhood bought a Nissan LEAF and was asking about taking it to Greenville (piece of cake) and Wilmington. We looked on Plugshare and discovered that there were CHAdeMO DC Chargers in Wilmington, but the city was 20 miles outside the EPA-rated range of 109 miles on the LEAF. There were two Level 2 charging opportunities: Campbell University and Nissan of Clinton. Because I love my dear neighbor, and because Wilmington is a mere 65-miles from the Tanger Outlet in North Myrtle Beach, I decided to put America's Shortest Range EV* currently for sale to the test. If I could make it in the Smart, ANY EV could make the drive.

I really pulled the stops out for this trip. I left at 8pm from my home in Raleigh and stopped first at Campbell University for a quick top up. I was driving lightly and averaging 3.9mi/kWh, having used only 42% of the battery to travel 35.2 miles. I started watching the movie Run Lola Run and recharged to 70% before departed for Nissan of Clinton -- 40 miles away. I arrived with around 15% battery left, and having called the dealer earlier in the week to confirm the charger was usable after hours, plugged in. Now, it's a little after midnight, and there isn't much here except a 24-hour McDonalds. I decided that I would sleep in the Smart. You read that right: I, a 6'3" well over 250-lb adult male intended to sleep inside a car that is hardly 8 feet long.

It was much easier than I expected it to be. The Smart features a flip-forward passenger seat to allow longer boxes to be carried home. I folded the seat flat and put one leg between the gear selector and the head rest, and the other leg between the door and the other side of the head rest. Much to my own amazement, when I leaned back, I had about a half-inch of room from the top of my head to the tailgate. Add in several (like 6) pillows, and you've got a decent make-shift tent for the night. However, you run into the problem of light pollution keeping you awake. Never fear! I already own a "popcorn showercap" (as my spouse calls it), a half-car cover designed to keep the interior cool on sunny days when the top is down. Used in just the right way, it blocks out all the offending light so that you can sleep.

I made my passenger seat bed and laid back. It wasn't as comfortable as I'd remembered earlier in the day, so I found a way to get into the fetal position, with most of my body in the trunk behind the drivers seat (which I also leaned forward some so I could snuggle a pillow with both arms). As I lay here, thinking about how utterly insane I must be, it started to rain. I love the sound of rain on a convertible roof, hearing it on the cover made it sound like rain hitting a tent. I immediately had wonderful nostalgic memories of camping with my family as a child, and soon fell asleep. However about an hour later I woke up because the car had become quite stuffy, so I switched on the ignition and turned the fan on. I drifted back off to sleep. Somewhere around 5:30 I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I generally run on a mere 6 hours of sleep, and 5 hours was about 90% of my norm, so I decided to get "up" and sit in the driver seat till the car reached 100% charge. Apparently my driving had the battery management module all kinds of confused, because it went to 100% then 99% then 100% then 99% a few times. Finally I decided when the guess-o-meter said I had 78 miles of range (we only needed to traverse 61), I'm going to go. So I left, and arrived in Wilmington around 6:38am.

I parked in the downtown parking deck, right on the water front. The first hour of parking is free, then it's $1/hr there after until you reach $8 which is the daily maximum. I plugged into one of the two Eaton chargers, and decided to wander around and take a lot of photos. It was going to be an hour and a half before any of the breakfast places opened up, so I had ample opportunity to find all the usual tourist sights to snap without any interruption from other people. I truly love the 5-7am time space, because the world is just so peaceful. Anyway, once I'd gotten my photos I decided maybe I should get some cash because there were ATMs on just about every corner. Small downtowns don't always take plastic, and I wanted to be prepared. However, I wasn't up for a $3 transaction fee, so I wandered two miles to the nearest CashPoints ATM to withdraw my money without a fee. The walk was through a rough part of town, so I called a Lyft to get me back downtown. I spent $8 (with tip) on a car ride to avoid a $3 fee, lesson learned. Once back downtown I ate at The Dixie Grill, a truly wonderful little spot. They were very friendly to the stranger with a laptop (I was teleworking while charging), and never pressured me to give up my table even after my meal was complete. A little over an hour after I sat down and ate, I used their restroom and went back to the car. I tried to catch a quick nap, but it wasn't happening, mostly because I needed to use the bathroom. I walked all around the downtown looking for the public restrooms I'd seen just two and a half hours earlier, and finally found them -- literally they were on the other side of the wall to which my car was charging.

I sat in the car until it hit 99% and unplugged - destination Myrtle Beach. It's 65 miles, well within my car's ability, and the route I took only had a small stretch that was 65MPH. I didn't get the Low Battery warning until I was exiting off the highway for the Tanger Outlet (HWY 17 location, since there are TWO Tangers in Myrtle Beach for some reason). I had to make a U-Turn since you can't make a left right off the exit anymore into the mall. I slowly crawled my way around to the Car Chargers, to find one of them (the Handicap/EV space) ICEd by a handicap marked car, and another space ICEd by a Dodge Journey. Luckily, the other two EV spaces were wide open, so I pulled in and plugged up. The car reported a 5.5-hour-to-full charge time, but I believe it's being pessimistic. A young family were walking past as I plugged in and the dad pointed my car out to his daughter. I piped up and told him I'd driven it from Raleigh, to which he and his wife were really impressed. He said he wished he saw more of them on the road, and I said I agree. The whole purpose of this trip was to prove that the lowest-range car in America* most certainly could be used, if planned accordingly, to take a long weekend in Wilmington or Myrtle Beach.

While I was at the Tanger, I let their management know about the ICE-ing issue, where a non-plugin car parks in the plugin charging space, and how the Mebane, NC location addressed it. Their management was very receptive to the idea, and said they'd reach out to the manager of the Mebane location for more information. I decided that since I was at a mall, I should be a patron, and I bought a new $38 outfit. After a few hours of charging, with two more to go before I could get back to Wilmington, I remembered that I passed by the home of another Smart electric drive owner. Having just exchanged emails with Len about the annual battery service, I emailed him to let him know I was in the area.

Enthusiastically, as only EV owners could, Len invited me over for a slow charge and tea. I asked if he happened to have a NEMA 240-volt outlet in his garage, and being the good car guy he is, he had one for his air compressor. Off to Ocean Isle I went, arriving to his private community in about 40 minutes. I needed another 22 miles to get back to Wilmington for the night, about an hour and a half's worth of charging. The time flies when you're chatting with a car geek! I learned Len has owned Mercedes cars for quite a while, and has a number of other MB two-seaters as well! He and his wife are slowly pairing down to just their Smart electric and their 99 Turbodiesel E class. I truly enjoyed our chat, mostly about cars, but also about energy, art, and where we grew up. This was a very unexpected and special treat for me. Len was my inspiration to try and take my car to the coast, because he had to get his car to the Cary Smart Center for its annual battery health check.

After leaving Len's beautiful home, I got back to Wilmington and met up with my buddy William at the Whole Foods. I plugged into the GE Wattstation, and we left to get dinner at Flaming Amy's. My phone kept buzzing saying the car was charging and not charging. I have no idea if someone was messing with the plug, or if the charger was just having issues (I don't have the best luck with the GE Wattstation units), so we moved the car to a ChargePoint charger at the local BMW dealer. We left it for a full charge -- not to be done until nearly 3am due to the severely low state of charge -- and headed to his home for the night. To say I crashed out hard puts it mildly, I really needed the 5.5 hours of sleep I got. Like a true gentleman, at 4am he got up to take me to my car. I cannot thank him enough for his generosity, and for playing Lyft when there were no Lyft (or Uber) drivers available. After a hug goodbye, I unplugged my car and headed back North on NC421 towards Clinton's Nissan dealership. I arrived with 8% charge remaining, due to terrain, elevation, and chilly weather. I plugged in and walked over to the McDonalds for something to eat and to eavesdrop on the locals conversations. At 5:30am, you get the good town gossip from the hard working citizens!

I moseyed back over to my car and finished watching Run Lola Run, when Phillip arrived to open up the dealership. He was a really nice fellow, and he knew a thing or two about African Grey parrots (my front plate says 'Life is Greyt,' a play on words nod to my parrots). We chatted quite a bit, and he said I was welcome to use the charger as long as I needed. When they opened up officially, I went in to ask about buying a hat as a token of thanks. They gave it to me, on the house, they were happy to see someone use the charger and to prove that the technology was ready for everyday use. I met the owner, who told me they are installing a CHAdeMO Fast Charge unit this year, and they he has high expectations that the new 2018 200-mile car will sell well in his rural community. His wife had one, and loved it, except she would get nervous going to Benson if there was a headwind. He had several in his rental fleet and that convinced people, he said they all came back talking about what a rocketship the car was. He's a very smart man to put the cars in peoples hands as a loaner while their car is in for service, a technique I wish others did. I told him about the $10,000 Plug-in NC Nissan Rebate going on, and he was very intrigued since he hadn't heard about it before. He was really impressed with my Myrtle Beach trip and told me that he hoped I'd stop back by, and that I was welcome to charge whenever I needed. I truly love the sense of community that these car inspires.


After topping up, I headed back to Campbell University. I had a scheduled work appointment to attend to at 11am, so I figured this was a good place to camp out for an early lunch and 3-hour charge. I popped into the Subway and ordered some food, sat down and started working on emails and putting together this post. Around two hours in, after having completed all the scheduled work tasks I had, I called a friend of mine in Fuquay-Varina to see if she was home. Amanda was home, and she had some items for me from her recent IKEA trip. So I decided to top off my charge on Level 1 (standard house outlet) at her house, and help her make a vinegar-baking soda volcano with her 6-year old daughter.

I wound by way from Campbell to Angier to Fuquay, and I came across a little gem: a Th!nk City Car parked in a Fuquay resident's yard. The car looks like it's being used, which is really cool. It's basically the front wheel drive version of my Smart car! I arrived at Amanda's and plugged in, checked into work for a bit, and then helped to make science more fun for her daughter. We also used her VW TDI (not a scandal model, a much older one) to go and get lunch at the a deli down the road, and her daughter was very interested in sitting in my "toy car." After about two hours, I'd charged just enough to get home, so I hugged everyone and set out on the final leg of my journey. I took 401 to McDowell St to Atlantic Ave. I pulled into my driveway with around 3% battery power, and promised my little car it could sit for a good while on it's home charger before I asked it to do anything else.

All said and done, had I done this trip in a 2017 Smart Electric Drive, I'd have spent half the time charging. The hour in Campbell would have given me more than 50% charge, and I could have cut down my time at Nissan of Clinton to a max of 2 hours. I think this would make the trip reasonable for more people, because it's a little longer than a sit-down meal would take start to finish. My 4-hour stops work if you've never been to the destination before. Looking at Wilmington as an example, you could get in a tour or two of the city along with a meal before you're ready to get to Myrtle Beach. Many hotels in Myrtle now have chargers, so you could get to your hotel and plug in for the night (and rent a bike, or walk, around the Myrtle strip).

This trip was a test. I have wanted to drive my little Smart to the Tail of the Dragon (US129 along the NC/TN boarder), and I now know I have the patience and craziness needed to do a 370-mile one-way drive. When I make that trip, you can bet you'll read about it on here. If you'd like to see my pictures from the trip, click here.


*The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is technically the loss leader for range, with an EPA rated 62 miles per charge. However, Mitsubishi hasn't really imported any of them since mid-2016 (as 2017 models), and having driven one with it's aggressive regenerative braking, I have no doubt that it would make this journey without fail. In fact, since all the 2014-on models have CHAdeMO standard, it would be even faster to reach Myrtle Beach in a race with the Smart.

The Wilson Whirligigs and Plugshare excursion

Historic Downtown Wilson is a neat place. For starters, It has free WiFi by Greenlight, the city-run fiber internet service, these fascinating wind-powered sculptures called Whirligigs. Icing on the cake? Four ChargePoint EV chargers, but three of them aren't on Plugshare! This has made Wilson an excellent place to visit in my little EV, and it provides a convenient stop to destinations east such as Greenville (which is where I was headed).

The first ChargePoint charger was located inside Centre Brick #1 Parking lot, hidden back behind the dumpsters. I circled the parking lot several times, passing the Whirligig Park, before I pulled in and found it. I pulled into Wilson around 2pm and quickly found out that I had arrived during the 'food sieta,' as Big Harold's Diner had closed for the day and neither 217 Brew Works nor Heroes Sports Oyster Bar and Grill opened until 4pm. The only place that was open was across from the Amtrak station, SaYum Jamacian Deli & Ice Cream Shop. But before I wandered over there, which is very close to one of the three ChargePoint chargers not listed on Plugshare, I took a look at all the Whirligigs in the Wilson Whirligig Park, formerly known to most ECU students as Acid Park. I highly suggest you look at my photo album from this trip to see the videos of the machines in action. These are truly neat sculptures, and I wonder how difficult it would be to turn them all into electricity generating wind-powered turbines. I seriously spent about an hour just walking around the Whirligig park taking photos and talking with a couple from Pennsylvania who stopped in on their way to Cary (quite the detour) because they saw the Whirligigs on Roadside America.

After playing tourist, and seeing that the local Brewpub didn't open till 4 (and was also very close to the Centre Brick parking lot I was charging in), I decided to head over to SaYum for lunch. The food was excellent and the ice cream a good size portion, all for very reasonable prices. After I got my bite to eat, I headed across the street to find the ChargePoint by the AmTrak station so that I could get it on Plugshare. It was easy enough to locate, and then I headed over to the Police Department to find their ChargePoint. I was really surprised that all of Wilson's chargers were 24/7 accessible and in FREE to park areas, with no restrictions at all. Each EV charger had the striped lines directly in front of it, and two spaced on either side with one marked (with a sign) as EV parking only. Sadly, it didn't say "while charging," but that's OK. I don't imagine there are more than a handful of Volts who use these machines on any kind of frequent basis, only two of the four chargers had ever shown a connection according to the ChargePoint app on my phone. I finally stopped in at the City of Wilson Customer Service Center to add a photo of the charger to the PlugShare entry, and update the network to ChargePoint.

With my mission complete, and enough charge to get to Greenville, I started to wander back towards my car. I cut across some parking lots and found myself on a side street looking in the window at Art at 123 Studio. I am a sucker for an art gallery, so I walked in and was greeted by the owner, Andrea, who introduced me to two other local artists (one just so happened to be Louis Small Jr). We chatted quite a bit about the little roadtrip adventure I was on, about my car, and about how the city of Wilson has become so progressive with it's fiber internet and now free public car chargers. I'd seen the advertising, but they all reminded me of the art expo happening next weekend, and asked me to come visit again. I assured them I would, as today's adventure was a proof of concept test drive as part of a larger plan I have to take my EV to the NC coast (specially to photograph Cape Lookout before it gets its LED upgrade).

I made it back to my car, unplugged it, took out my roof rails and continued east to Farmville. I met up at The Original Barber Shop in downtown with my buddies Logan & AJ (who live in Farmville) and my Raleigh neighbor Rich (who still owns a house in Greenville). All three of them happened to bump into each other at the same barbershop. Such is small town American life! We chit chatted and caught up, since I haven't seen Logan and AJ in quite a while, and the owner of the shop took a break to check out my little electric car. After Rich got his ears lowered, we drove to his house (a mere 8 miles away) and I plugged my car into a 120v outlet to top up before the boys met up with us at the house. Part of this trip was to help Rich evaluate his semi-kitchen tear down/remodel, since he needs to sell the place. Once Logan and AJ arrived, we agreed to eat at Crave Uptown Restaurant and Bar.

Coincidentally, this was the same venue that the Drag Review was to be held at. Crave is a unique space, half restaurant and half bar/dance floor, two separate spaces in one building. It's right next to the downtown parking deck, which has two AeroVironment-made Nissan branded EV chargers donated by the Nissan dealership. My little car had a big friend to charge with at the deck: a Tesla Model X from Virginia! We plugged in and settled in at Crave, which has some of the best home made bread I've had in a while. After dinner (which was 5 stars, by the way), we wandered over to The Sojourner and I spent more than half my trip budget on bracelets, an LGBT Rainbow Windsock, and a really cool Parrot totem made of stone.  We finally wound up at Uptown Brewing Company for a beer, which was the last stop for AJ and Logan before they went home. After saying our goodbyes, Rich and I returned to Crave for yet another cocktail and to await the drag performance. Check out my album (link above) for all the photos from the 12+ performers, all previous pageant winners, that night. Greenville's drag scene is way better than Raleigh's (sorry, but it's true)! After the show ended, around 2am, my car was fully charged and we drove the 5-miles back to Rich's house for the night. I plugged back into the 120v outlet (we plugged in his Ford C-MAX Energi to recharge while we were gone), and went to sleep.

The next morning I headed back to Raleigh, with a strong headwind. I made it to Wilson without much trouble, but my Moto Z did crash just before a turn to stay on 264-Alternate and I ended up on the normal 264 for a mile. I pulled back into the Center Brick #1 parking lot and plugged in, but this time I was able to eat breakfast at Big Harold's. I only stayed about 45 minutes this time, which gave me just enough power to get home with 1% remaining, due to the really strong headwind. Next time, I'll plan to pull into Wilson a little later in the morning so that other shops are open to kill time. Either way, I managed to prove that a battery-only electric city car with a mere 68-miles of EPA ranted range can enjoy a drive in the county like any other car. Thanks in part to progressive cities adding charging infrastructure, and by taking the road less traveled.

Raleigh Road Outdoor Theater: Beauty and the Beast 2017

I am very blessed to live in a state with two operating outdoor theaters. I make it a point to see at least one show a year at our local one, The Raleigh Road Outdoor Theater in Henderson, NC. The theater is about 35 miles from my home, which puts me on the edge of my range. Thankfully, the town of Wake Forest has a few public chargers at the Town Hall public parking lot with lots of little restaurants nearby. So off we went to dinner and then the magical reimagining of one of my favorite Disney classics. Thanks to the PlugShare app, I was able to see that the chargers were not in use. However the GE Wattstation Connect app is kind of broken. My friend Nate feared I was going to light the station on fire, I couldn't register an account in the app and the 800# was disconnected. I finally got an account by registering on the GE website, but then we discovered that the charger was just stuck and not locked...

Once we started our charge, we walked to Over the Falls for dinner. Really great food, really fast service, and reasonably priced. There is also White Street Brewing Company Taproom, which is almost directly across the street from the charging stations. After a delightful meal and a full charge, off we went to Henderson! I discovered that Google Maps, when set to avoid Highways, seems to define "highway" by a speed greater than 55mph. Google had us get on and off US-1 in sections that were 55MPH and not 65MPH. We arrived, Nate and myself in the Smart and John and Dave in the i3, and parked together along row 6. We discovered that even on the lowest setting, the Smart's infotainment system was distractedly bright. We came up with a creative solution to overcome that, but it took two radio power-offs before I discovered the on/accessory switch position on the ignition didn't turn on the stupid-bright LED daytime running lights. The movie is a must see, and if you can, see it at a drive in! We made it home, top up due to the cool night, with 18% battery power. It's reasonable that I can go to and from without stopping for a charge. The owner has a Tesla, I've heard, so here's hoping that he might install a J1772 charger at the drive-in some day.

Wake Electric Annual Shareholder Meeting 2017

Plug-in NC sent out another call to ambassadors to showcase their cars and talk to the public. This was for the Wake Electric power co-op's annual shareholder meeting in Louisburg, North Carolina. The meeting is held at the town's college, and the closest charging station was 15-miles away at the Wake Electric office in Youngsville. Sketchy territory for a little city car, even more so for an electric one. But what convertible doesn't love a drive in the country? I took a test drive on a low 50F-degree day and stopped at the College and the Youngsville Office to make sure that I wouldn't run out of charge. Turns out I could make it all the way home and still have more than 10% left. However, I forgot that is the Month of Amanda. I cannot miss her birthday party, but it's 55-miles away in Fuquay-Varina. I think we can do it. I left the house and drove straight to the Wake Electric office in Youngsville and plugged in. I watched Disney's The Brave Little Toaster, the most awesome movie ever,  on the infotainment system of my car while I charged. I got to chat with the COO of Wake Electric, who was very excited that I was coming to the event with my car.

After I got a full charge, I drove the back roads to Louisburg College. Once I got staged, they let me plug into a standard outlet for an hour before the guests arrived. This put me around 80-81%, more than enough to get me to Amanda's home in Fuquay. I had a great time talking with the Co-Op's members, who were all curious about the little convertible. Many expressed a common concern - safety in a crash, but most agreed it would be a really cool second or third car. It was compared to an MG and a Karman Ghia by patrons. One patron in particular brought up some valid criticisms about the electric movement: the weak infrastructure, both in available plugs and the Grid's ability to handle the load. We had a thoughtful discussion about the overall state of the electrical system in the US, and he complimented me on my passion, experience, and theories for solving our energy needs.

At 6p, I packed up and departed to Fuquay. I took US401 the entire way, it was shorter but had more stop lights (opportunities for regenerative braking). The weather was once again perfect for a convertible, 72F and clear. It did drop to 66F by the time I got to Fuquay, so I put the roof rails in and put up the top for my journey home. Amanda's husband opened the garage door for me and plugged up my special extension cord, which is bright yellow, to replenish my battery which was down to 16% state of charge. Three hours, and a lot of laughter later, I had 41% state of charge (I only need 25% to get home).

Amanda wanted a test ride in my "little toy car," and it ended with "Can I get one in pink?"

Greensboro Odyssey 2017

As an ambassador for Plug-in NC, I am asked to showcase my vehicle and share my experience driving it at public Eve TS around the state. The first event of 2017 happened to be at the Greensboro Oddyssey, the Car Show of the Future. I actually got to set up the booth and they have me a t-shirt, making me all official!

There is a challenge to getting my Smart car, Gopher, to Greensboro. On a warm (above 60F) day, my best range will be about 75 miles, and Greensboro is just over 80 miles away from my home. This is where Plugshare's trip planner comes in handy. Using it, I was able to find charging locations along the way. However, I had a better idea to allow for destination only charging: I'll stay over night with friends in Hillsborough! My spouse, John, was going to drive our BMW i3 to this event and not his Zero SR Motorcycle due to concerns about cold and possibly rainy weather. After a full charge, John and I departed to Durham, NC to have dinner with a our friend who was passing through.

When we got to Tyler's Taproom in downtown Durham, we pulled into the parking deck where they have four car charging stations available. Two of the spaces were in use, by a Volt and the brand-new Hyundai Ioniq electric! I had to take lots of pictures, because this is a car that truly excites me! It will come in three drivetrains: Electric, Plug-in Hybrid, and conventional Hybrid. John was critiquing "why an electric car needs a transmission tunnel" when I mentioned the other two gas-utilizing variants. This car has dethroned the BMW i3 as the top selling electric car in Norway! Electric cars represent 36% of new car purchases in that country, so to take #1 so quickly is a pretty good indicator of how well refined it is.

Well, this encounter inspired me about the remainder of my trip. After a lovely dinner, our buddy ran John home so I could continue towards Greensboro by way of Hillsborough. There wasn't much to it, because my friends home is about the same distance to Tyler's as my house was. I got there and plugged in for the night, and began to indoctrinate my hosts with the AMC TV series HUMANS. It was a great way to end the work week: spending hours at a time with friends. The next morning I woke up and headed into Greensboro via I-40. I left around 6am so that I'd have ample time to recharge before the Odyssey setup started at 10am. It was cool, below 50F, and my battery heater was running. I made it to Havana Phil's a little after 7 with 16% power remaining, and light rain.

I have to really chat up Havana Phil's. First, the owner is a very passionate man who has revived a famous downtown restaurant building into a chic gentleman's lounge. Plus, their charger is open to the public without restriction in a reserved parking space 24 hours a day 7 days a week. John loves cigars, so this was the perfect stop-over before we headed back to Raleigh later in the day. I was truly thankful that they allow their charger to operate at all-hours, because I got around 83% charged before I needed to leave. Their location was a short walk to a Hardee's, though I had to wait for the rain to stop before I ventured out. Havana Phil's has one of only three public chargers in the Greensboro area, compared to Raleigh's 15.

The event was a lot of fun. I met a number of organizations and individuals who were active with or curious about electric vehicles. The new Zero Motorcycle dealer came with a 2017 model Zero SR. Tesla was well represented with two Roadsters, two Model S, and one Model X.  A Th!nk City car camped out between me and my BMW i3, there were two conversion vehicles - a Suzuki Samurai and a Chevy Truck. There was an off-grid Solar powered Tiny House, a solar powered race car, and even the new Segway personal transporter was being exhibited. It was a very fun event, and great to meet the Triad Electric Auto Association. This link has all the photos I took over the weekend.

After the event was over, we packed up and headed back to Havana Phil's. This is where we got the chance to meet Phil, who was very intrigued with the electric Smart car. We hung out for about an hour and a half - long enough to top off my car - and then we headed to Historic Hillsborough once again for dinner. This was a strategic stop, knowing I might need a little top off to comfortably make it home. The weather was perfect for a convertible! 70F and a tailwind! I arrived in downtown Hillsborough with about 20% state of charge. I am very thankful that Orange County NC has invested in 4 public chargers in the parking deck next to the Library in the heart of downtown. One of their chargers was broken, and has been for over a year. However I was able to get one of the other three spots to plug in. We had dinner, and then I let my friend Nate (who rode up with John in the BMW i3) drive my little car home. Once again, strategy, he's less than half my weight and we only had 30% state of charge, 34 miles to go, rain and falling temperatures. Falling temperatures means battery heater, which means reduced range. But we made it home without fail, we had about 7% when we got home and plugged it in. Nate now wants to own one, he thinks it's the coolest little car in the world.

North Carolina by Electric Vehicle

Welcome to the travel chronicles of my little 2013 Smart ForTwo Cabrio Electric Drive, affectionately called Gopher (named after a character in the Ghost Hunter series by Victoria Laurie).

Gopher has a unique story...

I have lived with a convertible in my life since since 2011. Prior to 2016, I was a devoted Volkswagen owner. However, dieselgate and the continuing quality concerns with the last three TDI models I owned led to a divorce from the brand. I won a lemon law buy back on my 2014 VW Beetle TDI convertible (6-speed manual) in March 2016, with a turn in date was April 1. Knowing I would be in the market for a new daily driver, and having been influenced by my best friend Brad's purchase of a used 2012 Nissan LEAF, I decided that I should go all-in on an all-electric vehicle.

My spouse, John, was supportive of an EV. He wasn't supportive of that EV being a LEAF. Wrong-wheel (ie, front wheel) drive aside, he thought the car was the epitome of dull. It was bad enough I was buying a literal appliance that plugged in, I was buying one that highlighted all the 'wrongs' of the auto industry in the past twenty years (in his eyes). Knowing I was going to buy a sub-$10k car, he got on AutoTrader and started looking for the elusive Smart ForTwo Cabriolet Electric Drive.

You see, we wanted to get a Smart Cabrio ED some time back. Orders with our local Smart Center were never filled for convertibles, only hard tops. I have speculated that Mercedes depended on the incentives from CARB-compliant states to cover much of the R&D cost for the vehicle. As such, sales (99% in the form of leases) went to CARB-states only. Our former Smart brand manager told us she didn't think the cabriolet electric launched in the US, because she couldn't order one for herself. However, John knew that the 2-year leases were coming due and he set out to Autotrader to find one. He found two -- one in Texas that was black/black and base radio, and Gopher in New Hampshire with premium radio and Grey/Black leather. Gopher was cheaper, and better equipped, so I called up the bank and got an approval, then called the dealer and put $500 down on a credit card and bought him sight unseen.

I did test drive an electric hard top and sat in a gasoline convertible prior to committing. But, I had no idea how the car would truly behave. I took a leap of faith. On April 4, 2016, two days after returning my dirty diesel to VW, I became electrified. I still remember the excitement of seeing Gopher on the truck.

Gopher ushered in the great electrical renovation of 2016 at my home, the Brentwood Solar House. We never used the included 120v "Level 1" charger that came with Gopher, because it was defective (and replaced under the warranty, then sold on eBay). I used a Nissan Level 1 charger, borrowed from Brad, until my Aerovironment TurboCord Dual came in. By July we had 12 solar panels installed on the house and a dedicated Level 2 ChargePoint Home charger installed on the property. To date, I have offset around 90% of Gopher's driving with solar power. Gopher also pushed us to replace my Mazda 5 with a BMW i3 w/ Range Extender. I'll probably post a little about it's adventures as well, but it's somewhat cheating with the on-board 2-gallon gasoline generator that makes electricity for the all-electric drive train.

It's been almost a year, and over 13,000 miles, since Gopher came home to me. We've made some pretty cool trips in that time -- with many more hundreds of mile trips planned for this summer -- and you can read about all of them right here!