In Santa Monica, CA on Saturday, January 17th, 2009, Plug In America assembled the largest number of Electric Vehicles ever as part of an Inaugural EV Parade West. A final count of 77 electric vehicles and over 250 people participated in the rally and subsequent parade. All types of electric vehicles drove quietly and emission free in formation for a few miles through city streets. Plug In America's dedicated volunteers worked their magic during the few weeks leading up to this latest EVent to organize a very successful and historic green parade. EV grins were everywhere and the enthusiasm for plug-ins couldn't have been greater. Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West rates as one of the best plug-in EVents to date.

---

PIA cofounder Paul Scott's EV Parade Summary:
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009
Driving On Sunshine - EV Parade sends a clear message to automakers and Obama

I continue to read journalists and bloggers asking if there really is a market for EVs now that gas is back to $2/gallon. That question was answered in an unambiguous manner yesterday at Plug In America's history-making parade of roughly 75 highway capable plug-in vehicles. From speedy Tesla Roadsters (4), to a Balqon truck used to move heavy containers in the Port of LA, the evidence was on display for all to see. The 250 people in attendance at the press conference, if asked, would tell these journalists that, "Yes, we all want to drive on renewable electricity instead of foreign oil. Just sell us the cars!"

These people are no different from most Americans, other then being lucky enough to live in this beautiful sun-drenched community.

I think Ed Kjaer, head of electric transportation for Southern California Edison, had the best quote at the podium saying that nobody should think EVs are just golf carts or that the technology isn’t ready: “It is so ready. The country is ready, the market is ready, the people are ready and news flash, the technology is ready.”

Zan and I were too tired to write much last night having spent the past two and half weeks planning the parade, but lucky for us, there was Andy Mannle who wrote the definitive story for us. Please see it here: Driving On Sunshine: California Leads the Electric Vehicle Revolution

And Joe Galliani's excellent blog here: Electrified Blondes in Convertibles For Everyone!

And more pictures from one of our wonderful volunteers, Sylvie Asselin here: Plug In America: Inaugural Parade West

---

PIA Communications Director Zan Dubin Scott's EV Parade Summary:
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009
History’s Greenest Parade a Total Success: All 74 Vehicles Signed Up, Showed Up

SANTA MONICA—With 100-percent participation, Plug In America pronounced its inaugural plug-in parade a total success, confident that President-Elect Obama himself will hear the message the event’s participants sent: America needs one million plug-in vehicles by 2012 and 10 million by 2016.

All 77 vehicles that had signed up for the 2-mile parade through downtown Santa Monica showed up. Electric Vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were included. List at bottom, followed by speaker line up. (Plug-in FAQs & photos attached.) More coverage here: Driving On Sunshine: California Leads the Electric Vehicle Revolution

“It was astounding, even for us in the movement to see ‘old-time’ RAV4 EVs—one of which had some 160,000 miles on it—parading beside prototypes from Ford and Mitsubishi, beside four Tesla Roadsters, beside a 50-ton truck and a PHEV school bus,” said Plug In America spokeswoman Zan Dubin Scott. “We even had an all-electric Hummer H2. The moral of this story is that EVs can meet any need.”

Roughly 250 drivers, spectators and supporters attended the parade, preceded by a press conference next to the City of Santa Monica’s large solar car port equipped with EV chargers. Edward Kjaer, director of electric transportation for Southern California Edison, said that nobody should think that plug-in technology isn’t ready.

“It is so ready,” Kjaer said. “The country is ready, the market is ready, the people are ready and news flash, the technology is ready.”

Southern California Edison is testing two prototype vehicles it brought to the parade: a Ford Escape PHEV and a Mitsubishi iMiEV.

---

Final listing of the plug-in EVs in attendance
(confirmed Sunday, January 25, 2009 - 3 additional non-RSVP RAV4-EVs participated ):
43 Toyota RAV4-EVs
4 Tesla Roadsters
1 eBox by AC Propulsion
1 Solectria EV
1 Balqon 50-ton truck
1 PHEV school bus by IC Corporation and Enova Systems
1 PHEV Dodge Sprinter Van
2 Vectrix Maxi-Scooter
3 Zero X Zero Motorcycles
1 Brammo Enertia Motorcycle
1 prototype PHEV Ford Escape (in testing at SoCal Edison)
1 prototype Mitsubishi iMiEV (in testing at SoCal Edison)
2 Phoenix Motorcars SUT EVs
1 SolarCity SolarTaco (only gas car, affixed with solar panels)
2 Chevy S-10 EVs
3 PHEV Prii, converted by Plug In Hybrid/Andy Frank, Plug In Conversions, and EnergyCS
1 Jeep by REV Conversion
2 Porsche EV conversions
1 VW Jetta series PHEV by AC Propulsion
1 Ford Escort EV conversion
1 Hummer H2 (all-EV)
1 Mazda Miata EV conversion
1 Geo Metro EV conversion
1 Suzuki EV conversion

Here is the speaker line up from the event (scroll down to watch the speeches in the EV Parade video):
· Chris Paine, Director, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
· Ed Kjaer, Director of Electric Transportation, SoCal Edison
· Kevin McKeown, Santa Monica City Councilman
· Jordan Howard, Youth Leader of Green Ambassadors
· Fran Pavley, California State Senator
· Paul Scott, Plug In America co-founder/board member

Plug In America is leading the nation’s plug-in vehicle movement. The nonprofit organization works to accelerate the shift to plug-in vehicles powered by clean, affordable, domestic electricity to reduce our nation's dependence on petroleum and improve the global environment. For more information visit Plug In America.

---

Video: 2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West
(Select your preferred viewing format below)

---

View the "2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West" video in Flash format hosted on Viddler.

Click the play button on the Viddler Player above to start playing.
Skip to any portion of the video by clicking on the contextual timeline tags.
Click here to go to the "2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West" video on http://www.viddler.com

---

View the "2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West" video in Flash format hosted on YouTube.

Click the play button on the YouTube Player above to start playing.
Click here to go to the "2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West" video on http://www.youtube.com

---

Click on the below for a higher quality 640x360 H.264 QuickTime video of the
2009.01.17 Plug In America's Inaugural EV Parade West.

2009.01.17PIA-EVparade.mov (325.4Mb - 38minutes)

---

---

View the "The First Inaugural EV Parade West" video by Enza Sebastiani
in Flash format hosted on YouTube.

Click the play button on the YouTube Player above to start playing.
Click here to go to the "The First Inaugural EV Parade West" video on http://www.youtube.com

The First Inaugural EV Parade West - Santa Monica, CA - Saturday, January 17, 2009

Produced/Directed/Shot/Edited in iMovie by Enza Sebastiani
Camera Team - Enza Sebastiani, Philip Safarik, Dwight Lay, Gerry Gaydos

Producing this documentary gave me the opportunity to meet incredibly talented and driven people, from filmmaker Chris Paine (Who Killed The Electric Car) who's working on his next movie "The Revenge of The Electric Car", to Jordan Howard, 16-year old Green Ambassador who "demands we drive on sunshine for an electric vehicle revolution."

Scientists, engineers, politicians, writers, press came together here in Santa Monica, California to speak out loud about their plan to produce electric vehicles and to improve hybrid/electric public transportation.

The First Inaugural EV Parade was possible thanks to the vision and hard work of http://PlugInAmerica.org co-founders Paul & Zan Scott, Linda Nicholes, Chelsea Sexton and so many volunteers from all over the US and the world.

A big thank you also to the Electric Auto Association (http://www.eaaev.org) that for 41+ years have been a great advocate of alternative energies and conversion of IC to EV engines throughout the USA and the rest of the world.

I hope you will enjoy my documentary as much as I did creating it with a great little team, zero budget, a Mac, iMovie and iLife '09.

Thank you all!

Enza Sebastiani

http://www.enzasebastiani.com

http://www.onethousandhearts.com

http://gallery.me.com/vincenza#100545