Green Drive Expo SF Bay Area - 9/17/11

Updated list now:
Can we get a roll call going?
1. scottism (exhibitor)
2. kiettyyyy (exhibitor)
3. efusco
4. cwerdna
5. cproaudio
6. TonyPSchaefer (What Drives Us panelist and PC moderator)
7. Linda (event host and YahooPriusGroup)
8. F8L
9. EricBecky (event host)
10.Russell Frost (What Drives Us host and Prius Owners Group)
11.Tideland Prius
12.Paradox
13.Talonts
14.HTMLSpinnr
15.Zanrok
16.Danny (Priuschat founder)
17.aforkosh
18.The Critic
19.pfile
20.lensovet
21.RobH

No word from the maybes that got dropped off in one of the copies.

Linda: sorry I've been unsuccesful so far in changing my mom's mind about bringing her NAH. We'll see if I can succeed in the morning.

She's come up with an even more ridiculous excuse. Her car could use a nice long highway drive (it is from where they live to Richmond) as the NAH has a known issue (there's a TSB on it) where the under certain conditions, the ICE could get carboned up due to it shutting (and cooling) down as part of normal hybrid operation. She drives mostly in the city and short drives. Some folks on greenhybrid.com have hit this problem.

For those who can't physically recognize the Prius Experts who will be present, I hope they don't mind that I point to this video.

BTW, I will be bringing the tire I mentioned at http://priuschat.com/forums/private-sales/97028-one-goodyear-integrity-tire-in-sf-bay-area.html. I will give it away free to any taker.

 

^^^
If anyone needs to reach/find me, one can PM me. I can check my PMs and reply to them (although not very well) on my iPhone 4, when I'm there. I'm an Asian guy w/glasses and will be hearing a cap, jeans and a "prius goes plural" t-shirt.

Ok, RobH has been added, but yes, others can and should copy the list and add your name.

 

I've had shorter ones at Toyota roadshows up in WA state. The longest this time (of the Toyota test drives) was if you took the HyCam. The Leaf drive in WA state wasn't real long either.

This was a great event for me as it was almost a Prius Connection Detroit reunion. I also got to meet the Luscious Garage folks, Jack Chen of Enginer, pEEF and some other Priuschatters. I and a few others tried out pEEf's car w/his crazy mods. I'd also never seen an Insight I or 1st gen HCH battery pack before. It looked surprisingly small to me.

Unfortunately, due to me not being able to arrive until past 1 pm, I didn't get a chance to talk to some vendors as long as I wanted to and didn't have a chance to poke and look around inside the new Toyotas much. I didn't even have a chance to try out Entune or look at the displays.

The bulk of my time was taken up by lining up 4x in the Toyota line to test drive the PHV Prius 2x, the Prius v and the '12 HyCam. I'm so glad Toyota had the '12 HyCam and wasn't using the PHV demonstrators. It was also the first time I've driven a car equipped w/a HUD.

BTW, the Toyota test drive staff are the same folks working for a 3rd party company and are the same folks that I've seen several times before up in WA (Seattle auto show, Redmond Whole Foods and a Prius v showing in Lynnwood, WA). They go touring around the western region of the US. They mentioned going to Portland soon (next?).

The amount of hybrid and Prius knowledge of each person amongst those staffers varies... For example, one of them incorrectly quoted the PHV Prius as having an 11.9 gallon tank (I recall it's smaller and just re-confirmed that). Another asked me about the best ways to drive for efficiency. I briefly told him about w/pulse and glide and SHM on my 2nd gen.

I'd never seen the trunk of a Civic GX before until today. Wow, the CNG tank REALLY cuts down in the trunk space. The Civic GX owner claimed that all the CNG pumps are now 4000 psi and it only takes a minute to fill.

The trunk of the '12 HyCam is impressively large. Good job Toyota!

In talking to some random attendees in the line, as usual, the knowledge level varied. One guy IIRC had a EV1 for a week on loan, ages ago. Another guy had a regular Camry but seemed interested in the Prius and seemed like he might be EE by what he talked about. One guy (surprisingly) had the misconception that you could plug in unmodified non-PHV hybrids to charge their HV batteries. I had to explain to him no and that it wouldn't help much either due its limited range in EV only.

 

I just wanted to re-iterate that this was a GREAT event. I'm glad I went and I only could arrive late due to airport shuttle duties. It was made even better by the fact that Toyota let us touch and test drive these upcoming vehicles, some of which had just recently been announced.

It was very cool to be able to drive pEEf's project car (http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-plug-in-hybrid-electric-vehicle-project.html). Too bad I hadn't done my homework and studied up ahead of time. pEEf was offering a us bunch geeks standing around his car the opportunity to drive it. Efusco was very impressed. I grabbed Danny to go out for a spin. It was kinda cool that Jack Chen of Enginer took it for a whirl too.

I think this year's GDE will be a tough act to follow next year unless other new and exciting or improved models are unveiled around that time...