Trying out a Nissan Leaf

Our electric company here in the mountains is very progressive and offers pure electric cars for the members of the co-op to try out and realize the electric car driving experience.

We stopped in today to see if we might try out one of their vehicles and were offered the keys to a Nissan Leaf. This was quite the pleasant experience.

We met Sherry who introduced herself and showed the features of the car including the novel gear shift and how to plug in to charge the car. This is a pure electric vehicle with no gasoline engine backup. It has a range of 75 miles in very cold weather to over 100 miles in more temperate temperatures. The range is also helped when the battery charges when going downhill, a feature especially useful here in the mountains.

We drove to downtown Gunnison and plugged into the charger and went and had a nice lunch and came back to find we had added 24 miles of range. We traveled all over town shopping and found Nissan did an especially nice job of placing the batteries to allow good storage space inside the car.

The torque of the electric motor makes for snappy acceleration and also contributes to the car being very quiet when running around town. There is a slight beeping noise the car makes when backing up to alert pedestrians due to it being so quiet. The AC system worked especially well.

A tip of the hat to Gunnison County Electric Association for their innovative approach to getting the electric and hybrid electric car experience out to their members!

Busy times at the electric car charger

Great license plate on their Ford Fusion Energi

You can learn more about the various electric vehicle chargers in the Gunnison, CO area at this link:
http://www.gcea.coop/content/electric-vehicle-charging-stations

To learn more about electric vehicle education and test drives check out this link:
http://www.gcea.coop/content/environmental-benefit-projects-and-programs

Used Nissan Leafs can be quite economical to purchase. This link to a buyers guide lists the various models, features and options of various model years:
https://insideevs.com/used-nissan-leaf-buying-guide/

Matthew's Band

I belong to a model railroad club. We have members of all ages including one talented fellow, Matthew, who is in High School. In addition to his model railroad skills he also plays in the High School band.

We recently completed a scene on the model railroad dealing with the technology of Star Wars. Matthew mentioned his band would be playing the Star Wars theme music at the "Band-O-Rama" event held at the local high school and that I would enjoy it.  Boy, was he right!

Band-O-Rama is an event in which the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and High School bands all perform in the local high school gymnasium. It is well organized with the bands moving between their seating in the bleachers and onto the floor rather seamlessly.

All bands did a great job of playing their selections of music. At the end the band leaders had all of them playing the same song together. That many instruments really rocked the gym.

Julie and I were sure glad to have gone and thank Mathew for the invitation.

The following video clip is of all of the bands playing together for the finale. That was something to hear...

Charging a Plug in Hybrid car

We purchased a plug in hybrid car. Substantial discounts from the manufacturer combined with Federal and State tax incentives made this a 'no brainer'.

The car travels about 21 miles on pure electricity and then another 600 or so using gasoline at 43 mpg or so. At least that is what the EPA says - we are getting much higher than that, partially due to the fact the car creates  electricity when it decelerates and then uses that to run the electric motor thereby reducing gasoline usage. Our fuel average is about 62 MPG running around town.

When it comes time to charge the car you can choose the charger that comes with the car. This plugs into a standard wall outlet and charges the car in about 6 hours - we charge overnight. This is a Level 1 charger and operates off 110 volts.

You can also charge using 240 volts and these are Level 2 chargers. They are much faster and will charge the car in a little over two hours. Level 2 chargers are found all over the place and are available to the public, often at no charge.

Electric utility companies most often have free chargers for obvious reasons.

You can obtain an APP called "Plug Share' that lists the location of the Level 2 chargers. It allows you to read about what is nearby and see images of the charger and location. Also tells you if they are available or in use.

We use this to find places to park the car and grab some juice while we are running our errands or grabbing a bite to eat.

Charging at the Utility Company

Available wall plug at a hotel

At the hospital while eating in their cafeteria

On a downtown street corner

Next to a Tesla at the swimming pool

In a parking lot next to a River Walk

By a park

TECO Train Show

On the way out of the mountains we stopped in Colorado Springs and attended the TECO Train Show. I believe this stands for Train Exposition of COlorado.

This was in a rather unique setting - a shopping mall. It looks like one of the big stores in the Chapel Hills Mall pulled out and left a large space that is now used for events. This worked out well for all as the venue was quite nice and Julie was able to find a great shoe store with very good prices.

It was clean and well lit with a large number of vendors on hand and several nice modular model railroads on display

The Slim Rail guys were there with both their O scale and HO scale layouts

Many examples of nice modelling were found on the railroads on display

This example of a flying saucer lifting a cow into the craft required quite a bit of inspection to determine how the spacecraft was suspended

I especially enjoyed this layout. The creator enjoys travelling to Europe and riding trains. He then acquires a model of the train he rode and wanted an appropriate setting to run the miniature train and recreate his European travels. His modelling is first class and attention to detail is remarkable

The backdrop on this module is especially nice

I don't often see the car rotary dumper modeled emptying a coal car

All in all a worthwhile stop on our trip