Two months ago, I wrote about the all electric Tesla Roadster, one of the fastest cars on the road. Tesla Motors opened its flagship Los Angeles, California showroom back in early May. The showroom actually features the service center as a main attraction point!
I’m excited to announce Tesla Motors has opened its second showroom, this time in Northern California. This showroom is located at 300 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, just north of Palo Alto and the Stanford Shopping Center. It’s close to where I live, so you can bet I’ll be by for a visit. It’s a 40,000 square foot facility, which Tesla says replicates their Los Angeles store on a much larger scale. From the pictures I’ve seen (some of which are above), I have to admit the store and showroom look like quite an incredible experience. Just like the Los Angeles store, the Menlo Park showroom features open views into the service center, which is currently being used to put final touches on cars for delivery to customers.
The current hours of the store are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. Test drives are available, but by appointment only. Rumor has it you need to show you’re a serious buyer by putting down a $5,000 deposit on a Roadster before they let you take out one of their babies. Although I’m not quite ready to throw down $100,000 on one, I’m more than ready to check out the showroom and the sweet Roadster! Who knows, maybe I’ll catch someone on a good day, and they may let me take one out (in my dreams)!
Although I’m sure they won’t give you a complimentary tank of gas upon delivery of a Tesla Roadster, I do hope they give you a full charge!
With the recent decline in oil prices and the break in rising pump prices, will consumers go back to their old ways? Personally, I think it is too little too late. Even if we see a decline in pump prices (we’re still at $4 per gallon!), my belief is that consumers have already changed their habits, and they are now more accustomed to conserving and reducing their gasoline usage. We now take public transportation more often, we carpool more often, we drive less, we combine trips, and we’re ditching our monstrous SUVs and trucks for smaller, more fuel efficient cars.
Unless we see a huge decrease in gas prices (I’m talking about a nearly impossible sustained decrease of 50 percent or more), I don’t see consumers changing their new habits any time soon. Unfortunately for the oil industry and fortunately for the environment, consumers have picked up some good habits they’re likely unwilling to change.
We’ve written about plastic bag bans before such as Seattle’s proposed ban as well as the evils of plastic bags. It now appears the L.A. City Council is also jumping on the plastic “ban wagon”.
Last week, L.A. City Council voted to ban disposable plastic bags by 2010. However, L.A. put a new twist to this ban. The ban would only take effect if California failed to implement a 25 cent bag fee on shoppers who request them. In essence, L.A. is really hoping to effect wider change, not just a ban within its own city limits.
As you can imagine, this is a controversial subject. The plastic bag industry, represented by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, filed a lawsuit against L.A. County’s plan to reduce plastic bag usage 30 percent by 2010. They argue factories will be closed and jobs will be lost. I don’t disagree with their arguments completely, but there must be a way to use plastic bag fees to help these workers get new training or find new jobs. Sticking to our old ways because it’s comfortable isn’t a great reason to me.
I won’t reiterate the all the various evils of plastic bags, but I think we’re starting to see more support for bans. In fact, I think all disposable bags should have a fee, including paper bags. I don’t see a reason why we aren’t all carrying and utilizing reusable shopping bags. I’m sure a fees and bans will get us there much more quickly.
Could we be seeing the effects of global climate change? Reports say some of California’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels in 30 years. California’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta, is only at 48 percent of capacity, while Lake Oroville, the next largest reservoir, is only at 40 percent capacity. Oroville, which supplies water to Southern California, will be at around 20 percent capacity by the end of this year. Prospects look even worse with a dry 2009 forecasted. Some areas of California area beginning to discuss mandatory water rationing as voluntary rationing has only resulted in a 3 percent reduction thus far.
Some may say we’re in a climate cycle, but I don’t remember California being this dry in many years. There have been droughts in California, but if projections are correct, next year could be the worst in the state’s history. I don’t need to tell our readers we have to conserve. I just wonder sometimes if we’ve reached the point of no return in terms of the adverse effect we’ve had on our planet.
To our readers: Sorry about the delayed post, but we were having problems with our servers last night.
San Jose is hosting the Plug-In 2008 conference this year which runs through July 24. It is the largest and first dedicated plug-in hybrid conference. This year, representatives from government, auto, and utility are discussing what is needed to make plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles a reality. In other words, they are dealing with the when scenario, not the if. One big issue being discussed is the electric grid upgrade that will need to happen in preparation for a surge in demand once plug-in hybrids are mass produced and sold.
Also in attendance are scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and exhibitors. New technology and research will be shared along with the latest innovations in plug-in technology and power grid infrastructure improvements. What makes this conference particularly exciting is that the conversation has changed from speculation and theory to planning for the inevitable introduction of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
I’m encouraged conferences and conversations like this are occurring. You can be sure more will come in the near future. Currently, the general consensus is that Toyota and GM will offer plug-in hybrids some time in 2010. You can be sure other automakers will be right behind them!
