Green Car on the Coast

Coastviews Magazine Article

Forrest's Nissan Leaf in Frenchman's Creek, HMB

If you’ve seen a red Nissan Leaf driving around Half Moon Bay with the license plate HMBLITZ, then you’ve seen one of the first 100 percent electric cars on the coast. What you may not have noticed was the lack of engine noise —with no combustion engine there’s no combustion-engine sound, and no emissions — and the lack of a tailpipe. You may also not have noticed Scott Forrest driving the car, as by his own admission he’s a pretty shy person, quietly doing his own thing.
Forrest purchased his Nissan Leaf and has been commuting to work in Palo Alto since April 2011, but for him it started back about the year 2000, when he took a class at the University of California, Berkeley, about global warming. “It was a huge eye-opener,” says Forrest. “Global ocean levels will rise for the next 1,000 years with the CO2 we’ve already put in the atmosphere. We’re making the earth a lot less fun place to live for generations. It will probably take us another 1,000 years to get back to where we were. Once I knew that I felt morally compelled.”

Forrest has had solar panels on his roof in Frenchman’s Creek since 2003 and estimates that 50 percent of his power is now solar. Previously he drove a Toyota Prius and by the calculations from PG&E’s Carbon Footprint Calculator, the Nissan Leaf is saving him almost as much money and CO2 per year — 2,900 pounds of CO2 annually — as his solar panels. Forrest notes that it’s very inexpensive to drive. He figures he’ll save $6,000-$10,000 in gas over 100,000 miles, compared to what he’d spend driving a Prius. And compared to a conventional car getting approximately 30 miles per gallon, he’d save much more. His electric bill for the car for December was only about $20.

We go for a ride in the car and Forrest lets me drive. It is surprisingly similar to a regular car, other than the sound, and handles well; it’s peppy and has good pickup. The batteries are completely hidden under the floor so there is a full trunk and normal seating space. The pedals are the same as those of other cars, with a brake and accelerator. As Forrest says: “It’s not exactly a gas pedal. I don’t know what to call it.”

There’s no gas gauge on the car; instead, it has a charge gauge to estimate driving range. Forrest’s work commute is about 50 miles and he estimates the Leaf has a driving range of about 75-90 miles. It currently takes him seven hours to fully charge at home from dead-empty and there are no-cost chargers at his work and in many locations around the Bay Area, including various city and airport garages. There’s also a website — and a related app for the iPhone and Android — that lists several hundred private citizens who will offer a charge; Forrest is one of those citizens.

As we return home from our drive, Forrest comments: “February feels like summer in Half Moon Bay; that’s not an accident. The ornamental plum tree in my front yard is now in full bloom and dropped its last leaf four weeks ago. There is nothing as giant a problem as global warming.” I ask Forrest if he feels like he is saving the planet and he says: “It’s not the planet I’m trying to save, it’s the people. It’s the people that are suffering.”

Forrest went to the Half Moon Bay City Council in January to request a municipal charging station be installed, yet he says: “I don’t consider myself leading by example. This problem is going to be solved by individuals doing the right thing, and the tools to do the right thing are now becoming available. I couldn’t have done this 10 years ago; now I can. My carbon footprint is now 20 percent of what it was 15 years ago and my life is completely unchanged.”

When you see the license plate HMBLITZ or notice Forrest driving his Nissan Leaf on the coast, take a minute to consider that there are now new tools and technologies to allow you to make a difference in the world around you, perhaps even one quiet and green car at a time.

- by Whitney Merrill, April 2011

Coastviews Magazine Article Link

On the Web:
www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car
www.pge.com/about/environment/calculator/
www.plugshare.com