Any Boyle Heights / East Los Angeles EV drivers out there?

[DanKegel]

Hi all! I'm a happy owner of a 2013 EV, bought it in 2016... couldn't wait for the Bolt so I got a used Leaf as a starter. My daily commute's a 22 mile round trip, so L1 trickle charging is fine. So far two other people have gotten an EV after seeing mine

I'm giving a presentation in Boyle Heights next week, the neighborhood council there is skeptical about EVs, so I'm giving 'em an EV 101 presentation, including info about the really awesome state incentives available. I'll also bring my EV to show off. And I'll explain how the city's thinking of increasing EV parking requirements, why this is a good idea, and why they should support it (and ask for more).

Are there any other EV owners near East LA willing share their experiences briefly with curious non-EV-drivers?
I actually heard that some of the pushback against EVs there is because there's a huge pushback against hipsters and their art galleries and coffee shops taking over the neighborhood... and residents associate EVs with hipsters, especially rich white ones.
I'm hoping that hearing from people like themselves who have made the leap will help them understand how ev's are in their near future, and not just something for gentrifiers.

My draft presentation is online at electrifyla.org if you want to peek (it's the middle link, i.e. click on the words 'electric cars').

 

[BoltEV]

Where? When?

 

[Pigwich]

I actually heard that some of the pushback against EVs there is because there's a huge pushback against hipsters and their art galleries and coffee shops taking over the neighborhood... and residents associate EVs with hipsters, especially rich white ones.
I'm hoping that hearing from people like themselves who have made the leap will help them understand how ev's are in their near future, and not just something for gentrifiers.

Ha! Yeah I was gonna say, they'll burn you at the stake. Good presentation though. You are, however, well aware of the cultural battle you're going to have to fight. EVs are CRAZY expensive up front and they're REALLY SMALL CARS compared to the average 90's Explorer, and you really have to charge them every night. And your friends and family are going to make fun of you. Constantly. And you'll be bumming rides every time you have to go out to San Bernardino. Fact.

I saw the PDF though..

Your "kinds of plugs" page is cofusing. 30 miles? For what? In 10 hours? Overnight?

, and I have some bullet points for you -



Used EVs are cheap and good for around town
EVs are reliable.
They start every time.
The A/C works.
Fuel prices are fairly stable
There are chargers at the Carl's Jr.
They can plug in to a regular outlet which is fine for a lot of people

I like your points on better building codes. Let it be known, the condition of the wiring in the vintage of homes and buildings in that neighborhood are nothing short of "mickey mouse" as my neighbor puts it.

 

[SeanNelson]

EVs are CRAZY expensive up front and they're REALLY SMALL CARS compared to the average 90's Explorer, and you really have to charge them every night.

The EVs with a couple of hundred miles of range don't need to be charged every night unless you're commuting a lot farther than the average driver.

 

[Pigwich]

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/d/baldwin-park-1997-chevy-astro-van/6815072520.html

Serious though, in some places, this is what you're competing with. Smog ready, $1200, clean title, SEVEN PASSENGER. All's I'm saying is look at it from the perspective of somebody who's not the liberal elite (like me) and adjust the expectations accordingly. If Boyle Heights could set up a bunch of FREE charging, which literally means paying for people's fuel costs, then you'd see adoption. Keep it going for 5 years, start putting in coin-op chargers at laundromats after a while, and maybe there will be movement towards electrification. But convincing somebody who normally pays $1500 for a car every year or two to change everything and drop $25-$35K on an EV, even if it's good on fuel, will take more than a sales pitch or a miracle.

A better use of energy, in my OPINION (and it's only an opinion) would be to try to get BlueLA stations in more locations in east(ern) LA

 

[SeanNelson]

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/d/baldwin-park-1997-chevy-astro-van/6815072520.html
Serious though, in some places, this is what you're competing with.

If this was literally true, then the entire new car industry would be kaput, at least until all the old cars died.

 

[BoltEV]

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/d/baldwin-park-1997-chevy-astro-van/6815072520.html

Serious though, in some places, this is what you're competing with. Smog ready, $1200, clean title, SEVEN PASSENGER. All's I'm saying is look at it from the perspective of somebody who's not the liberal elite (like me)...

Which is the "like me" referring to:

1) somebody who's not the liberal elite; or

2) liberal elite?

 

[Pigwich]

Wait, you ARE a liberal elite NPR listening pussy hat wearing militant vegan or you're NOT?

I am the worst kind of hipster yuppy gentrifier there ever was. But the road to my entitled state was long and I started at the very bottom.

And yes, I realize that I'm making generalizations and that I'm being offensive. It's not my intent, I'm just an offensive person. What I'm not trying to do is be personal about it or hurt anybody's feelings. For that, I apologize.

I want to see 50% of all the cars in Boyle Heights be practical EVs that save the community money and let everybody reap the benefits of cleaner air. I do. In the next 10 years. It's beautiful.

My point is, I get what it is to be broke and live in the world of the "disposable car". Pretty much always private sale or auction donkeys, and it was because new cars are insanely expensive. Even second hand cars are insanely expensive. Never newer than third-hand growing up. New cars are insanely expensive.

In regards to the point made about new car sales not happening until old cars are completely dead being a fallacy? I can't say for certain without DMV data, but anecdotally I'll tell ya that the median age of cars in East LA is way older than in Los Feliz. New cars are insanely expensive. For your short term wallet, and when you're broke, everything is short term, the longer a car stays on the road, the better it is for you. An $800 transmission job is better than a $1500 car. And you limp along for another year.

While honorable, the effort is so incredibly up-hill that it might be impossible to make any significant forward progress for a decade. Is there an end run for this problem?

What's more, so many of the old used cars are the worst polluters of all, them and their bootleg smog papers and the people in Boyle Heights suffer the most from them and the highways. It's an incredibly suck situation, and more EVs would make a huge dent in the problem, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, all the good vibes in the world can't accelerate the change. What's needed is more money in the community. But until that happens, if there was a good EV car share in the neighborhood, at least all the moms could take their kids to doctor's appointments in an EV, and if and when the money ever showed up, and the opportunity to snatch up an old leaf was there, maybe the community's positive, long term real world experience with the share would make the sale happen.

As opposed to me, where I can say "Eh, yeah I can spare the extra $350 a month and the electrical work" and not really think anything of it. It's a different world.