Day 1 - Attend RCN Launch + Position for CENEX LCV

Well the departure day duly arrived and the alarm clock went at some ridiculous hour.  It was stygian black outside and heavy with autumnal mist!

Being pre- Sparrow F***s we opted to start on a fairly direct route heading due N through Twyford and Henley.  When we sat down to 2nd breakfast (at Cherwell Services) it was barely 8 a.m.  However, the day started as it was to continue - sky blue, deliciously warm and only a whisper of cirrus!

We made it to the Rapid Charging Network Launch Event, with time to spare - and parked our suitably decorated WAVE-award winning EV on the second row of exhibits!  I estimate that there were 80+ attendees.  Our hosts were Zero Carbon Futures who coordinate the RCN project + senior staff from the partners - notably Nissan, Renault, BMW and Ecotricity.   Thee was a nice cadre of, at least, 25 EV drivers - it was a really great chance to meetup and share ideas!

The Keynote Speech came from Phillippe ??? from Nissan Europe - who share with us the vison and commitment of the Nissan Group to European EV adoption and made it clear that UK was seen as having a key role in world EV adoption.  As an island nation our context was seen as well suited to EV operation + we had EV manufacture and EV research going on, which ranked with the best in the world!

A further speech by the lady representing OLEV made it very clear that the UK government shared a very similar vision and commitment!

OLEV Representative

Blues Bros or Reservoir Dogs?

The Ecotricity presentation (by Simon Crowfoot) may have been more pragmatic - but he was unambiguous about the commitment to populate all motorway service areas and thereafter to start looking at city installations!

Simon Crowfoot, Ecotricity

Consortium Parners - Nissan, BMW, Renault maybe the guy on the left was VW?

 Finally - my 'photo of the day" - actually it not even taken today!  What it show is the satellite image of the Millbrook Exhibition Centre - overlaid with the AGM Telematics Data!  Check out the two lables by the silver building - they show the position of the WAVE 1 and WAVE 2 cars - on their stand!

Finally proof positive that out trip to Ireland - around Ireland - from Ireland will be far from direct!   The tracking shows us take the backroads to the M40!  Up the M40 to the M42 and the back E to find the Corely Services on the E-bound carriageway of the M6.  After lunch the trek to Bedford to collect a hire car and the last 9 miles, SW to the Millbrook Proving Ground!  Total mileage - 189 by EV and then 72 miles in the hire car!

PS - has anyone got any idea why anone would buy a Chevvy Spark - after 18 months of EV-ing the Chevvy Spark was a grim revelation.  Dont tell me that they have chosen this car as the next GM EV!  Someone is 'extracting the Michael'!