San Francisco
49-mile Scenic Drive

June 12, 1999


EV1 Club
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Photo provided by Tom Dowling

We discussed the idea via e-mail and at several EV1 Club meetings. We decided to wait for better weather in the spring. We thought we might have six or ten cars, and have a little fun, attract a little attention as we followed the route past all the tourist attractions.

Michael Schwabe mentioned the idea to Al Beliso of PG&E one day. Al said he thought PG&E might be able to help with charging, and suggested we start at Gabbiano's Restaurant behind the Ferry Building. Steve Oddo (who lives in San Francisco) said he would drive the route in his EV1, to see how much charge it would take. Meanwhile, public chargers had been installed at Davis and Vacaville, making it much easier for Sacramento area drivers to get back and forth to San Francisco.

I thought at first that ten cars would be about the most we could handle. We settled on a date, June 12, and I sent out an e-mail, asking for replies from those who were interested. The replies came pouring in. Greg Hanssen lined up four cars from Southern California. Saturn/EVMS let us know that the Roadshow rig would be available. Ed Fitzgerald from Costco in Seattle let us know that he would be flying in, and driving a Saturn loaner, along with Joe Utschig from Costco in San Diego (EV1 owner), and Joe Houston from Costco in San Francisco. Al Beliso confirmed that PG&E could provide eight chargers. Next thing we knew, we had twenty-seven cars signed up. We were going to send out invitations via regular mail, and do some more promotion, but the response was so great that we decided to scale back the promotion. What started out as a small, informal event had turned into a pretty big deal. The entire event was planned via e-mail.


Photo by Tom Dowling


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