12/11/96 -

The big day finally arrives... and it looks like we'll be testing the EV-1 design as soon as we get out the door (in the rain).

Apparently, we were the second customer to take delivery of an EV-1 in Cerritos, but the first "real" (non-corporate) customer. Perhaps we will also be the first "average" citizens who will actually commute to a job, too. Everyone else seems to be a celebrity of some sort.

Here are a few more questions we had answered in the showroom:

• You can't drive off with the charger paddle inserted into the car. There is an interlock which prevents this.
• Another answer to a question from Bob- The charger paddle port at the front of the car has holes in it to prevent water from accumulating in there.

Apparently you can't escape out the door quietly at Saturn. Here's the whole crew in their send off cheer (or was it just a celebration of the fact that we were able to make it through signing 4 forms in five places each...).

The final EV-1 qualification test is to get the car out the showroom doors without peeling the side mirrors off.

Final preflight instructions to the pilot...

... and off she goes!

The first evening of testing (after topping off the charge) included a visit to Bob Siebert of Energy Efficiency in Orange for his blessing. Then on to the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa to do more Christmas shopping.

Results and observations:

• We survived light drizzle and big puddles without any leaks and more important, no shorts!
• A minor glitch- a tire pressure warning light came on. We need to see if this is really a problem or not (nothing was visually obvious).
• Because of the higher tire pressure (I think), potholes on the freeway are more noticable, even compared to another sports car (our Del Sol). If you normally drive a Cadillac, this probably isn't the car for you.
• When stopped at a light on an uphill incline, the car did not roll back, but modulation of the engine power was apparent in the form of a pulsing of the car.
• An answer to Bob and Larry's question- the radio worked fine receiving both AM and FM. I didn't hear any interference from the power electronics.
• It is definitely nerve-wracking driving along trying to keep one eye on the estimated remaining mileage guage. This will take some getting used to. We ended up at home with 9 miles estimated left. I kept thinking about the Apollo 13 movie scene where NASA was trying to figure out how to budget their power so that the crew could get home without running out of power for reentry. We were told that the batteries need a breaking-in period of about 1000 miles to get the full charge capacity out of them.
• Power consumption might also have been increased by our having to use the front and rear defoggers often (which seemed to work effectively).
• Determined experimentally (in our tract, not on the freeway!)- you can't shut down the car accidentally while driving by pressing the 'LOCK' button. By the way, pressing the 'LOCK' button is how you turn the car off (i.e. the equivalent of removing your key from the ignition).

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