On September 17, we hosted 35 people at our MeetUp to talk about “Building EVs that People Want.” And it was more than a discussion. We co-hosted the event with the Sacramento Electric Vehicle Association (SacEV) and that meant we had 15 personal EVs on display which those members graciously agreed to bring. Some of them were even doing ride-and-drives.

Along with a selection of more common models we had many ones with which most people were not familiar. We had one new Cadillac Vistiq and a BMW iX SUV. One owner had a Cybertruck with a vinyl wrap that changed color from gold to green to purple depending on the angle of the sun. Wild. A common theme was the number of owners who had traded in their Teslas to get their new rides. Peter Mackin had his gorgeous Lucid that replaced his Tesla. Thomas had his Ford Maverick truck. There was one big F150 Lightning.

But two EVs were the hits of the show. The first was a brand new full-electric Dodge Charger with 500+ hp and a 3.3 second 0-60 time. It came with a simulated electronic version of the exhaust note of the ICE version. That was unexpected. It certainly addressed the segment of car owners that did not want to give up that ICE roar and the burnouts! It sounded and apparently can behave just like its gasoline cousin. It even has a transmission that shifts to preserve that feeling for the driver. Interestingly, Dodge deliberately got this electric model first with its sport, track, and drag setting options, then will be going for the ICE version and lastly would have a hybrid version. Time will tell if they read the market right for an electric muscle car. The one downside was that the full electric version had an estimated range of 280 miles, which seemed short.

The second big reveal was the all-new 2026 Nissan Leaf. In fact, a dealer diverted it from a delivery in Southern California just to let us ogle it. Then, zip, back on the truck and on the road. The important point about the car is it signals where EVs may be heading. It features a 75 kWh battery pack (although not LFP) that could give a 280 mile range, active cooling of the battery pack (instead of the passive cooling in the older Leaf models) that will extend battery life, fast direct DC charging, head-up two screen display, four doors, fold-down rear seats, 3500-Watt vehicle-to-load (V2L) 115 VAC connection (which means it could power an entire house), all for a price around $38,000. Pretty remarkable.

Looking ahead, V2L is probably going to be more common, not the least reason is that SB 59 in California requires it. The V2L on the Lightning apparently can handle up to 7200 watts and it looks like a 220VAC connection. Ford has had some growing pains with this setup, but it is an area likely to evolve rapidly.

The final point of discussion for the evening was experience with charging in rural areas–good and bad. CleanStart is trying to explore this as a market opportunity for entrepreneurs. We got many good ideas of where to start and several people who were interested.

Probably this was our most fun MeetUp in a while.

As a reminder, we’ll be hosting a large event on the 22nd, in our “Rising Stars Showcase”!
Don’t forget to RSVP!