Ethan Hyman - ehyman@newsobserver.com
A crowd gathers around the Nissan Leaf during Public Night at Plug-In 2011. Other cars on display included the Chevy Volt, Ford Focus Electric, the electric Mitsubishi i and a plug-in version of the hybrid Toyota Prius.
Editor's note: A story on the front page Wednesday misidentified the all-electric Ford car on display this week at the Plug-In 2011 conference and expo in Raleigh. It is the Ford Focus Electric.
RALEIGH -- John and Aida Havel bounded down the escalator stairs as soon as the exhibition room was opened to the public Tuesday evening at Plug-In 2011, a four-day conference and expo for the electric car industry.
They made a beeline for a blue Nissan Leaf, clambered into the front seats, and shut both doors with a solid clunk-clunk. They squirmed around, looking up and down, taking in everything.
"We've been waiting a year for this, and it's the first time we've been able to see the Leaf," said John, 61, who commutes to Research Triangle Park from their West Raleigh home. He opened the trunk, opened the hood, took photos. He buttonholed a sales rep and peppered her with questions.
"What are those four buttons under the dashboard?" Havel asked her.
Plug-In 2011, a national conference on electric car technology and transportation policy, was staged on the East Coast for the first time this year and drew more than 800 participants to Raleigh. Tuesday was "Public Night," with an estimated 1,300 Triangle residents taking the opportunity to examine a variety of all-electric and hybrid gas-electric plug-in cars at the Raleigh Convention Center.
Some, like the Havels, were eager to buy one of the new breed of cars, which are starting to show up on Triangle streets this summer. Others were there to learn, and marvel at the new technology.
"I can see myself in a Chevy Volt or a plug-in Prius," said Scott Morrison, 47, ofFuquay-Varina. "I drive a muscle car now, a 400-horsepower GTO, and it's time to move on from my midlife crisis."
Alicia Ravetto, 54, of Pittsboro climbed out of a Mitsubishi "i" and pronounced it "cute."
"It looks comfortable," said Ravetto, an architect who commutes to Carrboro. "If it'll do 85 miles on a battery charge like they say, I think that's a good deal."
Chris Horner of Raleigh, also an architect, worried that the limited range of an all-electric car would make it impractical.
"I'd probably be looking at a plug-in hybrid," said Horner, 42. "I need to drive longer distances for my work, and it would be hard to do that with an all-electric car."
John Havel figured an all-electric car would be perfect for his short drive to work. He would recharge it at home each night, and never burn gas. For longer trips, he could borrow Aida's Camry.
That was Perry Shah's thinking, too: an electric car for his commute, with the family gas car for longer drives. Shah is on the waiting list for a Leaf, and he expects it in about four months.
"I want to get out of my carbon footprint as much as I can," said Shah, 47, who commutes from Cary to Raleigh. "It seems ideal for me."
Russell Goff, 44, of Apex came with his son Henry, 10. He gazed at an all-electric Ford Focus Electric but said he wasn't ready to buy.
"We want to get a look at the kind of car Henry might be driving six years from now, when he turns 16," Russell said.
His son nodded in agreement, but he lifted his gaze to a gleaming white motorcycle on the far side of the room. It's an all-electric Siemens Smart Chopper, powered by six batteries.
"I got to sit on the Chopper," Henry said. "That's what I want."
