Plug in for Freedom

Found this on Facebook this morning. I really like this 'Plug in for Freedom' campaign. Finally, a marketing campaign that extolls the virtues EV driving. If you notice one of the slides, it actually takes a hit at the dealerships about 'upselling the oil change', kind of funny. I wonder how the auto dealers are going to take this. Not like I really care since I've been screwed by enough of them.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/plug_in_for_freedom/2013/02/plug_in_for_freedom.single.html

Now I want the bumper sticker.

I always thought that those "inflatable passengers" were kind of kinky ...

Nice, despite some other brand's hybrid ad popping up for a while with no "X" to be able to remove it.

I really like this "slide stack." The highlights, with an animated version of these graphics, would make a great 30 second spot. My only beef is with the MPGe slide, especially where it highlights in bright letters "the i-MiEV would go 112 miles". Well yes, it would - if the battery held the equivalent of the energy in one gallon of gasoline, which as we all know it definitely doesn't. I think consumers are confused enough about EVs already, without muddying the waters of range and efficiency by saying things that the typical half-asleep audience member might interpret as "hey, this EV will go over 100 miles on a charge".

And of course, nice as it is to see an attractive bit of web advertising, I'd still like a clearer picture of Mitsu's plans for the North American i. They've only themselves to blame for our discomfort, raising the price in Canada, not announcing a 2013 for the U.S. yet, and letting their executives get quoted saying grumpy, vaguely unsupportive things about their own BEVs. Important as electrification seems to be for them (I've read comments about how EV-dominated their display at Geneva was), if they really want to maintain some EV "mind share" in the U.S., they need to eat the costs of cutting the i-MiEV ES's price to stay noticeably below the Leaf S, then get a 2013 U.S. model out, instead of looking like they're clearing inventory and backing out.