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EVWORLD TELEVISION |
Jay Leno's Electric Car Challenge
By EV World Television
Ford Focus electric car prototype highlighted
Imagine actress Drew Barrymore wiping the smirk off Tom Cruise's chiseled face by whopping his butt in a Ford Focus electric car. That's the premise behind Jay Leno's new Green Car Challenge that will put A-list celebrities and athletes into the driver's seat of the specially tuned, orange Focus equipped with Magna Electronics electric drive.
Leno, who recently retired as the host of the Tonight Show, now has his own program on NBC and part of that show includes a 1100 feet race track behind the television studio. Ford is providing the prototype electric Focus with rally suspension. Drivers must avoid obstacles like inflated effigies of former VP and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, while racing around the course twice in as quick a time as possible.
Helping mentor neophytes -- and reign in all that ego -- is champion race car driver Justin Bell, who is also featured in the 3:53 minute video.
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Reader Comments
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8 comments so far...
24-Sep-2009
68123
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Hi Jay, Love your new show. Cool idea for EV racing! I hope to see it. Here's an idea...seeing who can navigate a windy course on a personal EV like the Zuumer (www.Zuumer.com).
I certainly hope to see EVs become widely available at equal or better pricing compared to gas cars of similar size, perfomance. and range.
Posted by: Jim Scott
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24-Sep-2009
68128
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Glad to see Jay is giving exposure to electric vehicles. It however does appear that there is some factor motivating his concentration of this event upon one brand one vehicle. Focus on the Focus. A true interest in promotion of electric vehicles would have utilized/included any of the number of the other plug-in electrics scheduled to be released to the US market in the same time frame.
This is a controlled environment and as such even the least funded US based EV program would likely have felt safe and gotten some test units for Mr Leno to use for the exposure it would garnered. Not to mention the non US units expected to be in market eg. to name but one the Nissan Leaf. Other than that its great PR for Magna's EV group & Ford and shows what can be done with a marketing budget in hand.
Posted by: michael dvorsky
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24-Sep-2009
68121
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Hey Jay ,Your Show is the Best. I sure enjoy the race track . Now if Ford will make us a Cheap Electric car I will buy it. Keep up the Great work a devoted Fan.
Posted by: Roger L Diekema
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05-Dec-2009
71558
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Jay,
Would love to show you what Sanyo/Panasonic are doing with Electric bicycles in the US. We just won the eco/environmental product of the year from CES.
Would love to shoe you what we have at CES in Jan.
Love your show,
David Cabanbna
BDM Sanyo Environmental Div
Posted by: David Cabanban
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20-Sep-2009
68072
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Great new show Jay! Great new car Ford! Be sure and make us a good PHEV too for the longer trips.
Posted by: Ricardo Poore
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23-Sep-2009
68103
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Geat video, please rember to tell the audience that in addition to no gas, there is no spark plugs to clean or replace, no rotors or distributor, no ignition coils, no air filters to replace, no gas filters or oil filters to change, no oil to change, no exhust system to replace, no timming belts to replace , no valves to adjust, no coolant, no radiators to replace, no water hoses to replace, no water pump to fail, and a host of temp and exhust sensors that do not need replacing because they are not there.
In short this might just be the most reliable car you will ever buy!
-Daniel
Posted by: Daniel oviss
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24-Sep-2009
68118
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Electric cars,reasonably priced,are the future for short.city commutes ! Certainly challenges for use in areas - Eg. Phoenix,Az. where AC utilization is high and therefore much juice is necessary. My province in Canada borders on North Dakota so one can understand a battery warmer,blanket/belt needs juice but mostly overnite using home electricity. I have been waiting for our Government here to allow electric cars;no passage of that Gov. bill yet while our good neigbors to the south enjoy city cars of the future...
Posted by: Kenneth Roy
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24-Sep-2009
68125
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Leno did a video on the Aptera. Was the best vehicle selected or the one that could afford to pay for the promotion?
Posted by: William McGonigle
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