In his 97 years, Charlie Yaeger has driven everything from a Ford Model T to a 1916 Baker Electric to a Nissan Maxima. More recently, he can be found behind the wheel of a Nissan Leaf. Since his automotive life mirrors the industry as a whole, Nissan thought it would be worthwhile to offer up a new video that shows Yaeger explaining how things change. The takeaway point: history repeats itself, EV drivers, and let's remember there was a time when you could not find gas stations on every street corner.
Yaeger says it wasn't easy driving 80 years ago. It was a challenge to make it between gas stations and blowing out tires on gravelly roads was common. "You had to pretty well memorize where gas stations were and where you could get off the road and have a chance of getting back on after you repaired the tire," he said. Heck, it was great that there was a 60-mile concrete highway between Chicago and Danville, IL. That was the "super highway" then and it only had two 12-foot lanes of concrete with no shoulder. It took decades for President Dwight Eisenhower to finish building the highway infrastructure. Until then, they kept paving over muddy roads, Yaeger said.
All these years later, history is repeating itself. Nissan has sold more than 50,000 Leafs worldwide – and that means the need for EV charging infrastructure is growing. While EV drivers face fewer hardships than the very first automobile drivers had to deal with, there is still a bit of worry, sometimes, when some drivers get behind the wheel. To make the gas-to-electricity transition easier, smart phones show EV drivers where to charge, and EVs can receive HOV lane access in some states. That's much better than memorizing.
Check out the video below.
Yaeger says it wasn't easy driving 80 years ago. It was a challenge to make it between gas stations and blowing out tires on gravelly roads was common. "You had to pretty well memorize where gas stations were and where you could get off the road and have a chance of getting back on after you repaired the tire," he said. Heck, it was great that there was a 60-mile concrete highway between Chicago and Danville, IL. That was the "super highway" then and it only had two 12-foot lanes of concrete with no shoulder. It took decades for President Dwight Eisenhower to finish building the highway infrastructure. Until then, they kept paving over muddy roads, Yaeger said.
All these years later, history is repeating itself. Nissan has sold more than 50,000 Leafs worldwide – and that means the need for EV charging infrastructure is growing. While EV drivers face fewer hardships than the very first automobile drivers had to deal with, there is still a bit of worry, sometimes, when some drivers get behind the wheel. To make the gas-to-electricity transition easier, smart phones show EV drivers where to charge, and EVs can receive HOV lane access in some states. That's much better than memorizing.
Check out the video below.
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