I have to wonder if there are 6 electric vehicles operating in the Knoxville area. Anyone know the numbers?

bypass the chicken-and-egg scenario

Maybe more Volts locally now than LEAFs. Ford and Prius plug-ins will be here soon. Nobody seems to know when and what to expect of the 2013 LEAF, the Smyrna-built debut. At least we do have Nissan to thank (or blame, if you like) for the huge number of public chargers being installed in Tennessee.

I actually saw a Leaf charging at the co-op the other day.

I'd guess it does include PHEVs (all plug-ins), but can only think of the Volt and Prius plug-in (if you can really get those here yet). The Focus EV, Mitsu iEV, and Codas aren't really around here yet, I don't think, though EPRI has or had a few iEVs at their West Knox facility. Fit is supposedly California and Oregon only, so far.

There is one Tesla Roadster owned by someone in the Tri-Cities, IIRC. There was an EV car display on Market Square last spring where he brought his car, a beautiful blue one. There was also another EV car display a week ago today on MS, where the highlight was a Fisker Karma, that apparently came from a dealer in Atlanta. Beautiful car--wish I'd had a good camera. But I could see why it's going to have a hard time aside from its price. Long and swoopy, it looked like it would be claustrophobic and have poor visibility. Fit and finish on that one looked fine, though.

The LEAF and Volt both rolled out in particular states. Some states just got availability in the last few months. Nissan pushed them well here from the start, though there just aren't many typical EV drivers in these parts and they're damn reluctant to give up their god-entitled fierce dependence to fossil fuels. Ahem. Well, anyway. But no, even the crude guess is not applicable at all here. Check the Blink Map, though. It hasn't even yet added the newest chargers that opened yesterday.

JFM, do you know if the (also solar) chargers at UT Gardens also finally opened this week? They were finished and powered up last week, but they had not moved the pylons away, for whatever reason. Maybe awaiting state inspection(?)

By the way, for those who don't follow cars or EV cars, the Tesla S sedan is slowly ramping up production to catch up to its reservation backlog, but it is IMHO flat-out the most awesome sedan ever made by anyone. And it's real!! The production numbers have so far been lower than planned because Tesla wants to ensure they meet their quality specs while trying to iron out the myriad of supplier issues that all car manufacturers spend billions to do. It's not smoke and mirrors or vaporware!

I wouldn't expect to see one around here for a long time, due to its backlog and high cost, but check out this video. Also, you may have heard this All Tech Considered audio piece on NPR where the reporter got the car so sideways at high speed that he destroyed the tires and scratched the wheels, but didn't otherwise hurt the car or tip it up on its side.

Also Tesla just announced a set of proprietary "superchargers" for about 2/3rds of California (so far) that will allow all S owners to charge for free via solar power. Free fuel. All solar. Other than sooner availability, why would anyone prefer any other $100,000 from any of the famous makes?

The manager at Twin City Nissan said there are at least 50 LEAFs in the Knoxville area.

There are many electric vehicles in use locally that are not automobiles, like police and UT service vehicles, golf carts, etc. Are they included in the numbers?

I have the PlugShare app on my WiFi devices, mostly just to have them, but I don't have a smartphone or other cell device to use them as intended, so it's not been useful to me. The idea of PlugShare, for others who don't know, is that anyone can register their home chargers on the PS map and if they get out and have range anxiety, they can find a charger near them, whether public or a PS member's. If private, they would call the member and ask to "borrow" a charge. Cool idea, and maybe I'll use it when I get a smartphone and have the need. (I have my eye on an iPhone 5 for next spring! Oh boy oh boy!!)

The Telsa S no doubt has that kind of acceleration and I agree the point was made well even if the guy was throwing his camera in the back of the car for effect, which he may have been, at least after the first instance. I even like the pop music in that video, which was performed by the owner's sister, as I understand.

I doubt they would include golf cart class vehicles in that number, Michael.