Students test drive Nissan Leaf electric cars

 

Brandon Potter

Marissa Tansino/Cigar
Marissa Tansino/Cigar

Sales Manager at Balise Nissan

Marissa Tansino: Why are you guys here today?

Brandon Potter: We’re here to try and give the students and faculty an opportunity to look at an electric car. Nissan was the first manufacturer to produce a mass-marketed, fully electric vehicle for the general public. It’s a very, very narrow market, so we just wanted to give everyone an opportunity to see it and drive it if they want to.

Marissa Tansino: What’s the process if someone wants to test drive?

Brandon Potter: Fill out a quick form, hop in with Josh and take it for a quick ride around the parking lot.

Marissa Tansino: So, what do you hope people get out of this?

Brandon Potter: Well there are a lot of different mentalities probably to be interested in an electric car, whether it is to get off of foreign oil, whether it is from a green mentality for being environmentally friendly or just to simply save on gas costs and using the right tires (this tire review provides the idea).

Marissa Tansino: Is this the first time you’re doing this? Will you come back?

Brandon Potter: Well it was set up by Nissan and URI. I would most certainly be open to the idea of being here as frequently as possible. Again, I don’t think that this is something that is widely known. So the more that we’re out here, the more that people can see it, touch it, drive it and maybe the better opportunity we have to put people into electric vehicles.

Marissa Tansino: Do you have any numbers on statistics for how many people own electric cars in Rhode Island?

Brandon Potter: I do not. I know that there are three LEAFs for sale that are in Rhode Island and (Balise Nissan) has two of them. So it is a very, very narrow market and there has not really been a lot of promotion and awareness that has been connected from corporate to the general public. I think that having ground level, grass-root operations where people can see these kind of vehicles on a college campus or wherever it may be would be the first step to getting them to peoples households.

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