Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wayne County Parks Marshmallow Drop March 29
The 29th annual Marshmallow Drop will take place on Good Friday, March 29.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Complimentary Whalers Tickets
Looking for something to do this weekend? The Chamber has 50
complimentary tickets for this weekend's Whalers Playoffs, Round 1, vs.
Sarnia.
Tickets are good for Friday, March 22 or Saturday, March
23. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. at Compuware Arena (14900 Beck Rd.,
Plymouth)
Tickets are first come/first serve. Call 734-453-1540 or email teri@plymouthmich.org.
Tickets must be picked up at the Chamber Office (850 W. Ann Arbor Tr., Downtown Plymouth) by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
P-CEP National Honor Society’s 3rd Annual Community Benefit 5K
The Plymouth-Canton
Educational Park’s National Honor Society will host our third annual 5K on May
5, 2013 at 8:00am on the high school campus.
This event was created in 2011 in honor of sixteen year old P-CEP
student, Jesse Lindlbauer, when a sinus infection turned into an abscess which
ruptured, causing a traumatic brain injury. The SJ5K run was created in order
to bring the community support to the family and raise money.
After a successful event
in 2011, the National Honor Society decided to make the SJ5K an annual event to
honor local families in need. This year, the race will support three P-CCS
students. Our hope is to bring the community together to bring hope, support
and necessary funds to the Plymouth-Canton community’s Jayden Gohl, Plymouth
High School’s Erinne Williams, and Salem High School’s Max Merget.
Jayden Gohl was born
with hydrocephalus, a rare medical condition in which fluid builds up in the
brain. Jayden was not expected to live past 6 months, but he beat the odds and
is now 4 years old. Jayden has been through 7 brain surgeries and countless
doctor appointments. Jayden needs to be watched around the clock and his mother
Lauren faces challenges providing for Jayden since she cannot have a full time
job.
Erinne
Williams is a 15 year old student at Plymouth High School and has lived with
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a motor neuron disease similar to ALS (Lou
Gehrig’s disease) since before her first birthday. Since her diagnosis, Erinne
has been through nineteen pneumonias, eleven surgeries, and twenty one
hospitalizations. She is confined to a wheelchair and forced to use a breathing
machine.
Max
Merget is a senior at Salem High School who has battled brain cancer since he
was three. In January of 2013, Max was diagnosed with cancer for the fourth
time. The previous three times Max beat the cancer, and he is optimistic about
beating the cancer for a fourth time. Max loves baseball and has spent his time
volunteering—especially for the new Mott’s Children’s Hospital—and has created a
nonprofit foundation called maxyourbrain in conjunction with the University of
Michigan to help raise money for cancer research. For more information, please
visit www.MaxYourBrain.org.
Please join us to raise
money and support for these three amazing students by participating in the
SJ5K, donating funds, or sponsoring the race.
It will be held on Sunday, May 5th, 2013 at 8am beginning at the
Canton Varsity Football Field. Registration
will begin March 4th and continue until race day; registrations
received prior to April 5th will include a race shirt. Registration forms can be found on the SJ5K
Facebook page; on the P-CEP website; or, in Canton, Plymouth and Salem Main Offices. Event fees are $25 for adults over 18 and $20
for all others. An optional $5 will be accepted for the maxyourbrain Foundation,
as well as a bag of returnable cans on race day (just bring them with you—we
will return and donate the money).
We will never turn down
help! For questions about the race or
volunteering, please contact one of the two student coordinators for this
year’s event. Devin Slominski can be contacted at devinslim@comcast.net and Madeline
Viergutz can be contacted at sj5krun2013@gmail.com.
For questions about becoming a sponsor, contact Andrew Kelty at Akelty28@yahoo.com. All donations and
sponsorships can be made out to “NHS SJ5K 2013” and can be mailed to Pam Davis,
46370 Spinning Wheel, Canton, MI 48187.
You may also participate
by cheering participants as a course safety volunteer; these positions will be
posted on the following online sign up Google document beginning on March 17th: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkxDZkpOHrsmdGowbkRzdGJlUkxRTWdrX0M4UXA0cEE#gid=0%20%0D%0A
Thursday, March 7, 2013
2011 Nissan Leaf At Two Years: 32,000 Miles, No Signs Of Age
Almost two years ago, I took delivery of one of the very first 2011 Nissan Leafs to be imported into the United Kingdom.
With
its two-year anniversary approaching, and more than 32,000 miles on the
clock, has our family's opinion of the Nissan Leaf changed?
What has life with the car been like? And do we regret buying it?
Just as we said last year, our 2011 Nissan Leaf has generally aged appropriately.
But let's start at the beginning.
In
late March 2011, we drove our new family car 45 miles home from the
dealership, plugged it in for the first time, and named the resplendent
red car Hiro Nakamura--after the earnest Japanese superhero on NBC’s
Heroes.
As the miles piled up, I shared the things we already
liked and disliked about Nissan’s first mass-produced battery electric
car.
We also documented Hiro’s life with us, including a visit
to the dealer for an official software update recall, various odometer
milestones, and a summary one-year drive report.
Wear and tear
Since
that report a year ago, nothing else has broken. A few things have
either required replacement due to standard wear and tear, or niggle at
us on a daily basis.
-During our second periodic service, the front windshield wipers were replaced because the blades had separated from the wiper.
-An
annoying squeak over rough ground has developed. It seems to originate
from the area between the right-hand driver's seat and the center
console. As yet, we’ve been unsuccessful in pinpointing exactly what is
making the noise.
-The driver's side floor mat -- an original Nissan
accessory -- has lost an eyelet, though it remains securely fastened to
the floor.
-The rear carpets and the backs of the front seats have
started to look much more worn than two-year-old interior fabrics
should.
-The power windows, while functional, remain slow to operate. This is especially noticeable in colder weather.
2011 Nissan Leaf
Range and battery life
Unlike
Nissan Leafs in much warmer climates (Phoenix, Arizona, for example),
the generally temperate U.K. climate has so far been kind to the battery
pack of our Nissan Leaf.
Despite six months of daily 80-mile
freeway commutes with twice-daily recharging, our Leaf has shown no
noticeable signs of battery degradation.
No battery capacity
bars have disappeared, and the Leaf is easily capable of 75 to 80 miles
on a full charge, depending on how it is driven, the type of road, and
the temperature.
Even more impressive is the fact that several
long-distance trips during the past year--covering thousand miles and
requiring multiple quick-charges in a single day -- have also had no
noticeable impact on the battery health either.
Because few
rapid chargers exist in the U.K., we often had to recharge the battery
not to the recommended 80 percent but to 98 percent of
capacity--something Nissan doesn't recommend.
But regardless of
the frequent quick-charging, the most recent battery health report from
our dealer gave the car a five-star rating overall.
Four stars
were given for “charging when already at a high level of charge,” no
doubt caused by the rapid charging from 80 to 98 percent full. No
warnings were issued for battery health or charging behavior.
Also
worth of note: Despite numerous low-battery and very-low-battery
warnings, our car has never entered the fabled ‘turtle mode’.
Carwings and charging
It
would be nice to report that Nissan has improved its Carwings
telematics service over the past two years. But it hasn't, and the
service remains the weakest link of owning a Leaf.
To start,
Carwings’ charging-station information remains patchy and inaccurate
(though this may vary by country; it is certainly the case in the U.K.).
In
November, while on the way to a business meeting, inaccurate Carwings
data directed me to a charging station that simply did not exist.
Without the range to make it to the next charging station, I was forced
to look for a standard outlet to charge at.
Ultimately, the car ended the day on the back of a tow truck after I failed to find an alternative place to charge.
Carwings’
inaccuracies don’t stop there. According to the odometer in our Leaf,
it has traveled a little more than 32,000 miles since new. Carwings
reports that it has only traveled 25,000 miles.
Moreover, its
range predictions haven’t improved despite a software upgrade. On one
occasion, less than 10 minutes after we'd quick-charged the battery to
98 percent, Carwings proudly warned us that, laden with two adults, two
children, two dogs and luggage, our car wouldn’t reach its destination.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived safely at our destination, with at least 15 miles to spare. (Carwings failed to apologize.)
The
iPhone Carwings app has also been a trial. For three months, it refused
to connect to the Carwings servers, making remote monitoring and
presetting the climate control only possible through a third-party app,
LeafLink.
It took Nissan U.K. two months to rectify the issue.
Performance and handling
Almost
two years after leaving the dealer, our 2011 Nissan leaf still performs
as it did when new--accelerating well under most conditions, with only a
hint of sluggishness when battery charge or temperature is low.
We
replaced the factory-standard Ecopia E150 tires with aftermarket
Michelin Energy Saver tires, and our now Leaf performs and handles far
better than it did when new. The body roll is reduced, handling feels
more precise, and grip seems improved.
And with longer tread
life, we’ve already managed almost as many miles on the Michelins as we
did on the original Ecopias--with half the tread on the newer tires
still remaining.
2011 Nissan Leaf
Our verdict: No regrets
After
nearly two years and more than 32,000 miles, our 2011 Nissan Leaf still
performs as we had hoped it would when we bought it.
Our dealer experience has been good, with our local dealer still offering exemplary servicing for a very reasonable price.
Including
servicing, insurance, electricity, and loan payments, our 2011 Nissan
Leaf has cost us somewhere in the region of $18,000 so far.
It has also saved us more than $10,000 in gasoline costs compared to our previous car, a 1992 Volvo 240 Wagon.
As for regrets? There are none.
In
fact, driving the Leaf has become such a part of our family life that
we’ve now invested in a second electric car: a 2013 Renault Twizy
microcar.
Which means our gas-guzzling 2008 Toyota Prius is now relegated to the lowly position of long-distance third car.
As Read on: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1082571_2011-nissan-leaf-at-two-years-32000-miles-no-signs-of-age/page-2
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