My mission, for the weekend of August 14-16, was to travel to Austin, Texas to be in a video with Nina Buitrago, a star in the BMX cycling world. Nina’s videos of her riding dazzle her fans with her skills, but she likes to throw in a little education about electric vehicles, to help spread awareness of them. In the case of this video project, I was to play the role of “EV Nerd” and answer any questions Nina, and her boyfriend Jeremy Rodriguez, might have. Jeremy is a skateboarder with a very cool dog named Jana.
I had never met Nina or Jeremy before and had no idea what to expect, regarding their interaction with me, since I’m over 20 years older. I’ll admit that the “EV nerd” characterization had me concerned that I’d be the recipient of some “OK, Boomer” comments, but since the video was pitched as promoting EV adoption, I had to go for it.
The first task was to acquire the EV and I volunteered to go to the dealership to pick it up, since everyone else on the project was not as familiar with electric vehicles. I wanted to make sure the car was fully charged and that it was ready to drive all over the Austin area, since we would be hitting multiple sites for Nina’s stunt biking. I was scheduled to meet with a manager at Southwest Kia Austin. Southwest Kia has 5 locations, 3 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and 2 in Austin. I had booked my hotel stay at a Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott (more on that, later), just a couple blocks from the dealership that had the vehicle. After checking into the hotel, I headed to the dealership only to find that the manager, with whom I was supposed to meet, was off for the day. No problem the staff introduced me to another manager who would help me out.
That’s where we hit a minor snag.
I explained what was going on, and they contacted the manager I was supposed to meet so he could verify everything had been arranged. The vehicle Southwest Kia was loaning to us for the video was a top-of-the-line Kia Niro EV. It had every option available and I was looking forward to checking it out. The only time I’d ever seen one in-person, was when I worked the EV area of the 2020 Houston Auto Show, as they are very rare in the DFW area. I discovered later that the EV version of the Niro is only sold in 12 states and although Texas is one of the 12 states, only 3 Kia dealerships in Texas are certified to sell and service them. None of the certified Kia dealers are in the DFW area. As I was chatting with the manager that was on site, he gave me a concerned look and asked, “Are you expecting to pick up the fully electric Kia Niro?”
Uh-oh.
For those of you that are not familiar with the Niro, it is a small crossover, similar to the Chevy Bolt EV and comes in 3 versions: a traditional (or mild) hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and a fully electric vehicle. I was told the vehicle set aside for me was a plug-in hybrid.
After a brief moment of panic (Nina had been trying to get this production started for a while and vehicle availability and COVID-19 had made it difficult) I asked if there were any Kia dealerships in Austin that might have one. They said they’d call around. A short time later, I was informed that another of Southwest Kia’s locations, this one in Round Rock, an Austin suburb just to the north, had one they would loan for the project. The General Manager of that location, Brandon Carlson, would be expecting me and the Niro EV would be fully charged and ready to go.
Crisis averted!
Since my hotel was no longer two blocks away from the dealership that had the EV, I contacted the rest of the team and we decided to all meet at the Round Rock location at 7am the next morning.
When we arrived at the dealership, only the Service Department was open, so I did not get to thank Brandon Carlson for loaning the Niro EV to us. However, I got to meet John Scurlock, the Parts & Service Director, who helped us get underway very quickly. In addition to Nina, Jeremy and Jana, Scott Dietert, the videographer and Allen Green, the sound engineer were ready to get the day started. We had planned to shoot my segment, teaching Nina & Jeremy about the Niro EV, at the dealership since both Level 2 and DC fast chargers were present. As the crew shot portions, for which I was unnecessary, I grabbed my DJI Mavic Air 2 drone for a little fun, shooting video. It was an amazingly beautiful morning, as you can see from my drone video, later in this post.
Our first stop of the day was House Park, an amazing 30,000 square foot facility for BMX and skateboard enthusiasts, located about 7 blocks west of the Texas State Capitol Building. The fact that the city of Austin created this place makes me love Austin even more (if that’s possible…)
I can be pretty long-winded, when it comes to electric vehicles, so the shooting at the dealership took some time. It was starting to get pretty hot by the time we headed to the skate park. We stayed until lunchtime and planned to return very early the next morning to get some more footage when it wouldn’t be so hot and not as crowded.
For a real Texas lunch, we headed to Black’s Barbecue. Black’s is legendary in Texas and their original location in Lockhart, Texas has been in operation since 1932. The Lockhart location cooks barbecue on their old pits and ships some of it to the Austin location daily. It was my first Black’s experience, but it won’t be my last! During lunch, we discussed other locations for shooting, which would include Palomino Coffee and, after that, a nearby cement drainage ditch, frequented by BMXers and skateboarders alike.
I have to say, I was very impressed by the professionalism of everyone participating in the shoot as well as their enthusiasm for electric vehicles. I felt very welcomed, into this fine group, and think I made some really cool friends! I’ll let you know when Nina’s video comes out and where to go to see it.
Here’s some of the drone footage I shot. I’m a newbie at this, so be gentle:
One last thing: I mentioned the hotel at which I stayed was a Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott. It had lots of signs, asking people to wear face masks and explaining all they do to sanitize the rooms between visitors. The evidence was to the contrary. Here’s a couple of photos of my room, taken right after I entered, for the first time:
