May 25, 2012

Where in the World is Westport WiNG – Roadtrip Highlights

From May 21-24 three Westporters embarked on an epic road trip from Detroit to New York in the bi-fuel Ford F250 using only the CNG tank.


The WiNG Road Trip Crew’s t-shirts show all the stops on the trip

The Crew, consisting of John, Nicole and Alissa, made various stops along the way to show off the truck and allow people to take it for a test drive. They travelled through thunderstorms and crossed rainbows. Here’s some highlights:
From left to right, John H., Nicole, Alissa and Arnie C.



Bright and early at 7 am the four adventurers receive a warm farewell in Plymouth. Theirfirst stop? Starbucks.. er, Cleveland. John, who arrived on a red eye flight from the west coast only an hour earlier, demonstrated how comfortable the cab is by taking a long nap on the first leg of the drive.

Alissa was the first behind the wheel, here’s what she had to say about driving the bi-fuel Ford F250 for the first time:


When her turn driving was up, she was sad!


The crew arrived in Cleveland and headed straight to Valley Ford Truck Sales where they hosted a BBQ and encouraged people to stop by and take the truck for a test spin. They had lots of interest and loved showing off the truck.

 John Howell talks about the WiNG™ bi-fuel system


Huge turnout of folks at Valley Ford in Cleveland enjoying their BBQ


The crew headed off to their next stop in Canton Ohio, and had the chance to do their first CNG fuel-up. John’s excited about the $40 fill-up:



The group loved how inexpensive it was to fill the truck with CNG, with the CNG tank alone taking them another 300 miles before needing to re-fuel again.


While refueling they noticed that at the end of the rainbow, instead of a pot of gold, there was a WiNG™-powered Ford F250


The crew headed off to Pittsburgh, where they hosted another BBQ at Allegheny Ford and showed off the truck to visitors.




They spoke with Rick Price of Pittsburgh Clean Cities about the benefits of natural gas vehicles:



They left Pittsburgh and headed to Pottstown, where they weathered a massive thunderstorm that left a lot of other vehicles pulled over on the side of the highway:


On their way to Pottstown their GPS lead them astray, taking them through the Valley Forge historic site.

At Pottstown they stopped at John Kennedy Ford, their final stop before heading to the big apple. Another delicious BBQ, and more people interested in the bi-fuel truck!








It’s here that the Road Trip met the first WiNG™-powered Ford F250 owner, Ken Gibson
.


The crew arrived safe and sound in New York, and began setting up in Times Square for their final show-off of the truck, albeit in the pouring rain.




Nicole is happy to have obtained permission from the NYPD to park the F250 in Times Square.




The rain subsided and the crew had one final task to mark the end of their journey: ring the closing bell at NASDAQ. They changed out of their Road Trip Crew shirts and headed over to join the rest of the Westport team that was in NYC for the 2012 Analyst’s Day. The whole team was part of the bell-ringing ceremony, marking the end of business for the day, and the end of the Where in the World is Westport Wing? RoadTrip. The team thanks to everyone who came out to see them along the way.


Westport CEO David Demers






1 comment:

Unknown said...

I was in an office removals sydney transfer one time and I had a great time traveling. At first I thought it was kind of boring but then I got to see the scenic highlights of the road ahead. Pretty cool.

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