So what if 40 of the views are my own ;-), I’ve finally got a video up on YouTube with more than 1,000 views.

Yes, the ‘EV + PV Love Story’ video I did highlighting the joys and wonders of the synergy between solar energy and EVs, in this case my brother’s Tesla Model, is a true ‘hit’.

Who's the loser who gave a great ad touting a solar-charged Tesla a thumbs down on YouTube? [Hint: it's not this guy, 'ShepDave', whose Flickr.Com Creative Commons photo we grabbed for this. Thank you 'ShepDave'!]

So, an advertising professional puts up an awesome video ad touting solar-charged driving and sun-powered Teslas on YouTube, within three days it hits 23,000 views and garners universal praise, along with 465 likes – and then some LOSER comes along and gives the video a thumbs down.

Say what!?

What’s not to like about 100-percent emissions-free, solar-charged, oil-free driving?

Oh wait, that must be it! Some shil for Big Oil finally watched the ad ;-)

The single most important advantage of the Tesla Model S over the Nissan LEAF: R-A-N-G-E.

So, as you may have noticed, my brother stole the EV + PV thunder at our home recently, zipping down from Boulder to Aurora, Colo. with his family in their brand new Tesla Model S to become the first EV to directly plug into sunshine at our home.

More than three years ago when I started SolarChargedDriving.Com, I kind of figured we, ourselves, would be the first to plug an EV into PV -- which we put on our home in June 2010, 5.59 kW worth of it to be exact -- here. But it wasn't to be thanks to unexpected circumstances that cropped up for us a little over a year ago.

I was going to wait to put this video up, but now that I see that YouTube may give me problems due to copyright, I'm going to post it right now -- and note that it may not stay up long.

It's a short video that shows my brother's new Tesla Model S plugging into solar at our home in Aurora, Colo. and thereby breaking our 2 1/2 year old, 5.59 kW home solar system of its EV + PV 'virginity.' It's set to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. I aquired the music from Archive.Org and it appeared to me that the recording -- by Leonard Berstein and the New York Philharmonic was under a Creative Commons License.

YouTube doesn't seem to think so, and I frankly don't know how to verify if this 1966 recording is, or is not, in the public domain. It's rather amazing how YouTube immediately identifies content it deems to be "problematic" via automated means. I happen to think the video is fun to watch, and, in the spirit of fun, I want to get it out there for viewing by at least a few folks before maybe it gets taken down.

Hope a few of you get to enjoy it. In the meantime, I'm going to dispute YouTube's claim -- and hope they don't cancel my YouTube account as a result of my good faith dispute.

Cheers,
Christof Demont-Heinrich
Editor & Founder
SolarChargedDriving.Com
January 8, 2013

My brother's Tesla Model S parked in front of our solar-equipped Aurora, Colo. house shortly before it became the first EV to plug into solar-charged driving at our home.

Almost three and a half years after getting so charged up by solar-charged driving that I founded SolarChargedDriving.Com and more than two and a half years after having a 5.59 kW solar system installed on our Aurora, Colo. rooftop, we finally had an EV plug in at our home today.

No, it wasn’t ours – we’ve had to put off getting an EV due to unusual personal circumstances. But it was the next best thing: It was my brother’s new Tesla Model S.