[Snow] Too Hard – PLUG

PLUG: Danyale Patterson & Kai Ujejski Go Electric.

Transworld Q & A

First off, how’s your season been?
Kai: Season has been awesome living up in Tahoe there’s been so much snow. It was basically storm after storm all season. the power kept going out.
Where have you been boarding mostly?
Kai: Boreal Mountain. that place is sweet.
How did this idea for your electric car edit came to be?
Kai: We just started researching electric cars when all the Dakota access pipeline controversy was going on because we didn’t want to be supporting those big evil oil companies anymore. We found out that driving and owning an EV is a lot easier than you’d think.
What kind of electric car did you use?
Danyale: We used a Nissan Leaf because they are so affordable yet still get good milage and are spacious. We could fit four people and all their snowboard gear in the car.

Tell us about the car, where did you primarily charge it, what was the farthest distance you were able to drive it on a single charge, best parts of the car, worst parts of it?
Danyale: The Leaf is one the most affordable vehicles. It starts at 30,000$ but after rebates and incentives it ends up only costing around 12,000$. Your electric bill will barely go up (like 12$ a month) and you don’t have to spend a dime on gasoline or oil changes. We drove to and from boreal everyday where they have free charging stations as well as occasional trips to Reno and back all on a single charge. You get around 90miles per charge but the car also charges anytime your going down a hill. So depending on your route you could get well over 90 miles.
Did you get into any situations where you needed a charge, but weren’t close enough to a station?
Kai: This was our main concern before getting the car but since the car charges off of built up momentum we never had to worry about low battery. But if you did start to run low and there weren’t any charging stations around you can always plug into a regular wall outlet to charge. The car also comes with a navigation system that tells you all the nearest charging stations and routes you to them.
What did you take away from this EV experience?
Danyale: Electric vehicles are cheaper, more efficient, better for the environment, they have just as much room and all the luxuries of a regular gas powered vehicle.
What’s next for you for the rest of this season and off season?
Kai: After Boreal closes I think we’re gonna head up to Whistler and board there for the spring. Then we’ll be working and skating until winter, might do some summer boarding up at Woodward too 🙂
Can you tell us about the project you’re working on with Too Hard this year?
Danyale: I’m not gonna lie, This year was really hard for me. I started out with not much money and having to work a lot as a bar tender. I also had a bad head injury. Lucky for me I have some amazing and supportive girls in my life. So Even though I haven’t been able to do much work on Too Hard this season, the other girls have still been filming and working their butts off. So we will still have a movie coming out this Summer/Fall. S/O Maria Hilde, Madison, Fancy, Melissa, Christine, Marj etc…

Who are all the riders in this EV edit and who filmed it?
Riders: Kai Ujejski, Danyale Patterson
Filmers: Kai, Jordan MacDonald, Sam Jorgensen, Daniel Ma
Colton Feldman

New Too Hard gear looks sick, where can we get some?
toohard.bigcartel.com