COAR wins electric car from Pohanka Nissan

BY COLLEEN HUBER

The University of Mary Washington Community Outreach and Resources (COAR) recieved a two-year lease of a 2013 Nissan Leaf as a gift from Pohanka Nissan.

Tim Pohanka, owner of Pohanka Nissan and a University of Mary Washington alumnus, came to UMW with the opportunity to win the car, according to Christina Eggenberger, director of service and student affairs.

Center for Honor, Leadership and Service (CHLS) put the ideas of how to put the car to use together with COAR in mind. Nissan approved the ideas and awarded the car to COAR for two years.

The Nissan Leaf has a 100 percent electric drive system that is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The car’s charge gets the equivalent  of 129 miles per gallon, according to the Nissan website.

“UMW is in the process of getting a charger installed on campus for the Leaf,” said Eggenberger. “It is a great step for UMW in terms of encouraging environmental sustainability in terms of transportation.”

COAR has several plans on how to put the car into use.

“COAR will be using it to transport volunteers to local sites such as Friends of the Rappahannock, animal adoptions days, local schools for tutoring and mentoring programs and anything else that fits the bill,” said Eggenberger.

Eggenberger said the car makes UMW more adaptive to the needs of the community.

COAR does not always require a 10-passenger van to transport volunteers, said Eggenberger, because sometimes only two or three people are going out to meet a need. COAR plans to create educational programming around the car.

“We are also looking forward to developing some educational programming around the car since it is fully electric,” said Egenberger.