The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived—at least if you live in Torrance, California … and work for the city government. While the rest of us just became comfortable writing 2012, Honda is blazing ahead with its plans for the 2013 Fit EV, handing over the keys to Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto in a bit of a coming out party.

Over the past year, the city of Torrance has participated in the Honda Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, which Honda hopes to use to gather information on how their electric vehicles will fare in real-world situations. After collecting input from Torrance residents on potential charging station locations and spreading the word of the Honda Fit EV with a prototype test vehicle, the city government now gets the real thing, and will continue testing as part of the government fleet.

image via Honda

And in Northern California, Stanford University and Google are also part of the Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, collecting information of their own on behavior around using the car. Acknowledging that switching to an electric vehicle is a big jump for those of us used to filling up at the gas pump, Honda is trying to learn how to make that transition as smooth and easy as possible for consumers—and while they’re at it, also building a little public awareness.

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