Help Normal People Learn About Electric Cars In Sarasota, Los Angeles, Huntsville, Oxnard, San Diego, Ventura, DC, Iowa City, Mexico City, Melbourne, Taipei, Etc.
National Drive Electric Week is starting. This annual event has been going on for nearly a decade to raise awareness around electric vehicles (EVs). It’s organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association, but the core of the work is in the grassroots around the United States and even now the world.
This year, there are currently 317 events planned. You can view a full list here or view via an interactive map here. You can also simply input your zip code or city and see a list of nearby events — or as near as possible if there’s nothing in your area.
If you aren’t satisfied with the offerings, you can also create/host an event. It’s a quick and painless process to sign up to do so. I did so yesterday and think it took about 5 minutes.
There are various things you can do for an event, such as bring flyers, bring a tablet with your favorite CleanTechnica articles on it, offer test rides or even test drives, host an EV treasure hunt or other games, etc. The most important thing for increasing EV awareness and adoption is really just giving people their virgin electric driving experience — there’s nothing like it and talking it up isn’t nearly as effective.
I decided to host an event this year for two reasons. First of all, there was nothing nearby. I have a young family and just can’t easily travel a couple hours away for something like this. Without one organized, I figured I’d throw together what I can at a location where many EV drivers are on a daily basis anyway, the site of a good ChargePoint station and a large Supercharger station.
The second reason, a big one, is that I really want to help normal people get into the cars and learn a little bit about them. I’ve been at various EV events where it was just EV people, even though the idea was to get butts in seats. I wanted to try to maximize impact, rather than just having an EV gathering. The location I picked is a Whole Foods Market. I think (hope) there’s an opportunity to encourage many people going in or out of the store to try out an electric car for a few minutes. We’ll see.
If you happen to be in the Sarasota area, I encourage you to join us! And feel free to turn the party volume up a notch or two if you’ve got a bigger idea. I’m open.
Another one of our writers, Johnna Crider, will be joining an event in Gonzales, Louisiana. Say hi to Johnna if you’re in the area. And some other writers will be joining other events in California, Florida, and other places.
One more time, find an event via the list here or the map here.
If you’d like to buy a Tesla and get 2,000 miles (3,000 km) of free Supercharging, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404. Or not.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
