Earth Day EVangelizing EVents

EVangelizing to an interested crowd at Rutgers

We had great variety of EVs at Rutgers

This is a busy time of the year for alternative energy and green transportation events. Every April around Earth Day there are dozens of local events that focus on sustainable living and transportation. I try to take my EV to as many as possible to help spread the word and talk to as many interested people as possible. The past couple weekend we had events Bergen County Community College in Paramus and Rutgers University in Piscataway. In the past my MINI-E was usually the center of attention at many of these events, since there were so few electric vehicles back then and often I was the only pure electric car there. A lot of progress has been made in the past couple years and now when I bring my ActiveE to these shows I am accompanied by Teslas, LEAFs, Volts and other plug in electric cars. I no longer feel like the only "crazy person" there telling everybody how great electric drive is!

A nice new Model S was on hand

I'm a member of the New Jersey Chapter of the Electric Automobile Association and we are now formally organizing and listing what events are coming up so people with EVs can sign up and pledge to attend. That way we know who will be going to what event and that will hopefully help us to have EV representation at most of them, instead of just hoping people bring their cars. I firmly believe this kind of participation from real EV owners is very important to help others realize that electric vehicles are real and may be a great choice for them also. It's very effective when you look someone in the eye and tell them to throw out the misinformation they've heard about plug in vehicles and talk to someone like me that actually drives one. While I may not convert every person I talk to, I'm sure I get the majority of them at least thinking about the possibility getting an EV. The impact of having a dozen or so of us standing around our cars and talking to hundreds of people about how much we love our EV's is much more powerful than any commercial an EV manufacturer can put out to sell their cars. Fellow NJEAA members Michael Thwaite and Chris Neff have been doing these events as long as I have and so when we look out at all the EV's parked with their owners talking to people it really puts a smile on our faces and we can't help but say "Remember when it was just us here?". There is still a long way to go but progress is really being made. Exciting times are ahead!