09 Sep Meet Electric Vehicles and Their People September 19th

On Saturday, September 19 AustinEV will host our local National Drive Electric Week event at Northwest Recreation Center (2913 Northland Dr) from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. (See Event Details to register your electric vehicle to participate.) This event is a great opportunity see how fun and practical EV ownership really is and Talk to actual EV owners about their experience and drive, or ride in their vehicles. Currently about 30 EVs are expected including Nissan Leaf and Tesla models. Booths and presentations from Austin Energy, Smart Charge Residential and Native Solar will also be featured.

Above I mentioned that EV ownership is both fun and practical, because that has been my experience as an EV owner for seven years now. For those who doubt the practicality and the environmental benefits of electric vehicles, I have the following things to say:

1. Affordable EVs are right-sized for the average American’s transportation needs. From my own experience and observations, it seems very few people drive more than 50 miles each day. A vehicle with an 80-mile range does the job at least 95% of the time. Also, most households rarely have the need to haul around more than four people with a small amount of cargo like a pile of groceries. For those few occasions when you need to haul around more people and/ or stuff, it’s pretty easy to rent or borrow a truck, or van.
2. You can power an EV with 100% renewable energy. In Austin, it’s very possible to get all of your electricity needs covered by wind, or solar. Even if it isn’t feasible to install solar panels on your home, or business, you can subscribe to Austin Energy’s GreenChoice and get all your electricity from Texas wind farms. GreenChoice costs a little more than regular electric rates, but it’s still cheaper to “fill” your car with electrons than gasoline.

I’ll be there on September 19 with my husband, my son and our gunmetal gray Nissan Leaf, Gigi. Hope to see many of you there. We’d be happy to give you a ride, or test drive.