Local organizers at Sunday's Sacramento Plug-In Vehicle Day Ride and Drive Event were happy as the event was termed successful by Guy Hall, President of the Sacramento Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA).
According to Hall the formula for this success included co-sponsor SMUD's mailers and ads, “the social media push, save the date cards handed out, newspaper, radio and tv interviews, and more all contributed to creating the crowd.”
This free event was hosted by numerous groups including SMUD and SEVA at the Folsom Premium Outlet Mall and observers were excited enough to term the event a “blow out” with a total of more than 250 test drives during the day. Last year the estimate for test drives was 100. Barring actual numbers crowd attendance was estimated in the thousands.
Some might have predicted the Tesla would be the big attraction (there were ten to drive) and the big-ticket vehicle did supply lots of glamor-but there was also interest in a wide range of EVs. Toyota RAV4, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt were almost always being driven.
In explaining the growth of the event this year Lloyd Levine of SEVA remarked, “The world of EVs has moved a little bit from last year's event and more people are aware and more people are curious.” He was enthusiastic about the Toyota RAV4, “They are affordable and they are the only electric SUV out there and it's also an excellent car.” Levine disclosed he does not own a RAV4.
In touting EVs in general Levine says, “They are great for the environment and frankly someone needs to step up and advocate for them. The manufacturers and dealers are not doing the advocacy they should be...some of them are.” But in general he says as a non-profit SacEVa is part of filling in the blanks of the knowledge gap surrounding EVs.
From the website SacEVa.org: “SacEV is a chapter of the national nonprofit Electric Auto Association, an organization of volunteers advocating for Electric Vehicles and growth of regional EV supporting infrastructure.”
Get membership information at the website.
