Educate, educate, educate...then educate some more

I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you want people to adopt EVs you have got to get out there and show those EVs in the wild, not some show room or fancy press event, and make sure you have actual drivers doing the talking (with their cars and not just one) not a test driver or engineer from the manufacturer.  Fancy flash work and test drivers are cool on a closed course or environment but as soon as the audience goes home the interest fades and they go back to thinking ICE thoughts 

We have to get people to think - "Wow, he drives it everyday, he takes his family in it, he did over 15,000 miles in one year and he is having fun.  He used to drive a gas car and he does not want to go back, I want to know more".

Showing off our cars is easy, just driving around is not enough, you need an audience, how?  Easier than you think.  There are tons of free car shows that you can call up or just appear at and they will let you in.  I find it most effective to go to all ICE shows, they really like EVs and you will be the center of attention.  Another very effective way to show off your EV is to ask schools if you could demo your car, I have never been turned down by a school.  They love these cars, especially as most have 'green days', and they totally get it.  It is a lot of fun for you as well.  The kids have great questions, especially when you tell them EVs are fast and fun.  After all, they very well could be future EV drivers.  I've shown mine to pre-schools up to Colleges.  You may be surprised how 3 year olds totally get what EVs are about.  Best comment I've received so far from a pre-schooler was the car does not stink since there is no pipe in the back.  He was 100% correct.

I'm just tossing a few photos up here (there are many more) to give you an idea of all the types of educating you can do with EVs....it is a lot of fun and it really works.  Want to get involved?  Message me or join one of our facebook groups to keep up to date.

New Jersey Electric Auto Association (NJEAA)
BMW ActiveE Group

Showing EVs at Kimberly Clark School in Montclair

Demonstrating the ActiveE to Mount Olive High School Physics Class

Presentation at Pershing to 'Going Green' employees

Pershing 'Going Green' corporate event

Just pulled in and they found a spot for me

Cars and Croissants - Chatham NJ

Demonstrating the ActiveE to pre-schoolers

Demonstrating the Benefits of EVs at Bergen College teen STEM day

Kids love to plug EVs in - would you do this with a gas car?

People love to see EVs in action - Princeton Airport

Green Day at Princeton airport

People walk away seriously considering an EV....but, and this is to those manufacturers...we drivers plant the seeds but we need to keep it going and we can't do that without your support.  We are your biggest marketing asset.

Cars and Croissants - Dawn of the EV

I attended my 4th 'Cars and Croissants' this past weekend and so did a few more EVs.  We had some great weather today and other than the amazing cars that turned out - probably 75 cars- we had 3 ActiveEs including mine. They were joined by a Chevy Volt and a Prius plugin.  At this rate we will need our own EV section soon.

I arrived early and the ActiveE is already attracting attention 

Tom Moloughney joined us for the first time, passing 21,000 miles in the process.  Yes you read that correctly, Tom has 21,000 miles on his ActiveE already - not a drop of gas.  We were also joined by Michael and his ActiveE, his first time at Cars and Croissants too.  Mark brought his Chevy Volt and another newcomer drove up with his brand new Prius Plugin.  This was a fantastic EV turn out.

A 2nd ActiveE joined by a Chevy Volt 

As usual people came up to ask us questions.  Cars and Croissants is such a great event because the drivers and guests are all car people, they love them.  They are as interested in the exotics as they are in the EVs.  In fact, many are open to getting an EV and some were even on the list for the ActiveE.

The ActiveE is a 1 series and gets lots of compliments, stripes included, of course I show them pictures of the new i3 and more often than not at this event it gets a luke warm reaction.  I'm usually asked when will BMW build a 1 series EV they can buy....hear that BMW?

Anyway - it was great talking EV talk and cool car talk...check out the pics.

Prius Plugin -  interesting how the EVs all have their hoods up

That is a lotus in the middle - not a Tesla.  No Tesla today

Tom shows up and is immediately swamped with questions - having 3 ActiveEs surprised everyone

 A 1956 Ferrari 250 - the owner told me it took him 10 years to restore it - he did the restoration!

Another look down the row 

I'm a big muscle car fan - used to restore these back in the day 

 This is the 2nd set of cars

A real beauty and for sale

Interesting plates 

You don't see one of these everyday

Nor one of these Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 - only 600 made and 126 in the US

Looking up the line 

There was lots of American muscle today (new and old) - really great to see 

As a couple of EVs left I shifted over to bunch up

The event is winding down - it was so great to see everyone

If you are in the Northern NJ area and you drive an EV please come to the next event....you will be pleasantly surprised at how much interest there will be in your EV as well as the equally amazing cars that surround you.  Since dates and location change often, sometimes the day before, I'll post here and to the ActiveE facebook group when the next one is - but next tentative date is August 25th 8:30 to 11 at the Chatham NJ HS parking lot - they are usually every 2 weeks.

EVents - Cars and Croissants - July

There is one thing I enjoy equally to driving my ActiveE - showing it off.  I've done a number of events and one of my favorites is the Cars and Croissants gatherings.  This is an event set up by car people who gather every other week (time and weather permitting) to show off their exotics or collectibles and just chat it up. The ActiveE always draws a crowd and being that this is a car focused gathering people are genuinely interested in EV technology...being that it is from BMW makes it even better.

I've attended there a few times and each time it is a very welcoming experience - here is a link to my earlier post on Cars and Croissants Father's Day.

That's a spec sheet on the battery I made to answer common questions

 It was a real treat to see an M1 today

 What a beautiful car - timeless

Just another Lamborghini - amazing cars up close

 Today was a bit smaller due to the weather but there were still many visitors

 My Chevy Volt friends - it is great to see how passionate they are about their car - the best advocates

 Each time I tried to leave the event this happened - a good thing

I do not mind being followed by one of these - a beautiful Ferrari going the same route home

It was great to have the Chevy Volt join us for this day...people could look at what options they had in an EV.  Potential buyers really need to feel comfortable with their choices and talking to actual drivers of different EV technologies is a great way to get real world details.

Joining these groups is free and if you are a car nut well worth it.

Cars and Croissants is a local group in North NJ as the more popular Cars and Coffee does not have meet-ups...at least for now...in North NJ.  Feel free to join the Cars and Croissants Yahoo group and I hope to see you at one of the events.

Here is the official Cars and Coffee site - East and West coast meet-ups can be found here