Raising public awareness of EVs

It bothers me how many people in my area are totally unaware of BEVs and their growing availability.

What are some good ways to further public awareness?

Incentives? Word of mouth? Press releases and advertising? Plug-in days or other butts-in-seats events?

That's all I know of so far. What else might work?

Tony's events like the one coming up later this year help make people aware not just that EVs are here (and here to stay) but that they are not the cramp on one's lifestyle that a lot of people believe.

Another one are EV owners themselves. I get a lot of questions about my Leaf. I've had a couple of co-workers interested in getting one, but unfortunately the length of their commutes, and the terrain they have to cross, make one impractical unless they can charge at work.

RonDawg said:

Another one are EV owners themselves. I get a lot of questions about my Leaf. I've had a couple of co-workers interested in getting one, but unfortunately the length of their commutes, and the terrain they have to cross, make one impractical unless they can charge at work.

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I've had similar discussions with co-workers. In over a year, I'm still the only one of over 3000 who work here with one, and we have L2 at work. But they also ask, "It takes no gas at all?" People are aware of hybrids, but not so much of pure electric.

Maybe it'll improve this year as the SmartEV, i3, and eGolf enter our market. So far, only LEAF, iMiev, and Tesla, and not that many of them.

You can see if there is a local EV club. The one here meets monthly and puts on a demo about every 2 months or so. I showed mine at a car show with some other clubbers (Jag, Corvette, etc) and they were mildly interested. I gave a presentation at my sons' high school last Friday that went over pretty well. Definitely target a younger crowd that is a more gadget conscious group. Although on Saturday I had a gentleman who was about 15 years older than me ask me about the costs and availability of the cars.

Around here because there are so few EV's I charge at public stations every chance I get just to show that they are used and the cars are here. When we get a higher density I will quite doing that and only do it when I need to so I don't deprive anyone else. I usually do my public charging at the library. When I first started someone was always ICE'ing the plugs and I really needed it one day (VLB and 10 miles to the house). One ICE was just pulling out which opened one of the three ICE'd spots. In the last 6 months I don't think any of the spots have been ICE'd. So it is getting much better out here.

Blog about it. I'm working on getting myself an FAQ business card put together to had out people ask questions. If you can convince the office to put in a plug that will help. I'm lucky in that our CEO has a Tesla and the new office is going to have 2 different EVSE's. One for showing off to the public and one sorta tucked away in the parking garage.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

I've had similar discussions with co-workers. In over a year, I'm still the only one of over 3000 who work here with one, and we have L2 at work. But they also ask, "It takes no gas at all?" People are aware of hybrids, but not so much of pure electric.

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When I finally had my 240 volt EVSE put in, the electrical contractor and the city inspector who signed off on his work both asked about it. The contractor had never installed an EVSE before, though he has seen Nissan Leafs driving around and was aware they were pure electrics. He was a bit surprised about the range (he thought it would go 100 miles on a charge).

The city inspector who came out was familiar with EVSE installs and electric cars, but he claimed that if gas were to dip below $3.50/gallon that I was losing money :roll: 1000 miles/month at $3.50/gal in my Audi is $140; the same distance in my Leaf is only about $40, so I don't know how they came about with that math. Perhaps he's thinking of the higher price of the car, but at $200/month plus tax my leasing costs are just as low as many economy ICEVs.

Maybe it'll improve this year as the SmartEV, i3, and eGolf enter our market. So far, only LEAF, iMiev, and Tesla, and not that many of them.

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Smart has not been heavily promoting the Electric Drive, and GM hasn't been doing much advertising for the Spark EV either. Few people were aware that there was even an eGolf (albeit mostly a prototype) prior to the current generation Golf, or that there was an all electric Audi A3 eTron that was leased to a select few, just like with the Mini-E and the BMW ActivE. BMW may start promoting the i3 more heavily as it comes to market. Nissan and Tesla are about the only ones right now that are heavily promoting EVs.

Another thing I forgot to mention: forums just like these. I've noticed a lot of new members signing up just to ask questions about whether or not a Leaf would work for their situation.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

It bothers me how many people in my area are totally unaware of BEVs and their growing availability.

What are some good ways to further public awareness?

Incentives? Word of mouth? Press releases and advertising? Plug-in days or other butts-in-seats events?

Click to expand...

We have the same issue here in Ft.Worth. Most people are totally clueless and very few EVs are seen on the streets. I think the best way to educate is more public charging stations at popular destinations. People see the cars plugged in and suddenly it becomes real to them. Most of the people that see my Leaf or Volt driving down the road don't even realize the cars aren't running on gasoline. I've had any number of people ask about our Leaf in a parking lot because it looks unusual and they want to know what kind of gas mileage it gets. When I tell them its electric, they are blown away that such a thing even exists.

ksnogas2112 said:

You can see if there is a local EV club. The one here meets monthly and puts on a demo about every 2 months or so. I showed mine at a car show with some other clubbers (Jag, Corvette, etc) and they were mildly interested.

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I've done four car shows so far, three of them by just pulling in and opening the hood. I have a fee brochures from a dealership and car people are genuinely curious. Gave a couple rides too. Most people have never seen one. I like to look at all the old cars too.

RonDawg said:

Smart has not been heavily promoting the Electric Drive, and GM hasn't been doing much advertising for the Spark EV either. Few people were aware that there was even an eGolf (albeit mostly a prototype) prior to the current generation Golf, or that there was an all electric Audi A3 eTron that was leased to a select few, just like with the Mini-E and the BMW ActivE. BMW may start promoting the i3 more heavily as it comes to market. Nissan and Tesla are about the only ones right now that are heavily promoting EVs.

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Out here, there's hardly any promotion at all. An EV ad on TV is a rarity while car brand ads are numerous. Local radio and newspaper ads are even more numerous, yet no EVs at all.

Of course, the only BEVs available here at the moment are Tesla and Leaf. IMiev dropped out, but will come back, I think you can order it and the Focus EV too, but the lack or low level of service support makes it impractical. I like to see a trained tech in residence if I need one.

I don't think there'll be more promotion until they can ramp up battery production to meet the increased demand. They'll need that, and twice the range for the same price before they begin mainstream adoption. More vehicle types too.

I love my EV. I do all I can when offered the chance to tell people why it is a good choice for me and, perhaps, for them.
But I despair of spreading the word to all Americans anytime soon.
Listen or look at the news, which does all it can to make it seem as if all of America goes to the mall on black Friday, and lines up at 2 am to buy bargains. Many, many do, but it is not a universal thing other than it is universally covered. They do all they can to make EVs seem an outlier choice that is difficult to make work, and not worth the hassles.

America will know more about EVs when the media covers them.

Why do i further despair. I am well known at work for having an EV. Yesterday a co-worker asked me about "plug-in rage."
Say what?
"Plug-in rage, you know when other EV owners unplug you while charging so they can charge."
Never happened to me. Where did you hear that, on KFI (i named the local right-wing call-in, rageathon station)?
"Sure."

As I said, I despair.

Yeah, people tune into that stuff and are entertained. Go figure. I wouldn't waste much time trying to explain them to folks who are committed to misunderstanding them.