EV Roundup | Finding a Test Drive, Road Trip Charging Times and Roof Racks
This EV Roundup issue includes many topics for interested EV buyers and owners, but shows how EV test drives move people to purchase this new technology.
By Grant Gerke, Senior EV Ambassador
“Ok, step on it.”
Those four words ignited my love affair with electric cars back in 2012, as I received my first test drive in a Tesla Model S on a desolate frontage road, near a grove of trees and highway on the other side. And this was three weeks after I drove a Chevy Volt and enjoyed Motor Trend’s 2012 Car of the Year, while a salesperson debated the state’s electric and plug-in vehicle purchase rebate during the ride.
Looks like GM killed the electric car…sale, again. Go figure.
But I digress.
I revisited this test drive due to it being National Drive Electric Week (SEP & OCT), and because of a recent award given to Columbus, OH that shows how test drives are the “gateway” auto drug that showcases the technology’s unique features.
The city of Columbus implemented a EV test driving program three years ago after winning the Dept. of Transportation (DoT) Smart City Challenge in 2016. The city received $40 mil from the DOT and another $10 mil. came from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation with the overall objective to make transportation safer and more sustainable for the city; and consider all options, autonomy, etc.
The city rolled out many projects with the new funding, but one was implemented quickly, the “Ride and Driver Roadshow.”
Jordan Davis, director of Smart Columbus for the Columbus Partnership and her team assembled a "ride and drive" roadshow with 12 BEVs and PHEVs (See Plugged In’s 2021 Glossary) that visit places of work around the community, and Smart Columbus has also opened an experience center with another fleet of alternative powertrain vehicles for people to test drive.”
The results? In two years, 12,000 people tried an EV with ride and drive program.
More from ARS Technica:
In 2016, before the grant was awarded, BEV and PHEV sales were just 0.4 percent in the seven-county region. When the electrification program began in April 2017, the goal was to boost this to 1.8 percent of new vehicle sales—or 3,200 EVs—by March 2020. And it worked; over the course of those 35 months, 3,323 new BEVs and PHEVs found homes in the region. Plug-in sales actually reached as high as 2.4 percent in Q4 2018 and 1.6 percent in Q4 2019. (2019 was a disappointing year nationally for plug-in sales, so we can forgive the year-on-year decrease.)
Smart Columbus says the program will cut carbon emissions by 1,850 tonnes over ten years.
The Takeaway?
The evidence is clearly shows that EV test drives work. I believe the combination of a new experience, instant acceleration, quiet driving and a bunch of new technology inside the car does the trick.
It did for me.
So visit the Plug-In America and Electric Auto Association websites to find an event near you and visit dealerships.
Other EV Developments
1) Trucks are entering the EV fray, Rivian just produced its first wave of R1T trucks at its Normal, IL plant and Ford is making news, see link below:
One Ride in the New Ford F-150 Lightning Told Me Everything I Needed to Know
2) Charging times are important on a road trip is important for one huge reason: EV owners want to their car everywhere! See this below from Marques Brownlee.
What about hauling cargo with an EV, here’s an interesting take from Electrek in 2020:
Tesla Model 3 with roof-rack box gets much better range if you flip box around