Drive Electric Earth Day events kick off Thursday, continue through April

Plug in America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association are hosting their annual Drive Electric Earth Day event where advocates educate attendees about EV ownership. The kickoff event will be livestreamed on Thursday, and events continue throughout the month.

Most events will take place virtually, with a few small meetups planned in person. Attendees are required to wear masks and maintain social distancing at all in-person events.

Drive Electric Earth Day is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual event hosting meetups around the world. These events have been a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.

But that all changed when the coronavirus hit, and the last few events have been online-only. Since we’re still in the thick of things, most events will continue online this year.

Events will largely consist of informational seminars on electric vehicle ownership, solar power, electric bikes, infrastructure, and so on. Many events will be interactive, with opportunities for Q&A with EV experts.

The first is the launch event, which will be streamed four times – on Thursday and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. PDT (1 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT). Here are the four links for the streams: #1, #2, #3, #4. The event will be hosted by Plug in America director Joel Levin and actress and EV driver Hope Levy. You can register to attend on the event page for more information, and registering for any event (and completing a short survey) puts you into a drawing to win a $250 Visa gift card.

The full list of events consists of both local and national activities, and a few in-person events. Here’s a short listing of a few of them in no particular order:

• Asheville, North Carolina will talk about the basics of solar panels and the combined benefits of EVs and solar on April 24 from 10-11 a.m. EDT.
• Polestar 2 owners in Cardiff, California, will talk about their Polestar 2 with plenty of time for Q&A on April 8 from 12-1 p.m. PDT.
• Mexico City will host a Spanish-language event on April 22 from 10-11 p.m. CST with testimonials from EV owners from all over Mexico.
• El Monte, California will host an event in Mandarin Chinese on April 29 from 1-2 p.m. PDT, focusing on explaining EV incentives and money-saving and health benefits of EV ownership.
• Columbus, Ohio is hosting an online game night with EV-themed games and trivia on April 17 from 4-6 p.m. EDT.
• Austin will have an in-person event at Ultimate Drive-In on April 17 from 7-10 p.m. CDT, with a showing of WALL-E. (Bonus: If it’s hot or cold out, all the EVs in the crowd can run their heaters without engine exhaust from idling!) See the in-person event safety requirements that apply to all in-person events.
• Plug in America is hosting a “virtual test drive” out of Los Angeles on April 27 from 12-1 p.m. PDT.

Again, this is only a few of the planned events. Click through to the event page to see if there’s anything you’re interested in, be sure to register so you can get a link to the web presentation, and get excited to learn more about electric car ownership from actual owners.

So tune in to the launch event and see what it’s all about, and maybe learn some new things about electric cars while you’re at it. Tell your friends, as maybe it will be easier to convince them to watch a livestream than to get up and drive across town to a physical event. Besides, a livestream has lower emissions than a car anyway, so maybe this is a good thing.