We hit the road during the month of May to educate North Carolinians about the opportunities and possibilities of electric transportation. Our first stop was Asheville and the magnificent facilities at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. We co-hosted a workshop with the Land-of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition that convened fleet managers, purchasing coordinators and others from the region.

The event shared the benefits that electric vehicles (EVs) can offer municipalities, tribal nations and organizations with both financial and environmental goals in mind. It was timed to offer participants a “heads up” prior to potential Volkswagen Settlement funds that should be available soon (release date still TBD). In addition to the content that we and Land-of-Sky provided, the event was fortunate to feature presentations from Stan Cross, CEO of Brightfield Transportation Solutions, and Lisa Poger, Duke Energy’s North Carolina electric transportation manager. The meeting was capped off with an EV showcase (under the solar panel parking lot canopy) that included members of the Blue Ridge EV Club, dealerships and others.

Our next event was a little closer to our home base. We were invited by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in Raleigh to present at a staff lunch-and-learn. The gathering was put on in support of the DEQ’s Air Quality Awareness Week initiatives.

Most recently, we joined the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition and Council of Governments at their offices in Charlotte to co-host a workshop promoting the benefits of EVs for municipalities, private organizations, school districts and more. The event featured a panel of industry leaders and the Charlotte Department of Transportation that shared lessons learned and best practices. Like the Asheville event, this workshop ended with an EV showcase that included a range of models, such as the Chevy Bolt EV, Tesla Model 3 and S, Hyundai Ioniq, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Nissan LEAF.

We have many people and organizations to thank for the success of these events and want to shout out the Land-of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition, Blue Ridge EV Club, Brightfield Transportation Solutions, Duke Energy, Nissan and Chevrolet, ChargePoint, ClipperCreek, Guardian Fueling Technologies, other Plug-in NC members and ambassadors, and more!