Virginia Clean Cities hosted the Inaugural Drive Electric Virginia Forum on November 17th with an amazing lineup of speakers covering a wide range of topics on the current state of electric vehicles (EVs) in Virginia plus efforts underway to make EV adoption and charging accessible and equitable. We were excited to hear from the following speakers who shared their experiences, lessons learned, and initiatives they are currently working on.
Alleyn Harned, Executive Director of Virginia Clean Cities briefed us on the state of EVs in Virginia – where we are in numbers today and where we need to go tomorrow.
Charles Gerena, of Drive Electric Richmond Virginia provided helpful suggestions for talking to prospective EV owners and tips for setting the right professional tone with your message and outreach efforts.
Liza Borches with Carter Myers Auto Group and Camron Wilson with National Automobiles Dealers Association described how they are educating staff and consumers on ever-changing technology and how dealerships are making the process of purchasing EVs as easy as possible for consumers.
Andrew Hillman with Blink talked about the noticeable divide in the country with charging and how programs like the Mid Atlantic Electrification Partnership (MAEP) are helping to bridge the gap.
Eric Huang with Forth stated: “You wouldn’t buy a cell phone if you couldn’t charge it at home so why would you buy an EV if you couldn’t charge it at home.” This underscores so well the unique challenges of charging in multi-unit dwellings which Eric covered in his presentation along with strategies for overcoming these challenges.
Danielle Cherry-Hoover with EVNoire provided resources and tips for engaging underserved communities in EV adoption and the power of partnerships!
Joyce Bodoh with Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Kathleen Staples with Dominion Energy shared how utilities are educating and incentivizing EV use, plus making long term plans to scale up adoption.
We are grateful to all of our speakers who shared their invaluable experience and who raised awareness of resources available to help support EV adoption and deployment of chargers. What’s clear is it will take all of us working together to make the significant inroads needed towards electrification. Downloadable slides can be accessed here.
Please stay tuned for next year’s Annual Drive Electric Virginia Forum!