National Drive Electric Week offers consumers a chance to explore electric car movement

HOUSTON – Today in the United States, there are more than one and a half million electric cars on the road. That number is still about a tenth of the total number of vehicles sold annually, but EV (electric vehicle) advocate Chelsea Sexton believes we’re not far from a time when electric cars and trucks will be the norm.

“Electric transportation is the future – in all forms,” said Sexton, who was part of the team at General Motors who originally launched an electric vehicle known as the EV 1. She was drawn to electric cars because of their fast, nimble handling on the road. “Most people think of electric cars as golf carts. They think of them as slow and pokey and unable to go anywhere…” That’s a stigma that Sexton has been working to change.

National Drive Electric Week is an opportunity for consumers to see, touch, drive, and learn more about electric vehicles by interacting with current EV owners. Now in its tenth year, this year will feature virtual events ranging from seminars about EV charging at home and in the workplace, the future of our electricity grid, and a reunion of the cast of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car.”

Many automakers have been slow to embrace the electric car. Sexton says she isn’t surprised car companies have been slow to make the change. “Because they’re profit-oriented most of the industry would rather still make the things that are familiar, and profitable...” But Sexton believes electric vehicles aren’t just good for the future of our planet, they’re also critical for car makers as well. For them, moving away from gasoline-powered cars and embracing an electric future can help them avoid becoming, in Sexton’s words, “the Kodak of the automotive world.”

National Drive Electric Week runs September 26 – October 4, 2020.