National Drive Electric Week

National Drive Electric Week
Cookeville, TN
Sep 26, 2020

Day: Saturday, September 26, 2020 NOTE: this event has already happened, find current-year events on the Attend page.
Time: 10am - 2pm CT
Location: TN Tech University
320 University Drive
Cookeville, TN 38501
Contact the event organizers, which took place in 2020.

Event Report

This event was a first for the Cookeville area in TN for an NDEW event. It was led by Tennessee Technological University (TTU) with assistance from the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) External Affairs office, and Drive Electric TN.  TTU held the event on campus at the site of a brand new installation for a DCFC unit! TTU has a large DOE-funded electrification project called "Developing an EV Demonstration Testbed in the Upper Cumberland Region of Tennessee, an Economy Distressed Rural Region," and outreach for that project occurred during the event. The project was the genesis for the DCFC unit which will charge an all-electric E-450 shuttle bus that will starting operations later this year. About five student volunteers joined us as well as staff from the local TDEC office. 

Another unique facet of that project is that TTU is offering citizens in the 14-county area (called the 'Upper Cumberland" area in Tennessee) no-cost, two-week test drives of its three project Nissan Leafs, and we signed up 7 drivers to have one of these extended test drives during the event.

In addition to educating attendees about EVs in general and as well as about that unique project, we had about 20 COVID-compliant test drives that day, AND collected 12 pre- and post-drive/ride surveys (that ETCleanFuels developed). On top of that, many partners associated with the Drive Electric TN initiative are working to build "chapters" of DET across the state. We were also soliciting EV owners and other important partners that day to become inaugural members in what we expect will be called the "Upper Cumberland DET Chapter, and signed up about 10 new members.

photo by: Jonathan Overly, East TN Clean Fuels Coalition
Attendees checked in at a main tent, where asked COVID questions, signed up to drive or ride in a vehicle and then wandered around spoke with Tesla, Nissan, Toyota or other OEM EVs.

Event Description

 

Upper Cumberland EV Experience

Event Organizer:  Tennessee Technological University (Tn Tech), DriveElectricTN and the East TN Clean Fuels Coalition
Date/time:   Sat, Sept 26th 10-2 pm CT

Event location:  On campus at Tn Tech at the site of the newly installed Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) unit at 320 University Drive, Cookeville, TN 38501. (The photo below shows the exact location where we will be, at the TTU ChargePoint DCFC unit!)
Event details:  This is the inaugural Upper Cumberland NDEW event!  The public is invited to come see and learn about:

  • a variety of different kinds of electric vehicles (EVs) that will be on hand, 
  • how you charge an EV whether at home, at work, or en route to a destination,
  • where charging infrastructure for EVs currently exists in the area and what plans for additional infrastructure are coming,
  • a significant project called "Developing an EV Demonstration Testbed in the Upper Cumberland Region of Tennessee" which is working to bring EV awareness and test drives to citizens throughout the 14-county Upper Cumberland region.

This event will be held concurrently during Tennessee Technological University’s “Preview Day” https://www.tntech.edu/previewday/ and is open to the public. 



Registered Attendees

There are currently 18 attendees registered.

Owners of These Vehicles Have Registered To Attend

Vehicle Registered
Nissan Leaf (2018+) 3
Nissan Leaf (2011-2017) 2
Toyota Prius Prime 1
3 Models 6

Registered attendees report 78,577 electric miles driven.

Presented By

Plugin America logo
Electric Vehicle Association logo
Sierra Club logo
EVHybridNoire logo
Drive Electric USA logo

All NDEW 2024 sponsors support Plug In America's coordination of National Drive Electric Week.

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