National Drive Electric Week
Pocatello EV Expo
Pocatello, ID
Sep 30, 2023
Pocatello EV Expo
Pocatello, ID
Sep 30, 2023
| Day: | Saturday, September 30, 2023 NOTE: this event has already happened, find current-year events on the Attend page. |
| Time: | 9:00 am - 1:00 pm MDT |
| Location: | Lookout Point Park 426 W Lewis St Pocatello, ID 83204 |
Event Report
The Pocatello EV Expo had 14 EV's and was held adjacent to and in conjunction with the Portneuf Valley Farmer's Market in Pocatello, Idaho. We had beautiful weather and great attendance for both the EV Event and the Farmer's Market. There were no public officials and we had no public speakers.We advertised through an interview on Sustainable Idaho, a twice weekly podcast on our local NPR station, KISU. Here is the link to the interview with Mike. We also announced with a press release in the local paper, on facebook, and through the Yellowston-Teton Clean Cities Coalition newsletter. The Portneuf Valley Farmer's Market also promoted the event.
We had a total of 14 vehicles on display in a fairly tight parking lot adjacent to the Farmer's Market. We did not offer the opportunity for test drives. Nine of the vehicles were privately owned and five were brought by two local car dealers, Jeep/Chrysler Lithia and Cole Nissan/KIA. Of the 14 vehicles, there was only one duplicate make and model and that was intentional as we had a 2017 Chevy Bolt and a 2023 Chevy Bolt that we wanted to contrast. Also of the 14 vehicles, 5 were PHEV's and 9 were EV's. One of the EV's was a very unique re-built 60's Volkswagen bug that was converted to full BEV. We also had a Ford F150 Lightning which generated a lot of interest. Overall, we had a 2018 Tesla Model 3, 2022 Hyundai Ioniq, 2023 Ford F150 Lighting, 2017 Chevy Bolt, 2023 Chevy Bolt, 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee PHEV, 2023 Jeep Wrangler PHEV, 2023 KIA EV6, 2023 KIA Sportage PHEV, 2023 Nissan Leaf, 2023 Nissan Ariya, 2018 Ford Fusion PHEV, 2023 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV mini van, and a converted 60's vintage Volkswagen Bug. While every vehicle received a lot visits and the owners fielded a lot of questions, the two stars of the event were the Ford F150 Lightning and converted vintage VW Bug.
The event had good participation and the owners and dealer representatives were pretty much engaged the entire time of the event which ran from 9 am to 1 pm. This is the same time that the Farmer's Market was open. We estimate that at least 300 people engaged with the EV owners and 100's more walked by while browsing the Farmers Market. The EV owners were very excited to share and generally the public was curious and had many of the questions about range, batteries, recycling, charging, and maintenance - as one might expect. We also invited environmentally or sustainability focused local NGOs. The Portneuf Resource Council sponsored the event and we also tabled there. PRC's mission is to advocate clean water and clean energy and this event was very much in line with our clean energy campaigns. We also had Citizens' Climate Lobby of Pocatello, Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust and Watershed Guardians. The NGO's also reported good engagement with the public.
We had one ebike owner and hope to get more ebike representation at the EV Expo next year. Speaking of next year, we plan to get an earlier start (like May or June) to recruit one or more co-sponsors. This year it took us awhile to secure the site location and we missed the deadline for material support from NDEW. However, now that we have a great location, it should be much easier to secure the location well in advance of registering our event.
Overall, we had a great event and we appreciate working with NDEW to help promote EV's and show the public a great way to reduce their carbon footprint.
photo by: Portneuf Resource Council Pocatello EV owners sharing their insights and knowledge of EVs with the public during the Sept 2023 Pocatello EV Expo. There was a great deal of interest in the Ford F150 Lightning (red truck) featured in the center of the EV Expo |
Event Description
The Portneuf Resource Council (PRC) is sponsoring the Pocatello EV Expo this year on September 30, 2023. This will be the second year for the event. Last year PRC worked Idaho Conservation League, Idaho power, Idaho State university, and other to host the 2022 EV Expo. PRC is reaching out these and other organizations to help co-sponsor and table at this year's event.
We expect nine to twelve EV owners or dealers to attend and bring their electric or plug in hybrid vehicles for the public to see. The EV owners will be there to answer questions and share their EV experiences with driving, charging, maintenance, range, fleets and other topics of interest. The event will be in the south parking lot of the Marshall Public Library and will be adjacent to the Saturday Farmer's market at Lookout Point. We expect to have robust participation with a lot of interest from the public.
Registered Attendees
There are currently 28 attendees registered.
Owners of These Vehicles Have Registered To Attend
| Vehicle | Registered |
|---|---|
| Chevrolet Bolt | 1 |
| Chevrolet Bolt EUV | 1 |
| Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid | 1 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 1 |
| Ford Fusion Energi | 1 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 1 |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe | 1 |
| Kia EV6 | 1 |
| Kia Niro Electric | 1 |
| Kia Sorento Plug-in Hybrid | 1 |
| Nissan Ariya | 1 |
| Tesla Model 3 | 1 |
| 12 Models | 12 |
Registered attendees report 134,800 electric miles driven.
