National Drive Electric Week

National Drive Electric Week
Fairfax, VA
Sep 19, 2014

Day: Friday, September 19, 2014 NOTE: this event has already happened, find current-year events on the Attend page.
Time: 11:00–21:00
Location: 8298 Glass Alley
Fairfax, VA 22031
Contact the event organizers, which took place in 2014.

Event Report

It was very kind of Supervisor Smyth to come to our event and present us with a plaque recognizing this as Drive Electric Week in Fairfax County.
We had an expert Videographer film Phase 1 of the event so look for that video on YouTube Soon.
We were unable to play Who Killed the Electric Car? due to technical difficulties however Revenge of the Electric Car played us out just exquisitely as you can see from our official Event Photo with Carlos Ghosn sitting high over #CO2Fre and #MissKitty Car as well as Victor's Focus Electric and (though a cut through like a EV with a petroleum tank) Dennis's inimitable silver Volt.


photo by: Jeffrey C. Jacobs, Affordable Electric Car NOW!
Carlos Ghosn (on screen) #CO2Fre (Red Nissan LEAF) #MissKitty (Hello Kitty Smart Electric Drive) and owner Wallace Rumbarger Victor Rodriguez with his Black Ford Focus Electric Dennis Deneen with his silver Chevy Volt

Event Description

 

Drive Electric Week: Friday, September 19, 2014

Drive Electric Week, MOM's Organic Market, and Affordable Electric Car NOW! are working on an event to rival last years successful Electric Car events in Herndon, VA, Waldorf, MD, and elsewhere. The Herndon event alone saw over 100 people in attendance, a great draw to local businesses in the region.


We now want to bring this experience to the Mosaic Center. This year we're planning in two phases, the first hosted by MOM's and the second as a double-feature of the two Chris Paine documentaries about electric cars. Director Paine is a strong advocate for electric cars and is helping promote this and similar electric car events around the world.

Phase 1: Barbecue (11:00–17:00)

The initial phase of activities be focused on Glass Alley in front of the MOM's.  MOM's will be grilling up some delicious and organic samples and we're looking into having a live band or DJ.  And Real Electric Car drivers will be there to answer all your Electric Driving questions!


All attendees who sign up at the table will be eligible for a raffle ticket for prizes to be awarded at the end of the first phase of our event.  Prizes include Drive Electric bags plus Water Bottles and Gift Cards from our partner Stone's Cove KitBar.


SunPower should be on hand to provide any information you may have about solar as there's nothing greener than driving for miles powered by the sun.


We're also in communications with local dealerships to have various Electric Cars on hand for test drives, including the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, and Ford Focus Electric, as well as a BMW i3 for potential ride-alongs.


At Noon (12:00)


Supervisor Smyth will be there to present an official declaration from the county (Fairfax) Recognizing Drive Electric Week.


At Closing (17:00)


Stay for the closing of phase one to see if you have the winning raffle ticket.

Phase 2: Movie (17:00–21:00)

We'd like to invite our guests to the display on the side of the Angelika for a double feature of Director Chris Paine's two acclaimed Electric Car documentaries: Who Killed the Electric Car and Revenge of the Electric Car.  Look for the Electric Cars parked on Strawberry Lane in front of the theater.  Look for the cars with Drive Electric flags and come talk to someone who's an experienced Electric Car driver while you enjoy the movies.


Who Killed the Electric Car (17:15)

It begins with a solemn funeral… for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. —Kathleen C. Fennessy


Revenge of the Electric Car (19:00) 

Fascinating ... a hugely entertaining portrait. (REVENGE) makes for a refreshing and ultimately very effective change of pace compared with the strident, propaganda approach so often employed by similar documentaries. Even the most skeptical global warming deniers are apt to find themselves rooting for this disparate group of risk-takers who may well be spearheading the long delayed transition from oil reliance to new technology —The Hollywood Reporter


Riveting ... highly entertaining. With unprecedented insider access, Paine presents a film that is less an environmental jeremiad than a portrait of the automotive industry as it seeks to catch up with the 21st century. (REVENGE) boasts the richest cast of quirky, compelling characters at Tribeca. —Vanity Fair


One of the best films at Tribeca ... this follow-up to 2006's Who Killed the Electric Car? is distinguished by its unguarded access to GM's Bob Lutz, Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, and Tesla's Elon Musk three colorful super-villains who might just save the planet —Esquire


(Reviews courtesy of Amazon.com)


We look forward seeing you at the Mosaic Center and I want to thank the kind folks there and at MOMs and Stone's Cove Kitbar for all their help in organizing this project and we should all be very grateful for the support they've shown for electric vehicles.

Registered Attendees

There are currently 21 attendees registered.

Owners of These Vehicles Have Registered To Attend

Vehicle Registered
Nissan Leaf (2011-2017) 4
Tesla Model S 3
Chevrolet Volt 2
BMW i3 REx 1
Ford C-MAX Energi 1
Ford Focus Electric 1
6 Models 12

Registered attendees report 170,970 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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