National Drive Electric Week
Drive Electric at the Wake Tech Hendrick Center
Raleigh, NC
Sep 28, 2024

Event Report

• Very well attended by exhibitors: more than 2/3 of the listed xEVs made it to the event, and 
• The Hendrick Center at the college is very well setup for hosting events such as this, even if rain forces much or all of the event indoors
• Many who came to the Drive Electric at Hendrick Center were thrilled to sit, talk about, and ride in various xEVs
• Staff and owners on hand were courteous and knowledgeable, which I heard from numerous visitors.

• Hosting an xEV only themed event, even if a scheduled Food Truck had arrived, at a commuter college campus on a weekend is going to struggle to draw more than on a modest audience of attendees.
• Some organizations are now hosting their events on weekdays at their sites (NCSU, NC Zoo, Greensboro Library)
• Others focus on participating at larger events. At our site, coming up with a planned participation with other events could expose a larger audience to xEVs
• Some of the exhibitors thought there would be significant indoor as well as outdoor tabling, largely based on experiences at the Fun in the Sun (Corvette Club) and other antique car themed events at Hendrick Center. With these much larger events, our staff have had the opportunity to show off the facilities and their own work. 
• This year, and at last year's Drive Electric EVents in Greensboro, Burlington, Winston-Salem and around NCSU, we saw a shift in the audience at Drive Electric EVents from past years, especially from pre-COVID years.
  The Drive Electric EVent audience now:
• Seeks specific information on select xEVs
• Is far less interested in an introduction to xEVs, they came if they were already interested and fairly well informed, interested more in ownership issues
• Attends more xEV events that are part of other events. Average attendance at standalone events has dropped regionally; attendance where the xEV Drive Electric experience is part of a larger event has increased. 

photo by: L Sapienza Dr Scott Ralls and Dean Rick Sapienza test drove the Blue Wrapped Cybertruck at Wake Tech Hendrick Center during the 2024 NDEW

More photos from this event.

Event Description

Join us at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence at Wake Tech. 

We will have scheduled building tours during the Drive Electric Week featuring our Hybrid & EV Program. Over a dozen individuals and dealers are planning to show their Hybrid & full Electric Vehicles. The flyer for "Drive Electric at Wake Tech" is here.

Registered Attendees

There are currently 194 attendees registered.

Expected Display Vehicles

Registered attendees report 729,231 electric miles driven.