At the end of this post is the report I gave to our local Southwest Michigan Sierra Group, which was one of the sponsors.
Interesting facts... we had our Ride/Drive event in two locations due to being at a busy farmer's market... The ride/drive part was apx. 1 block away and I could not be in both places... This upset two couples who had to settle for riding in a Model S when they really wanted to ride in the i-MiEV. One of couples were so adamant that volunteers came and got me so they could ride in Gregg the i-miev. They knew their budget couldn't support a Tesla, but wondered about a used i-miev. They seemed happy with everything they learned and experienced with the i-miev.
I also saw that 2 i-miev's showed up across the state in Ann Arbor at their Ride/Drive event. I DO wish I could network with the drivers of those cars. I also read that dealers fail pretty much across the nation on selling any electric vehicle. IF i-miev's are to survive it will be because owners share rides and stories about what they like and the realities of living with an i-miev. This is much like the success of Tesla, owners as much as anyone are why Teslas thrive, from videos to owners' meet ups.
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For my report you can read below...
The best we can say is that this 21 person survey represents a sample of those who participated in the ride/share event. We can't even say this is a good sample. We can't say this reprents 'x' percent of the total participants, because we would need an accurate count of people registering and ride/driving which we were not able to achieve. This survey does not include survey results of those who only attended the screenings of 'Who Killed the Electric Car,' just those who participated in the Ride/Drive event who chose to fill out the survey.
This though is a start. Perhaps we can collaborate next year with K-College or WMU Sustainability Office to have students help us do a more revealing and accurate survey/count in the future..
Concerns in order before the ride:
1.distance
2.charger locations/opportunity
2.costs
3. battery and vehicle integrity...
Definitely cost and charging were up on the list... but ahead of that was the question of how far can you safely go. Those concerns predominated before the ride.. Most people seemed to have their concerns answered in speaking with owners of the vehicles during and after the rides/drives.
I was actually surprised pre-ride those who responded to what they liked about electric cars cited was that there were no emissions. Additionally, at least three people in the small sample (21 respondents) stated independent of one another that they didn't want to use any gasoline or contribute to climate change.
I was also surprised equally as high a response was that people had already read about and researched before coming to the event, that renewables like wind and solar could charge up an electric car. There was one who said he already knew some utilities (not in Michigan) were investigating paying electric car owners to store electric in their vehicles while parked.
Though this was not on the survey... I know a lot of people were dissappointed more of the cars, like the i3, i3 Rex, i-miev, roadster were not more avaiable for rides/drives... my lack there... I should have located display models earlier..as well as ride models...
Even though the people had read up on electric cars... nothing they read prepared them for the power available to an electric car, yet how smooth and quiet the vehicle was. This was stated on almost every survey returned in one way or another.
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Other data:
Car ownershsip: Most of the participants owned at least two vehicles or more, with one or two attending owning 5 or more. Replacing at least one of the cars with an electric was a strategy several had already considered.
We had one person contacted pre-event confirm he was in the process finalizing plans to purchase a Model S.
Since the event we have had groups involved start investigating how they might add purchase or leasing of BEV's to their fleet.
Post event four individuals have stated they are looking to see if they can make a purchase of a highway capable ev (2 leafs, 1 Tesla, 1 i-miev or Leaf.)
One is researching information about a highway capable electric motorcycle, but was not clear on purchasing.
Several (5 or more) stated interest in researching more about solar charging of vehicles, and most riders/drivers spoken to about pv/ev's were extremely positive.
All participants were extremely positive about the possibility of Level 3 charging both locally and for longer distance driving to make intercity driving more viable.
We also had a couple of people inquire about doing an ev conversion..
I hope this is helpful information. I look forward to gathering more information through contacts with participants who've asked to remain in contact with electric car owners. I will be curious as to how closely attendance matches the 15% ownership curve in the next 12 months, as well as other results like requests for further networking and advocacy.
On behalf of NDEW Kalamazoo and now, simply, the local Southwest Michigan Sierra Club Group and Michigan Electric Auto Association...
Success to us all (if for no other reason than our children's future.)
Ben Brown
