The Route 66 EVA covers 2200 miles of highway

Extending across eight states from California to Illinois, the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Association became an official chapter of the Electric Auto Association last month with an online launch meeting originating from the Route 66 EV Museum in Kingman, Arizona.

And, as if forming a chapter around a highway doesn’t break the mold enough, the Route 66 chapter is hoping to attract membership from all over the world. 

“There are 12 international Route 66 groups and we’re hoping to draw membership from this base,” said Jim Stack, co-founder of the Route 66 chapter who also founded the Electric Auto Association—Phoenix Chapter and serves as its president. “Many 66 fans from abroad come to the U.S. just to drive the highway, and we’d like to encourage more travel here by offering the benefit of connecting with our newest chapter and utilizing our resources.”

The new chapter is also inviting Route 66 fans around the country, as well as members of other Electric Auto Association chapters, to join. “It’s not uncommon for EAA members to belong to more than two chapters,” Stack explained. “You have snowbirds coming to Arizona from Chicago who end up with two memberships. It can be free when upgrading to a higher EAA membership level.”

“We want to make people aware that even though the world is changing, we don’t have to throw away the history and the past,” Stack said. “That’s what Route 66 represents—great American history—and this shows we can embrace it and celebrate it. We can frequent the same establishments along the route, but yet show how electric vehicles can clean the air where cars of the past could not.” 

Creating “the green mother road”

“The major purpose of our organization is to advocate for the electrification of Route 66 as a model for the country,” Stack continued. “We want to push for filling in the gaps with charging stations, and we want to do that in large part by encouraging gas stations to transition into service stations where the focus is off of fossil fuels.”

“This transition will be economically better for everyone, from the EV drivers to the gas station owners,” he continued. “If you’re a gas station on Historic Route 66, you’re doing well, but if you lose 5% of your business because of an increase in the percentage of EVs on the road, it can be a big problem.” 

As Stack pointed out, service stations offering charging facilities in addition to gas pumps can take advantage of the longer average stops that electric vehicle (EV) charging will bring, and hence sell more snacks and other items. This will also hold true for restaurants, where business should improve with the installation of EV charging stations in parking lots. Even RV parks could get in on the action, offering a charge and a place to relax in a lounge or small eatery.  

“It’ll be great for businesses all along the route, including all the historic sites, and it’ll be great for EVs and EV education,” said Stack, who gives STEM talks at high schools and city green events in Phoenix. “It’s all about educating everyone along Route 66 and beyond. We need to do this for the sake of the planet and our economy.”

Hitting the highways for the EV cause 

Education is a big part of the picture when it comes to the chapter’s plans to hold two Route 66 road trips per year, each covering a different section of the highway. “We’re hoping to draw business owners and populations along the highway into the EV world. And of course, we’re planning to invite EV owners from all over the U.S. to ride with us.” 

The chapter co-founder also brought-up the possibility that manufacturers of EV brands may choose to become involved in the events.

“It would be a great way for carmakers to show off their new models to a lot of people who would be very interested to see them,” Stack said. “We’re hoping to talk to Tesla about possibly promoting their new Model Y. The Lucid Air is another possibility, especially because they’re producing the car in Casa Grande, near Phoenix.”

“Jerry is great with promotion,” Stack said about his chapter co-founder, ‘EVJerry’ Asher. “He’ll be all over it.”

An idea born on the road

In fact, Stack attributes the idea for the Route 66 chapter to EVJerry, who has spent the past nine years driving all 15 counties in Arizona to promote electric vehicles by speaking at events and giving rides, first in his 2011 Nissan LEAF, and then in his 2017 Tesla Model X.  

“Jerry and I met when he started coming up from Tucson to our Phoenix meetings 20 years ago,” Stack explained. “He ended-up as a charter member of the Tucson Electric Auto Association chapter.  And, just like me, he’s always been a devotee of Route 66.”

Stack and Asher split Route 66 chapter coordinator duties, Jim heading up membership and Jerry dealing with programming. In addition, charter member Jessica May was recently named the president of the chapter, her first goal to map out charging sites for EV drivers from the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California to Chicago’s Downtown Loop.

In addition to the two annual road trips, chapter programming will include two meetings a year when in-person events are safe. One will be held at the museum in Kingman, which Stack hopes will become a kind of headquarters for the group, and the other will be slated for another location along Route 66.  

“That means anywhere from Santa Monica to Chicago,” Stack said, noting that the  first chapter meeting was recently held on the first day of National Drive Electric Week (September 26 - October 4, 2020). It featured a Zoom meeting  from the museum in Kingman, held simultaneously with a Facebook podcast by  preeminent Route 66 Historian Jim Hinckley.

All members of the Electric Auto Association are invited to join the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Association. Fees will be waived for joining a second chapter when upgrading EAA membership to the $60, $120, $240 or $500 levels.