Chapter News: Tips on supporting EV state legislation
Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners becomes an official chapter of the Electric Auto Association and they’ve been taking their passion for EVs straight to the Capitol.
Minnesota State Capitol
Jukka Kukkonen was hoping that at least a few electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts would show-up at the Twin Cities gathering he organized on National Electric Drive Day in 2012. When over 60 electric cars pulled into the event parking lot, he realized it was time to launch Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners.
Eight years later, with well over 2,000 members and participation in over 100 EV-related events per year, Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners is now becoming an official chapter of the Electric Auto Association.
“We’re thrilled to welcome these passionate Minnesota EV owners and educators into our fold,” said Electric Auto Association President Raejean Fellows. “They’ve already been at the top of what our chapters are achieving and we can learn so much from them, including how to support the passage of state legislation.”
Kukkonen, the founder of EV market and business consulting firm Shift2Electric, says he recently added Minnesota state legislators to the Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners’ public EV education efforts. It was a natural next step.
“We must keep the education going at the state capitol,” Kukkonen said of these efforts. “It’s the same kind of sharing of information about EV’s that our members have already done, so they know what to say when the legislators start raising concerns. Many don’t understand EVs and the benefits they bring.”
Armed with the stories it takes
In addition to suggesting talking points to Minnesota’s state senators and representatives in favor of EVs, the Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners has been providing the personal electric car narratives needed to get the point across on an emotional level.
“We have so many great stories to tell,” Kukkonen said. “I was just talking to a member who bought her Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid EV in June, and then in August, red lights went off on the dashboard and she didn’t know why. Then she realized the problem. She was running out of gas for the first time. That’s a great story to share.”
Kukkonen asks the Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners to contact just their own state representatives and senators, and to keep him posted on the progress.
“I keep a running tally on the results of their efforts. Every legislator needs to hear from their EV driving constituents,” he explained. “Our members definitely get more active when there’s EV legislation about to be considered, but we need to talk with our representatives regardless.”
“If you throw a party, we’ll be there”
While Minnesota Vehicle Owners don’t usually organize standalone electric vehicle events themselves, they do join existing events with EV displays. Partnerships with utility companies have been especially beneficial.
The most sizable of these gatherings is the Minnesota State Fair, one of the largest of its kind in the country. The Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners has participated for the past six years in a row with over 200,000 annual visitors moving through their EV display.
“We’ve tried to run our group as efficiently as possible, and to keep things as simple as possible,” Kukkonen said. “We focus on meeting, learning and sharing our collective EV experiences. When not attending events, Minnesota Electric Vehicle Owners members meet six times a year in person. In the current situation, we moved to online tools and organized eight weekly EV Discussion Series workshops.”
“There are many positive developments. .With coal plants closing in this country, we are moving into cleaner energy very quickly, and that provides us an opportunity to drive the clean transportation message home,’ Kukkonnen concluded. “I’m convinced this is the EV decade, and our chapter members and EV educators are playing a big part in making this happen.”
