Building an EV consumer base in an African-American community

EVA member Rap Hankins of Trotwood, Ohio has been a VW guy since he married his wife 50 years ago.

“My wife’s family wasn’t thrilled with the idea of our marriage” Hankins explained. “But then her father said he would give his blessing if I got myself into a Volkswagen.”  

Hankins soon found himself driving a Jetta, and that lead to Rabbits, Passats, and finally a VW diesel which he drove for 6 years. “I didn’t think we’d ever need anything better than 50 miles per gallon,” he said. 

But then Hankins received a wake-up call from his VW dealer at Evans Volkswagen in nearby Dayton. “He told us it was time to try an ID.4 and offered to give us a loaner for four days,” Hankins said. “Believe me,  it was an incredible experience. If you own a VW and you get behind the wheel of an ID.4, it’s like a dream come true.” 

Just a few months later, the mantra Hankins repeats to all who will listen is “EVs for all.” In fact, “People say it’s the only thing I talk about,” he said.

Making it work

Once the four-day test drive was over, Hankins placed himself on an ID.4 waiting list. Meanwhile, he set out to see what kind of support he might need once the car arrived, and launched his search with the local Electric Vehicle Association chapter.  

“I went to a Drive Electric Dayton (DED) meeting in a big garage,” he said. “I looked at all the EVs and I looked at the people who owned the cars and realized they were a little different than me. But I thought to myself, if you can do a ride and drive in a wealthy white community, why couldn’t you do one in an African-American community, too?”

Hankins downloaded PlugShare onto his iPhone, finding just one Level 2 charger in the 30 square mile city of Trotwood, a majority African-American middle–class community, and “that charger was basically hidden,” he said. That prompted Hankins to join forces with the one other EV owner in Trotwood, as well as DED, in a meeting with the Montgomery County Commissioners. They promised two new Level 2 chargers in the county over the following 24 months. 

Hankins also became involved in outreach. “We have 24,000 residents, and we’re 80% African American,” Hankins explained about Trotwood. “If you talk about electric cars, you need to talk about things of interest in the minority community. That’s not to say the black community isn’t interested in Tesla, it’s just that they can’t be interested when there’s no infrastructure support.”

Hankins launched a plan for a ride and drive at the former Salem Mall to coincide with the 2021 National Drive Electric Week in September. 

“I called my VW dealer and I called VW corporate to see if I could get them to loan me an ID.4 for the event,  and they said, ‘You can’t do this without owning an ID4 yourself… you can’t go around promoting EVs if you don’t even have one.’ So they managed to find a car for me. Two days later, I was the proud owner of an ID.4.”

In preparation for the event, Hankins installed a Level 2 charger at his house. “This wasn’t just to accommodate the EV owners coming over,” Hankins explained. “If we don’t start showing people what driving an EV looks like, we as a community are going to be left behind.”

“We need to make this as easy as possible,” Hankins continued. “Right now it’s way too complicated—where to buy them, what rebates you can get, where to charge them… It’s OK if you’re a person like myself who has technical skills and who’s a geek. But I want your parents to drive EVs and I want your sister to drive an EV, and I don’t want them to have to think about it.”

An expanding EV outlook

Soon after the successful Trotwood event, the EAA (now EVA) asked if Hankins wanted to form a Trotwood chapter. “By then there were six EV owners in our city,” he said. “I thought it was more important to be part of DED because it gave us a regional perspective.”

Hankins joined the board of DED because “I felt I needed to be immersed in both a local organization and a national organization to show people I earned my stripes and that I was serious,” he said, noting that he is now in charge of DED community relations, dealer outreach, and legislative policy.

“It’s important to get foot soldiers who can support something they believe in,” Hankins explained. “When you’re a new EV owner, you can feel very alone. Without the support of the local EV activists and national EV activists, you can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. It’s crucial to have these organizations so we can share our development and growth with other people.”

Trotwood activities accelerating

The Trotwood DED members have participated in several events since Drive Electric Week, including an EV Noire Zoom call with Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor, and a second EV Noire Zoom conference that lasted two days.

“People asked why this issue is important to me. Well, first of all, there will never be equity if we don’t have the same infrastructure in African-American communities as we do in other places,” Hankins explained. “Secondly, if you look at where people of color live around the world, it’s often in areas where internal combustion engines cause illness.”

“This is not just about cars, it’s about quality of life for people,” he continued. “It’s really important that the funds coming from Washington address the problem of infrastructure deserts in underserved communities.” 

Lately, Hankins has been serving as the unofficial EV ambassador from Trotwood, attending both a  fast charger ribbon-cutting ceremony at a Kroeger’s in Fairborn, Ohio, and an EV holiday parade in Springboro, Ohio.

“I went to Springboro because the vice-president of DED lives there,’’ Hankins said. “He came to our event, so I went to Springboro to show support for him. We’re in this fight together no matter where we come from.”