The EV Professor

Two decades of teaching about driving electric

Professor Donald Cox driving his Tesla Signature One Hundred Roadster

Eastern Nebraska Electric Vehicle Association (EVNEBRASKA) member Dr. Donald Cox likes to draw a comparison between electric vehicles (EVs) and the wireless phone technology he worked on at Bell Labs in the early 1970’s. 

“I had a hunch that people would like to have phones they could fit in their pockets,” said Cox about his work back then. “Naysayers had three main objections: It wouldn’t work, nobody would want it, and it would be too expensive. Sound familiar?” 

In 1993, Cox went from Bellcore, a breakoff from Bell Labs, to Stanford University, where he served as a professor of electrical engineering. While there, he became interested in EVs when his son leased a GM EV-1 that he occasionally loaned to his parents.  

“It was a great joy for us to drive the EV-1 whenever we could. It was not just a toy; it was a useful car,” Cox said. “I gave test rides to my students at Stanford and many of them asked how they could get one. Too bad the cars were no longer available by then.”

“Eventually, GM pried our car away,” Cox continued, explaining that the next time he experienced an EV was at a Tesla event in 2006 in Santa Monica, California, where he rode in a prototype Tesla Roadster.

“My wife Mary, our son, and I carefully investigated the EV and company and eventually put down our money on a Signature One Hundred Roadster,” he explained, adding that the car arrived in November, 2008 as the 60th vehicle that Tesla delivered to customers.

EV education

The next year, Cox’s renewed interest in EVs motivated him to launch a class on the topic at Stanford. “I constructed the curriculum with another professor in the engineering school,” he said. “The students were primarily in electrical or mechanical engineering. Occasionally they came from chemical engineering, computer science, or somewhere else.”

The class covered the history and politics of EVs, especially with regard to the government and automobile companies, as well as the technical aspects. ”We studied forces that have an impact on EV range, such as aerodynamic drag,” he explained. “I talked about different types of electric motors, batteries, and electrical systems.”

When Cox retired in 2012, he and Mary moved back home to Lincoln, Nebraska, bringing their Tesla with them. 

“We had the first Roadster in Lincoln and the second in Nebraska,” Cox said, explaining that he became an adjunct professor of engineering at his alma mater, University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), so he could establish an EV class there.

For the next 8 years, approximately 23 students per semester enrolled in Cox’s class, and when he established a similar course at the Omaha campus (UNO), the average was closer to 12. The university also granted special permission to non-students to attend the EV class, including a city manager from a small town in Eastern Nebraska.

“I gave the students the option of driving EVs after class,” said Cox, explaining that “Some days I brought my Roadster, sometimes the Model S we’d purchased here in Lincoln. I’d say between half and three-quarters of the students took the opportunity.”

For the most part, the students drove the Teslas around campus, but often “They’d  go out into the city streets as well,” Cox said. “I carried good insurance to protect myself and them, although there was never an accident with these young people, no traffic tickets either.”

“Many of the students were inspired to save their money when they got out of school so they could eventually purchase an EV,” Cox continued. “A few of them who’ve stayed around Lincoln have let me know when they’ve done it.”

Not infrequently, students brought their parents in for a test drive. “I don’t have any data on that, but I’m sure there were many instances where the parents were convinced to make an EV their next car,” Cox added.

Expanding to the capitol

As the years moved on, Cox did what he could to promote the EV agenda off campus, too. “I knew a senator in the state legislature, Ken Haar, and in 2015 he agreed to sponsor a Tesla ride-and-drive at the capitol building,” he said. “I provided my Roaster and Model S. We were there for 2 days; Senator Haar invited his colleagues and their staffers.”

According to Cox, things were slow for the first few hours, but as invitees began to show up to drive the vehicles, word spread quickly and the momentum accelerated.

‘I’m not sure of the exact count, but there were quite a number of folks who drove the Teslas,” he recalled. “We had senators, we had the lieutenant governor. A lot of staffers came; one went out and bought an EV because he was so impressed.”

Cox told the story of a very skeptical senator, participating because he was pressured by his colleagues, who at first declined to take the allotted 20 minutes. “He said he’d just drive around the block and be back in a few minutes, but he took 25,” Cox recalled. “And when he got out of the car, he admitted “That wasn’t what I expected.’”

Because of the success, Cox and Senator Haar repeated the event annually until Haar was term limited out 3 years later. The event was continued by another senator for 2 additional years until COVID shut it down.

Home outreach

After his experience with the legislature, Cox doubled-down on his outreach activities. In addition to lecturing on EVs at several local universities and community colleges, as well as at many UNL classes besides his own, he did whatever he could to get potential EV drivers to test drive his Teslas.

“We’ve had thousands of people drive our cars,” Cox said, explaining that he and his wife now own two Roadsters and two Model S’s. all available for test drives. “People say that number’s a stretch, but it’s not. I should have kept a log all of these years, but I didn’t.”

Cox’s efforts to promote EVs have included a number of EVNEBRASKA chapter events and have even extended to his own neighborhood, where “We’ve hosted a whole lot of ride and drives at our home,” he said. “We’ve had all 4 cars going out, sometimes all at the same time.”

“My wife’s church people have come over, several state senators and UNL faculty members, and there’s a prominent Nebraskan—I won’t tell you his name—who’s brought a whole lot of folks to our house. One year, he hosted a catered lunch on our driveway and had 25 people drive our cars.”

Cox has loaned his Teslas for longer than a typical test drive. “One guy took his wife out to a balloon ride in Western Nebraska for their anniversary,” he said, adding that currently the Signature Roadster is on loan to the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

“We’ve been part of everything we can be involved in with EVs,” Cox continued, explaining that he first connected with EVNEBRASKA events when he offered to put his Roadster in a chapter EV display. 

“I’ve been in parades with the chapter, I’ve supported displays, I’ve given a lot of talks on EVs…  you name it, I try to participate. It’s all just so important right now.”