Benicia Herald

National Drive Electric Week returns to Benicia

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Electric cars on display at 2016’s Mini Maker Faire in Benicia. (File photo)

Benicia is currently in the midst of National Drive Electric Week.
This national event highlights the clean-air benefits and cost saving of electric vehicles. Attendees will have the chance to see owners display their cars and participate in California Coastal Cleanup, an event within itself with the goal of cleaning up the state’s bays and shores. There will also be booths where onlookers have the chance to ask electric vehicle owners questions about their cars. This will be the fifth year Benicia has participated in National Drive Electric Week.
“I think National Drive Electric Week will be a good opportunity for people to learn more about electric vehicles,” Kathy Kerridge, a member of Benicia’s Community Sustainability Commission and Chevrolet Volt owner, said. ” I think the California Coastal Cleanup event is a great opportunity to clean up our beaches and the bay, and there’s sort of a natural tie-in there. If you are helping to clean up the bay and beach, then you drive an electric vehicle and you help clean up the air. It’s a good thing if people are thinking about getting another car, please consider electric and we’ll tell you the reasons why. And once people are exposed to them and get an electric vehicle, they don’t go back.”
The two-day event begins Thursday and revs up again Saturday. The Thursday showing will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Farmers Market on First Street. Saturday’s events begin at noon and end an hour and a half later at 1:30 p.m. at the 9th Street Park. The California Coastal Cleanup will take place on Saturday and there will be a “tailpipe-free” tailgate picnic as well.
“I really like talking to people and giving them information about electric cars,” Kerridge said. “It’s just a great opportunity for people to talk to someone who owns a car. So just not seeing an ad on TV, but getting real first-hand information. Electric cars, I am just so sold on them. They are not only cheaper to drive, but they are really great for reducing air pollution and CO2 emissions and they are a lot of fun to drive. You sort of got the best of both worlds in electric cars as far as I am concerned.”
Benicia has hosted National Electric Car Week for the past five years. At the City Council meeting on Sept.5, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson presented a proclamation declaring Sept. 9 to 17 as National Drive Electric Week.

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Comments

  1. Great… Let us celebrate the cars that pay no gas taxes to build and maintain the roads they drive on. Who has the brain today?

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    • Wouldn’t electric vehicles en masse reduce air quality management? It’s not like there’s a desire to incentivize electric cars for no reason.

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  2. Great event! Recently took a ride in a Model S and a Roadster, as well as on a Zero Motorcycle. Some awesome experiences and a whole new world The future looks bright.

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        • The best ride I ever had was in my 1973 Buick 225 Electra. 11 miles to the gallon but gas was about 33/.40 cents a gallon. Great car and very safe. It had everything. I love it. So as you see cost of fuel was about 3/4 times mileage. Now it is 6/10 times per mile. The cars do not compare to my 1973 Buick. Even with road conditions today that car rode like it was on a cloud. No comparison. Do not like the much lighter cars of today. But to achieve the mileage goals that has to be. You get in a very small collision today and the car is totaled. Not good . All the safety issues in todays cars will not work if you hit a big truck/bus. My Buick would have just bounced off. Big difference.

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          • Bob,

            My best ride: 1948 Packard.

            I had that car during college days and for some time after. The engine was a straight eight and was as smooth as smooth could be, The car had an unusual trait: At about 60 MPH, it would develop a synchronous slight rolling motion from left-front to right-front then to right-rear to left-rear and then on in a circular rhythm. The motion was very subtle, but once noticed it made for a very comfortable ride. I very much enjoyed the look on passengers faces when the roll was set up and they noticed it..

            Unfortunately I to sell the car, as it needed a new electrical harness, the replacement of which was way beyond my time, money and level of expertise.

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          • VW was the worst car I ever owned. The Morris Minor 1000 was the best car I every owned in that small car category. Very good gas mileage that would hold up to todays standards. You can keep all the VW’s you want. A terrible car. They peoples car. What people.

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            • Bob,

              I had three VW’s, a bug (’63) and two micro buses (’61. ’72 (w/modified engine as ’72’s were a dog) I loved them, for what they were: cheap, easy to work on and the buses were great for camping. I had a repair book: “How to keep your Volkswagon Alive A guide to VW repairs for the complete idiot” . That book was worth it’s weight in gold. I once changed a clutch cable with a screw driver, channel locks and needle nose pliers. Took all of about 30 minutes after walking to get the new cable.

              One of the beauties of the VW was the German engineering, as they kept it very basic, nothing fancy, just good enough to keep you going.

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              • That I do understand. Mine had the extra tank with the lever to turn to use the extra gas tank. Also had the oval window. But it was very noisy and very uncomfortable. Have you every owned a Morris Minor 1000. A much better car and very quiet. It just was not as cute and in vogue as the VW. Did not like that VW and was very happy when I got rid of it.

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  3. I have no problem with incentives for EV as long as there is an amount added to their vehicle license every year. They do use the roads and should pay for it the same way fossil fuel cars, trucks and buses do. No free ride.

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  4. To Bob and Stuart – starting in 2018 there is an additional levy added to EV registration of I’m thinking $150, about what an ICE pays per year as well.
    I drive a Volt, so I’ll get taxed twice., albeit only a few times a year.

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    • I had read something about it but did not know it was now going to happen. Thank you. I will always drive a fossil fuel car.

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    • Dave, – I think everyone agrees that EV’s need to contribute something to pay for road usage. In the Netherlands (and likely other European countries), the annual fee is based in part on the weight of a vehicle. This seems both fair and encourages people to go to lighter, smaller cars ($5-7.00 a gallon, of course also helps that)

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  5. Personal choice. I’m glad some our happy with their EV vehicle. But government can’t force or penalize consumers. When battery life technology, battery weight technology, and solar cell efficiency technology truly becomes cost efficient and workable, all internal combustion engines will slowly die away as a matter of market economics. Probably inside of 100 years. Advocates should stop trying to force consumers into technologies that aren’t quite viable, yet. Let the markets make the decision. It is coming.

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  7. The wake from My 75 horse-power fossil fuel Mercury outboard would blow these boats right out of the water. They are very weak. All wood hull

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