By Patrick McDevitt

It’s beneficial for Tesla owners to get involved in local green events because, even though we see more and more Teslas on the road, the public at large is still not very familiar with electric cars in general, and would benefit from talking to an EV owner. Often, we find that there is a curiosity, but many aren’t clear on the seamless integration that most of us owners have experienced with our electric cars. From questions about charging at home, to the logistics of road trips, to the apps and navigation, it can be a bit overwhelming to the average ICE driver. Folks are often unaware of the generous Federal and State incentives, and NJ is consistently among states with the best incentive programs. Also, kids are sometimes more familiar with electric cars, and they are usually super enthusiastic to see electric vehicles up close. Download EV 101 document with talking points.

As the State is also incentivizing hybrids and EV’s for municipalities, it’s great for Town officials to understand the benefits of switching some of their typical annual vehicle purchases to EV’s. We’ve seen Towns have excellent results integrating EV’s into service for Code Enforcement officials, Community outreach, and other services. Some select cities around the country are successfully replacing their Police Cruisers with Tesla’s, Ford Mach E’s, and several Chevy models.

New Jersey Incentives and EV links:

NJDEP - https://dep.nj.gov/drivegreen/

NJ State EV Incentives: https://chargeup.njcleanenergy.com/

NJ Clean Cities Coalition: https://njcleancities.org/