The APECL team held a Ride and Drive educational event in the Walmart parking lot of Oneida, TN on Sunday, February 19^th from 2pm to 5pm Eastern. The event was advertised via mass email listing, flyers with QR codes, Eventbrite page, and Facebook live postings of a participant. The team brought the lab’s two Chevy Bolt EUVs and Ford F150 Lightning for display and participant drives.

The number of participants for this event totaled 20 individuals, with three being from our internal team. It is estimated that over 200 individuals were exposed to the event via the major roadway passing in front of the parking lot.

The community support for this event was encouraging, with two community members with Tesla Model 3’s and one with a Zero motorcycle attending to support the team and chat about their experiences. The individual with the Zero motorcycle even charged his vehicle off of the F150 Lightning’s 240V outlet during the event to help demonstrate the truck’s versatility.

All participants garnered valuable information on the everyday use case of all EVs present, as well as how to charge EVs at home and in public. Overall, this event is considered a success for improving community EV outlook in Oneida and establishing our team as a central group for EV owners to support and communicate with.