This week is “National Drive Electric” week and here in the Rocket City, a “Drive Electric” event was held at Stovehouse Saturday afternoon.
The goal was to learn more about electric vehicles and why more people are choosing them.
“Whether it be electric, propane, compressed natural gas or the biofuels, every single one is better for the environment than gasoline or diesel,” said Mark Bentley.
“It’s getting better, they’re working on it and we can get there if we all work together on this, we got to work hard on it,” said Rae Millin.
WAAY-31 spoke with some people at the event on why they say it’s important more people think about making the switch.
There were nearly 60 electric vehicles there and tons of people who had never even seen one in person.
Not only was it an experience for many, but it also became a learning lesson for people to help save the environment.
“My previous vehicles were gas guzzlers so I felt like I did owe a little something back after all the damage that we did,” said Rae Millin, owner of an electric vehicle.
Rae Millin told WAAY-31 he was officially sold on electric vehicles when he realized they save money and are better for the environment.
Millon says, on average for a 200-mile trip, you’d spend nearly $30 on gas, but with an EV, only $8.
According to Mark Bentley with Alabama Clean Fuels Commission, we’re seeing more and more electric cars every day.
“It has been really phenomenal in the state of Alabama. Now, we’ve got a long way to go to catch up to the rest of the world, but we’re making very great progress,” he said.
Alabama Clean Fuels hosted the event and Bentley says they want to educate more people on why the vehicles are so reliable.
He says, the good thing is, charging stations are usually placed in convenient areas.
“You can go get some lunch. The great part is, you go to the store and we forget something on the trip. Usually, the chargers are at Targets or Walmart, somewhere like that,” said Millin.
In Huntsville, Bentley says there are not many charging stations at this time.
Some people agreed and told us they have to drive to Athens or even Madison to find a particular one for their car if they don’t want to charge their vehicle at home.
But, Bentley told us that’s slowly changing.
“The infrastructure, the charging, it’s coming fast in Alabama. You will see some initiatives shortly on education on electric vehicles in the entire state,” he said.
Next year, we will see a Tesla supercharging station at Midcity and Bentley told us he hopes they can bring other kinds of stations here as well, to accommodate even more EV drivers.