Apr 11

Join AustinEV at Earthday ATX!

*** this event has been rescheduled due to significant chances of severe weather in the forecasts for its original date – please join us on 4/27! ***

After 2 years, Earth Day ATX, Austin’s annual citywide event, will return to the Huston-Tillotson University campus on Saturday, April 27th from 12 to 5 pm. This family-friendly event is produced by Earth Day Austin, a 501c3, and is free and open to the public. 

The festival will include hands-on activities for all ages, food, music, guided movement activities, conversations and exhibits. 


(you can sign up to offer to display your vehicle when you add yourself as an attendee!)
[RSVP HERE!]

The theme of this year’s event will be “Make It Personal” and will include such features as:

  • a kids zone
  • hands on activities on a variety of eco-topics
  • planetarium
  • exhibits from businesses and nonprofits
  • local food
  • an electric school bus and a variety of electric vehicles
  • an instrument petting zoo
  • a gratitude wall
  • community-centered marketplaces 
  • live radio broadcasting from the festival
  • Native American fry bread
  • panels
  • Spanish, ASL and SLM interpretation
  • puppets
  • much, much more…

AustinEV is proud to host the Mobility Ecosystem at Earth Day ATX this year as a microcosm of Austin’s transportation system that you can explore yourself. 

We’ll have an electric school bus on display and several examples of the EVs that are on the market today.  We’ll have AustinEV members on hand to answer questions and share about what it’s like to drive electric! 

(you can sign up to offer to display your vehicle when you add yourself as an attendee!)
[RSVP HERE!]

Learn about your options for rebates for home EV charging equipment and affordable public charging options as well as the options you have to earn tax credits on your 2024 EV purchases.

You’re encouraged to turn your thoughts into action, as we work towards supporting our Mobility Ecosystem in Austin.

Nov 08

Join AustinEV at the Electrify Expo this weekend!

If you are in the Austin, TX area this weekend, you have a unique opportunity to test dozens if not hundreds of models of electric vehicles (cars, trucks, scooters, e-bikes and more) all in one spot this weekend out at the Circuit of the Americas.

AustinEV will have a booth at the Electrify Expo and the general admission days are Saturday, Nov 11 and Sunday, Nov 12 from 10am to 5pm.

To register for the event with a 25% discount use the discount code:

EEATX25PS

on their registration page here:

https://www.electrifyexpo.com/austin

OR

You can join Ford for a preview coffee event on Friday morning.

Ford will be hosting a Cars & Coffee event from 7 – 9 am CST on Friday, November 10th and they’re inviting you.  You can enjoy coffee, meet with Ford Representatives, receive a pass to attend Electrify Expo on the Public Days and get a chance to look at the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E.

The link to register for this coffee event is: https://ford.to/3QDdr9z

AustinEV is proud to be the Austin Area chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association. You can support our chapter AND the national EV advocacy efforts of the EVA by joining the organization and selecting AustinEV as your local chapter. Starting at $55/yr, your contribution combined with memberships from across the country is the primary support for this independent EV advocacy organization.

Join the EVA Today!

Sep 11

Electric Vehicle Showcase – September 30, 2023 (Canceled)

May 02

In support of Barks for Beers

We’re happy to share Barks for Beers, a fundraiser for Divine Canines!

Please join us in supporting the organization.

It is a perfect opportunity to get out for some day trips in our EVs, visit our local breweries and support an organization that coordinates more than 140 active dog-handler teams who visit scores of partner sites and special events throughout Central Texas with free therapy dog services.

From now to May 31, you can visit 30 amazing craft breweries. Purchase the 2023 Divine Canines pint glass and Pawsport for $30+ tax at any participating brewery. The Pawsport entitles you to one pour at each brewery listed on their site. We ask you to please drink responsibly and tip the taproom staff! Our friends who pour the beers are a key part of the event, and we want to keep them happy!

Cara and I will be out visiting the breweries over the next few weeks. One of our dogs is a retired DC but he still loves his brew pub patios! If you see me with my AustinEV hat, stop and say ‘Hi’ or join us. I’ll have some AustinEV and EVA swag to share.

Full details on Barks for Beers: https://divinecanines.org/barksforbeers/

Follow Divine Canines on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/divinecaninestexas or Instagram https://instagram.com/barksforbeers to find out how to register your Pawsport for special prizes, including a fun Instagram Bingo contest. If you tag AustinEV as well, we’ll choose a few for some AustinEV prizes!

Thanks, have fun and I hope to see you!

Aaron Choate

Mar 09

SXSW | Revving up the Transition to Electric Vehicles

Elaine Borseth, EVA President, will participate in a discussion about how fast the automotive industry is moving to meet consumer demand for EVs. Joining her in this panel discussion is Chay English, Policy Strategist/Managing Counsel at Ford Motor Co. and Katherine Garcia, Dir. of the Clean Transportation for All Campaign at Sierra Club. The Fast Company Grill discussion takes place on Monday, March 13th at 2 pm Central. Make sure to register for the event or follow the discussion on social media: Twitter, TikTok, IG, LinkedIn. #FCGrill and @FastCompany.

Mar 09

AustinEV welcomes Elaine Borseth

Elaine Borseth, the Electric Vehicle Association’s President, and EV road trip enthusiast will be in town to participate in SXSW | Revving up the Transition to Electric Vehicles and we’re having a meetup to greet her to Austin on Sunday the 12th at 6pm.

We have a table for 20 reserved so we’ll be limiting RSVPs for this meetup.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP here:

[RSVP ON THE MEETUP EVENT]

Jan 12

AustinEV and EV Live

GM is starting an effort to highlight its EV Live EV education initiative to the public and to its dealers and a few of us from AustinEV were able to attend their inaugural presentation. This online platform, which was launched in the summer of 2022, lets you connect over the internet to a live specialist in a real studio in Michigan to learn more about the EV ecosystem and EV 101 topics in general. The studio has many examples of the vehicles and supporting equipment customers may be curious about such as the range of charging stations and a display of the battery pack that shows how it is incorporated into the structure of their vehicle. The space also allows GM can do remote training for dealers or specialized presentations to groups interested in implementing their emerging e-crate performance EV components.

If you want to explore, you can access the site here:

https://evlive.gm.com/

KVUE did a Boomtown segment on the event which you can access here:

EV Live answers questions consumers have about electric vehicles

Jan 10

AustinEV on the EV provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act

Aaron was interviewed by the Texas Standard about the Tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

You can listen to the segment here:

Considering an electric car purchase in 2023? A tax rebate just made that cheaper

Since this segment was recorded, the IRS issued guidance that the new rules related to battery and materials sourcing will go into effect in March 2023 when they will issue additional guidance on how they will be collecting the data necessary to implement those requirements. The Electric Vehicle Association Policy Team is tracking this topic and you can read more from them in IRA incentives explained:

https://www.myeva.org/blog/ira-incentives-explained

Jan 10

AustinEV at Pistons in the Park Feb 2023

Join us as we show off our EVs at this monthly car meet.

We usually arrive around 7am so we can park near each other. Look for the EVA flag and join us!

If you want to let us know you’re coming, you can RSVP here:

https://www.meetup.com/austinevs/events/290851083/

Nov 07

AustinEV at the 2022 Electrify Expo and EVA Membership Drive

Thanks to the organizers of the Electrify Expo, AustinEV will have a booth at the show this weekend!  Come visit us if you are attending!  We’ll have some AustinEV and EVA window clings and lapel pins you can grab if you want them.  We’d just love to get a chance to say hi – it has been a while since we’ve all seen each other in person.

Learn more about the show at their site – here:

https://www.electrifyexpo.com/austin

Fri – Nov 11: Industry Day 8am-5pm

Sat- Nov 12 : 10am-5pm

Sun- Nov 13: 10am-5pm

Want to volunteer?

If you would like to volunteer to help staff the booth, please let me know ASAP.  We’re looking for 4-6 people who are willing to work a 3 hour shift.  Let me know whether you are available Saturday or Sunday and also morning or afternoon when you email me (achoate@gmail.com).  We should have exhibitor badges for these people so you should be able to spend the remainder of that day checking things out if you would like.

Membership Drive

The EVA is running a membership drive and I hope you will consider joining the EVA and supporting the Austin chapter when you do.  There are options for a basic membership, family memberships and business members.  Your membership helps the organization provide the things we rely on at the national level to run our chapter and now a portion of your dues will go into a fund to support our local efforts as well.

You can join the EVA at myeva.org/join and select Austin as your chapter to support us.

Need incentive?

We have two giveaways:

Electrify Expo has given us 6 general admission passes to the Expo this weekend.  If you are an EVA member registered to support the Austin chapter by 5pm Wednesday 11/9, we’ll automatically add you to the list that we use to do a drawing on the evening of the 9th for 3 pairs of codes to register for general admission tickets on either Saturday or Sunday.  If you are an EVA member that supports another chapter but are planning to be in town, feel free to reach out to me by 5pm Wednesday and I’ll add you to the drawing.

Aptera reservation codes:

Aptera is supporting the EVA by offering free reservation codes to our chapters to give away.  If you are interested in getting on the Aptera reservation list, we have two codes to offer to our members.  We’ll be doing a drawing for these codes at the conclusion of the membership drive at the end of November.  If you are a member of the EVA by Nov 30 and you support the Austin chapter, email me with your interest and I will add you to the drawing.  We have two codes to give away.  If you are an EVA member that supports another chapter, please reach out to your chapter leadership to inquire about the opportunity with them.  Each chapter has received two codes.