There is a place between denial and despair. That "place" is called ACTION. Plug In America attained formal 501(c)3 status in August 2008. But the real story began in 2005 when a core group of electric car owners/advocates rallied together in an effort to stave off the recall and destruction of thousands of electric cars produced by large automakers. In order to meet California zero emission vehicle standards created in the early 1990s, automakers had initially complied with the mandate but then lobbied hard to weaken and ultimately disempower that same mandate.
The subsequent destruction of zero emission vehicles galvanized citizen grassroots action to form dontcrush.com. This band of determined EV activists ultimately succeeded in saving at least 1,000 Ford and Toyota EVs from the corporate crusher. However, GM did move ahead with the destruction of its innovative EV1 electric cars despite dontcrush's offer to purchase the last 80 remaining EV1s for 1.9 million dollars. Images of the big yellow crusher at work in the film documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? helped to galvanize media attention coupled with persistent protests, dontcrush press releases and organizational media savvy.
Board member Sherry Boschert later upped the ante by writing a book that has served to educate thousands of consumers about the benefits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Following Sherry's literary lead and after the electric vehicle destruction drama ended, dontcrush morphed into Plug In America, an organization that works to educate the public, the automakers and those in power about the efficacy of electric drive with the ultimate goal of getting plug-in cars on the road in mass numbers. Now Plug In America serves as the voice of EV education and EV advocacy. In that spirit, PIA launched a NO PLUG, NO DEAL website campaign giving consumers and supporters the ability to contact automakers and request plug-in car production.
Plug in America board members now regularly appear at national and regional events as speakers and participants. Board members and supporters alike also organize and man countless event booths where they help to educate attendees with PIA messaging, materials and electric car displays. The group presently has a supporter base of approximately 30,000 people who are enthusiastically engaged and motivated to plug into the electric transportation dream.
As an historical example of Plug In America citizen engagement, in early 2009, supporters emailed over 50,000 letters to US congressional members urging that a tax credit for EV purchases be included in the stimulus bill, with stunning success. More recently, Plug In America worked tirelessly to extend HOV lane status for all-electric vehicles until 2015. Our Legislative Director was also instrumental in obtaining HOV lane access for plug-in hybrid vehicles beginning in 2012. And Plug In America’s popularity has continued to grow exponentially. The result? Plug In America represents the loudest and clearest EV advocacy voice out there.
Collectively, Plug In America’s founders have unparalleled day-to-day EV driving experience, and they use that experience to continually document the amazing dependability and performance of the very cars the organization managed to save. As America awaits the wave of new-production electric vehicles that are slated to hit the market by the end of the year and in the next couple of years, Plug In America can clearly describe day-to-day EV driving experience while providing invaluable data regarding vehicle performance and vehicle ownership which can be applied to the sparkling new plug-in cars soon to hit the roads.