SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Auto Museum kicked off its three-month long tribute to the history of electric vehicles in style...
They were the end point of a historic coast-to-coast trip from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Fairfield, California.
Dafne Dixon, the executive director of the nonprofit Live Green, says she hopes the journey makes people consider buying an electric vehicle.
"We are going to 16 different states and traversing the country — hoping to reduce range anxiety one state at at time. 50 percent of all people that are considering a purchase of an electric vehicle won't, largely because they're afraid they'll run out of power from A to B," she said.
If that was the goal, they did their part to help spread the word by gaining followers on social media along the way and receiving coverage from news outlets in every town awaiting their arrival.
Her biggest takeaway?
"We were surprised to find that every hotel and motel along the way had free charging, and even free charging in all state parks. Full disclosure; I've never owned or even been in an EV before all of this," she said.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui was on hand to greet Daphne and give perspective to the crowd.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment. Largely because it's not a professional driver, nor an electric vehicle representative, it's a regular person representing all of us demonstrating that it can be done easily. Not just a cross country trip, but in every day life. Our kids, our next generation are worried about sustainability and their environment, and a shift to renewable energy fueled vehicles will help," said Matsui.
You might be surprised to find out that the first motorized automobiles in America were electric. You can see one of those original cars and other vehicles -- including the fastest street legal EV made today -- at the California Auto Museum through the end of August.
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