Before buying your first Electric Vehicle, wouldn't it be helpful to talk with actual EV owners? Find out from owners who can speak from their lived experience how to most easily transition from gas to clean electric power. At our events, particularly Drive Electric Earth Day and National Drive Electric Week, we have the time to invite you to sit in the car and get an in-depth introduction to the vehicle before you go to a dealership or manufacturer's store to buy one. 

Particularly for the most advanced EVs, cars are becoming computers on wheels. This can be intimidating at first for many folks. But spending a while with an owner showing how the new technology makes driving safer, more reliable, and less stressful helps with this exciting transition. EVs are the 21st century version of what a car should be!

Myles Twete, driving his 1920 Milburn, led the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association's contingent in the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade. It was inspiring seeing the progress of electric cars over a century from the Milburn to the "computer on wheels" Tesla Model 3. This Portland Rose Festival tradition resumed on Saturday April 29th after being on hiatus for 3 years. KATU live streamed the event, which is archived on their website. If you want to skip ahead in the video, we show up at time 30:10 in the stream. 

Enjoy the photo carousel above, captured from KATU's live stream, which shows our participants. Look closely and see if you can spot the Toyota SUV BEV conversion by OEVA Information Technologist and Intel Encore Fellow, Sham Datta. Just for fun and as a special challenge for you, your tricky Web Administrator has slipped a photo of a non-electric vehicle into the mix. See if your keen eye and knowledge of EV models can discern the non-EV parade vehicle!

Many thanks to Paul Burkey for organizing our participation in this community event, to Morris Green for getting the cool magnetic Oregon Electric Vehicle Association logo signs, and to the OEVA members who paraded their vehicles!

Electric Avenue is the first thing you see as you descend to the main floor of the Oregon Convention Center for the Portland International Auto Show. The auto show is a huge event, with participation from major auto manufacturers and local auto dealers. Electric Vehicles are a growing part of the auto show, and the OEVA is the heart of the electric Electric Avenue. On your right as you proceed down Electric Avenue is the massive Wall of All EV and Plug In Hybrid Vehicle Datasheets, created through a whirlwind effort by Gary Exner with help from OEVA members who researched many vehicle's data. Those EV datasheets are available on our Cars page.

At the far end of the Avenue, which is lined with EVs from many manufacturers, is the OEVA's exhibit space, and right in front of the popular "Vote for Your Favorite EV" display is the Belle of the Ball, the most popular and exciting vehicle at the Portland International Auto Show (by most accounts), the rare (for now) Rivian R1S, brought to the the show by outgoing OEVA president Gary Exner. And close by the R1S is a Tesla Model Y performance, brought to the show by OEVA Web Admin Ron Jackson. Being the only Rivian and Tesla at the show, they receive almost constant attention, with Gary and Ron busy answering questions and demonstrating the amazing features of their state of the art EVs from the rapidly growing new electric-only auto manufacturers.

Thanks go out to all the Electric Avenue volunteers at the auto show. Special recognition to Peter Hoeckel who was there essentially all hours all days, from before show opening to close. Gary Exner, Ron Jackson, Morris Green, and Karl Boekelheide were also long-hours volunteers for the whole run of the show. Apologies to any other long-hours volunteers I missed as I didn't frequent all areas of Electric Avenue. Special thanks to Chaz Smith who brought in delicious home baked cookies to the volunteer's break room (now there's a guy who spreads happiness wherever he goes, along with cookie crumbs), and to all the many OEVA members who volunteered their time to share their valuable EV experience with the public.

The 2023 Portland International Auto Show has taken up residence in the memories of those of us who volunteered and the people who attended. If you have photos from the Auto Show, please send them to your tireless Web Admin and he'll add them to the photo carousel above. And if you have photos from other OEVA events, or striking or funny pictures of your EV in a scenic location, please send those in too as we're always on the lookout for the right image to enhance our rapidly expanding website. Email photos or share a Google Drive album with Web@oeva.org.

Not only is there the 2024 Auto Show to look forward to, there are more events coming in 2023 for the OEVA and more opportunities for you to share your love of all things EV. Get more involved, its more fun that way!