Last year, people watched a Tesla 3 electric car at the Novato Electric Vehicle Expo in the parking lot of the Novato Administrative Office in Novato City. (Alan Depp/Marin Independent Magazine)

On Wednesday, an electric car was charged outside Tiburon City Hall. (Alan Depp/Marin Independent Magazine)

An electric car charging station in the parking lot of the San Rafael City Hall. (Alan Depp/Marin Independent Magazine)

The Marin non-profit organization Cool the Earth wants you to drive an electric car.

Cool the Earth was established 13 years ago to promote the response to global warming by educating school-age children on environmental issues. Cool the Earth launched a new program: Drive Clean Bay Area. Its mission is to inspire Bay Area residents and employees to drive electric vehicles. More specifically, its goal in Marin is to make 40% of Marin's vehicles electric by 2030.

This seems to be a rather ambitious goal. According to data from the Ministry of Motor Vehicles, at the end of 2018, of the 225,000 vehicles registered in Marin, approximately 8,000 were electric vehicles, accounting for slightly less than 4%.

But Carleen Cullen, the executive director and founder of Cool the Earth, said that the movement has two major factors in its favor. First, Karen said, “There is no way for gasoline cars to stabilize the climate.”

According to Cullen, gasoline-powered passenger cars account for 40% of Marlin's carbon emissions and nearly 28% of all carbon emissions in California.

She said that the second factor is that electric vehicle technology has been improving rapidly and has reached the point where it is economically feasible for many households to switch.

"The biggest obstacle at the moment is consumer awareness," Karen said. "About six months ago, we had a focus group discussion across the county. Most people can only name two or three electric cars. There are 40 types of electric cars.

She said: "They didn't know that anything other than Tesla could drive more than 200 miles." "There are nine electric cars with a mileage of more than 200 miles, and every model on the market has a mileage of more than 200 miles. "

Cullen said that although the number of mileage that electric vehicle owners can travel after charging is increasing, the time required to charge the vehicle is decreasing. She said that although it may take an hour to charge 5 to 25 miles at home, an ultra-fast charger can charge 90 miles in 10 minutes. She said that Novato has more than a dozen such chargers.

The Drive Clean campaign is funded by several Marin non-profit organizations and government entities. MCE and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District will each contribute US$40,000; the Marin Transportation Administration provides US$27,000; and Marin County is raising US$20,000.

Cullen also works with Cartelligent, a car buying company based in Sausalito.

"We found that consumers especially have a lot of problems with electric cars," Karen said, "for example, about charging, range and discounts. Cartelligent is an expert in this area. They offer discounts for 12 different models of electric cars."

Cartelligent founder and CEO David Shapiro (David Shapiro) said: "We have been very successful in putting a large number of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road."

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles may account for 10% of his business this year, which is the highest percentage he has experienced since starting his business 20 years ago.

He expects more electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles to come out in 2020, and Marlin buyers will be interested.

"In Marin, a very popular car is the Audi Q5, and there will be an Audi Q5 plug-in hybrid in January or February," Shapiro said. "It will be very popular here."

Shapiro said that the three most popular electric cars are Chevrolet Bolt, Kia Niro EV and Audi e-tron. All three vehicles can travel more than 200 miles on a single charge. He said that after taking all rebates into account, the prices of Volt and Niro EV are both about $29,000. The price of e-tron is approximately US$59,000.

The federal government provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of electric vehicles, while the state government provides an incentive of $2,500, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. provides a tax refund of $800. He said that for cheap electric cars, this means that rebates can reduce the price of the car by about 40%.

Marlin buyers should know that individuals with an annual income of more than $150,000 and families with an income of more than $300,000 are not eligible for the state tax refund.

Karen told Director Marin last month that the two public safety blackouts implemented by PG&E this year caused some people to question whether owning an electric car is a good idea.

She said: "In emergencies and downtime, electric cars are actually an excellent solution for fuel vehicles." "Your electric car is basically a huge battery mounted on wheels."

Cullen described how to use a $25 electric inverter purchased on Amazon to allow her family to use the lithium-ion battery in the Chevrolet Volt to power two LED lights, a radio, a computer, a phone, and a router. Using car batteries to run these devices in 24 hours reduced their cruising range by only 4 miles. Cullen said that with an inverter that costs about $85, they can operate a refrigerator. Their electric cars also make it easier to prepare for shutdowns.

She said in a statement: “Although there were long lines at many gas stations before the power outage, I just plugged in the power at home.”

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