National Drive Electric Month 2025, set to take place from September 12 to October 12, is a national celebration geared towards raising awareness about the extensive benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles. This event has grown into an annual movement, now engaging hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and beyond. However, it wasn’t always this way.
October 16, 2011 marked the inaugural National Plug-In Day, with Plug In America leading nationwide event efforts in partnership with the Sierra Club and Electric Auto Association. Originally, Zan Dubin-Scott, co-founder and communications director of Plug In America, and EV driver Jeff U’Ren pitched the idea to hold a series of events across the U.S. to raise awareness about EVs and build support through sharing their environmental and economic benefits. The local events include activities such as EV test driving opportunities, educational workshops, and exhibits to showcase the benefits of a more efficient and clean transportation future.
What began as a smaller-scale initiative quickly picked up momentum. The 2011 National Plug-In Day was staged in 29 cities across the country, and soon grew increasingly popular, showcasing a steep increase in participation every year. Only two years after the event’s launch, the organizers listed 93 cities confirming their event involvement, citing it as a 43% boost in participation. The national series of Plug-In events soon extended across multiple days, and eventually morphed into a full week. In 2013, roughly 35,000 people attended events in 98 cities. By 2014, event participation more than doubled the previous year once again, with over 90,000 people participating, including event attendees in Italy, Canada, and The Netherlands. California’s former Governor Jerry Brown joined the celebrations and signed six bills to encourage EV purchases, incentivizing political action alongside public participation. At this point, the organizers decided to rename the event National Drive Electric Week to accommodate the sharp uptick in participation and foster further expansion. This rebranding exemplified the rapid, large-scale shift towards Americans viewing EVs as a mainstream and successful vehicle alternative to celebrate.
Now, as we shift into 2025, this initiative has officially transformed into National Drive Electric Month. According to Plug In America’s events manager, Liesl Pimentel, “Expanding…into National Drive Electric Month creates more impact and empowers communities across the country to embrace the future of clean transportation.” This year, the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) is proud to align with this national campaign and celebrate this September as “Drive Electric Month.” As EV adoption has gained significant global momentum in the past few decades, the U.S. has recently found itself at a challenging crossroads. Under the Trump administration, federal support for EVs is rapidly unraveling before our eyes. In the last few months, the administration has eliminated EV charging infrastructure grants, the federal $7,500 EV tax credit, and federal emissions cap mandates. This aggressive pushback threatens to significantly slow progress in EV adoption just as these vehicles are becoming much more affordable and widely adopted across the nation. BloombergNEF has estimated that EVs will make up 27% of U.S. passenger vehicle sales in 2030, a steep 21% decrease from last year’s annual look-ahead estimates. Additionally, a Harvard University Trump EV Policy Brief released this March indicated that a federal elimination of all EV-supportive policies would raise emissions by a total of 44.1 million metric tons vs. the 2030 baseline forecast. With the environmental and economic stakes disturbingly high, fortifying initiatives such as National Drive Electric Month is critical.
Despite the federal hostility and dissolving credits, the case in favor of EV adoption remains strong. Not only are electric vehicles better for the environment, but they also offer consumers a compelling economic incentive. EV drivers can save significantly on fuel and maintenance in comparison to conventional gas-powered vehicles due to an avoidance of oil and car part changes. This means that EVs most often come with a lower total ownership cost compared to gasoline vehicles over time. In addition, investment in EV infrastructure opens the door to thousands of new green jobs. However, aggressive political and public advocacy efforts are needed to expand public understanding of these benefits and combat federal stalling threats.
Under New York’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLPCA), the state has committed to a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to the 1990 baseline, by 2030 as well as net-zero electricity by 2040. The transportation sector plays a significant role in achieving these targets, as this sector accounts for an enormous share of the state’s total emissions. New York must push towards aggressive EV adoption and improved charging infrastructure access for low-income communities to make the necessary push towards meeting these CLPCA goals.
Throughout the month of September, NYLCV stands in support of the National Drive Electric Month initiatives and will continue to spotlight the critical benefits of driving electric. As federal resistance to EVs grows, it is up to state-level action and advocacy organizations to push the EV agenda forward. Electrifying the transportation sector is imperative to driving the clean energy future, improving public health, and improving transportation access to communities across the economic divide. New York must step up and remain a strong leader in this transition.
Annelise Fisher, an undergraduate summer intern at the New York League of Conservation Voters, is a rising senior at Harvard University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Environmental Science & Public Policy.