Social Innovation: San Francisco's Electric Vehicle Week
The push to help the American public make conscious consumer decisions about Electric Vehicles (EV) is going strong. San Francisco's first ever EV Week opened at Justin Herman Plaza last week. It featured social innovation electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from major car manufacturers and car sharing companies; EV charging solutions, including clean energy EV charging; and the opportunity to ride, and drive select electric vehicles. This enterprising week was the brainwave of Charge Across Town™, which has an educational campaign aimed at making San Francisco the leading U.S. city in EV adoption and infrastructure.
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee says, "Charge Across Town was a catalyst for the consumers, nonprofits and the business community to get San Francisco EV-Ready. EV Week demonstrated why San Francisco is the Innovation Capital of the World." EV Week was sponsored by Toyota Corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric, Nissan and Nissan Infiniti, BMW's DriveNow and SunPower Corporation and recently released social innovation cars and plug-in hybrids.
Some of the cars on display were the Toyota's Prius Plug-In and its RAV4 EV, which combines a Tesla-designed and produced social innovation battery. Both were available for test-drives. The Nissan had its all-electric Leaf's on show and car sharing companies City Car Share and Get Around demonstrated transport from their fleet. DriveNow, the new premium car sharing service from BMW had the ActiveE available to drive; Honda and Zipcar teamed up to showcase the Honda Fit EV. Other car manufacturers and vehicles that participated included Serramonte Ford with the Ford Focus Electric, Coda Automotive and Tesla.
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Sangeeta Haindl is a staff writer for Justmeans on Social Enterprise. When not writing for Justmeans, Sangeeta wears her other hat as a PR professional. Over the years, she has worked with high-profile organizations within the public, not-for-profit and corporate sectors; and won awards from her industry. She now runs her own UK consultancy: Serendipity PR & Media.
