Spreading the Chevy Bolt and the electric car ‘gospel’

My red Chevy Bolt parked next to Deena R.’s brand new blue Chevy Bolt. We go to church together and Deena said I had a big influence in persuading her to go all electric. She’s also got a solar system on her home’s roof with which she can fuel her new Bolt. Also, notice the white Chevy Volt in the upper right hand corner of this photo. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]
blog logoIt’s fun being an earlier adopter of electric cars. I’m not as early an adopter as some electric car enthusiasts, but, having driven an all-electric car for almost four years now, I’m definitely mostly at the forefront off the EV revolution.

That means I get to spread the word about how clean, green, quiet, quick, and fun having an electric car can be.

One of the places I’ve spread the word about electric cars is at the Unitarian Universalist church I go to, Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church, which actually meets in the gymnasium of Pine Grove Elementary School in Parker, Colo. every Sunday.

There are several people in the church who have expressed to me strong interest in electric cars, and, in particular, interest in the the exciting synergy between home solar and electric cars. I’ve been more than happy to comply by promoting the many advantages of driving a car fueled with electricity generated by home solar at church, sometimes making announcements about what I am doing during so-called candles of community, a time when we can share something that’s on “our minds and on our hearts” to the rest of the congregation.



One of the people who’s been talking about going electric is Deena R. She and her husband put a 5.6 kW solar system on their home about a year ago. Well, Deena made good on her word to go electric and just went out and bought herself a bright blue Chevy Bolt a few days ago.

She surprised me by parking next to my cajun red Bolt this past Sunday (I’ve had my Bolt for about three months now) (see pics).

Deena was SO happy — and so am I 🙂

She had been thinking about a Nissan LEAF (her sister owns one), but never pulled the trigger on a LEAF due to concerns about range. The 200+ miles of range offered by the Bolt, however, are more than enough for Deena. And her decision to buy an electric car shows, albeit anecdotally, how 200+ miles of range is a thresh-hold for many American car buyers, meaning it is finally enough to get large(r) numbers of Americans actually thinking about, and even purchasing, an electric car.

Another friend of mine in the church, John K., has a Toyota Prius with 300k miles on it that’s about to become a serious “money pit”. He asked me about my Bolt this past Sunday, and, like Deena, John’s got home solar too. He’s considering buying a Bolt or a Volt or maybe a plug-in Prius.

So, we may have three Chevy Bolts in our church parking lot sooner than I ever thought we would.

That’s great news — and definitely news worth sharing here on SolarChargedDriving.Com.