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The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office has funded hundreds of projects across the country that advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels and technologies.

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Project Initiative/Award Awardee Status Date
Midwest EVOLVE (Midwest Electric Vehicle Opportunities: Learning, Events, Experience Plug‐In Electric Vehicle Local Showcases Minnesota Clean Cities Coalition Complete Oct 2016

States impacted:

  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Wisconsin

Midwest EVOLVE (Midwest Electric Vehicle Opportunities: Learning, Events, Experience

The Midwest Electric Vehicle Opportunities: Learning, Events, Experience (Midwest EVOLVE) project is an effort to promote plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in a seven-state area including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This effort educated the general public, workplaces, corporate fleets, and auto dealer staff about the benefits and advantages of PEVs in a variety of settings such as auto shows, ride and drive showcases, dealership trainings, and workplace charging challenges. The seven Clean Cities coalitions partnering to host these events across the Midwest also distributed and analyzed pre-, post-, and follow-up surveys of attendees to determine the outcomes of these outreach efforts.

As of 2018, Midwest EVOLVE has executed a total of 78 ride and drive showcase events, 12 PEV dealership training events, 29 workplace charging challenge showcases, 10 extended test drive programs, 27 PEV forum events, and over 90 educational outreach events. In total, over 90,000 attendees have participated in these events. Notably, the project had displays and ride and drives at the Chicago Auto Show, the Milwaukee Auto Show, the Twin Cities Auto Show, and the Ohio Auto Show in 2018. From the analysis of pre- and post- surveys, the project partners determined that over 21% of those surveyed have purchased a PEV since attending an event. As part of the project, Argonne National Laboratory launched the Evolution Consumer Choice Tool which helps consumers understand the different powertrain technologies and connects them to PEV information on the DOE-supported Alternative Fuels Data Center and FuelEconomy.gov.

Learn more about the Plug‐In Electric Vehicle Local Showcases.

$950,000 award from DOE

$1,010,000 matching funds (cost share)

Partners

  • American Lung Association
  • Minnesota Clean Cities Coalition
  • Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation
  • Clean Fuels Ohio
  • Michigan Clean Cities
  • North Dakota Clean Cities
  • Drive Clean Indiana
  • Wisconsin Clean Cities
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • PlugInConnect