It’s all about connection

The Inland Empire EVA leverages impact with other advocacy groups

Route of IEEVA and Inland Empire Tesla Club DEED event caravan

Since its founding in 2019, the members of the Inland Empire Electric Vehicle Association (IEEVA) have embraced the help and support of sister organizations and have offered support in return.

In fact, the chapter has taken connection to a new level in that Andy Huynh, the president of the Inland Empire Tesla Club, helped launch the EAA chapter and is now serving as the president of both organizations.

“Most of our chapter events are done in conjunction with the Tesla Club,” said IEEVA founding member Michelle Pierce. “We draw on their roster of over 600 members. It’s been a huge boost for us.”

“People don’t realize that the Inland Empire has so many Teslas,” she continued. “You might not think of this area as high income, but Teslas are everywhere.” Lower-cost EVs, including Tesla’s Model 3, have lead to the expansion of the EV community beyond wealthy early adopters.

Caravan events to raise awareness

Pierce said that it’s mostly the Tesla-driving members who attend the chapter’s outreach caravan events. This past April, for Drive Electric Earth Day, “There were around 20 of us,” Pierce explained. “We started at the Riverside Supercharger in Moreno Valley and then drove up into the mountains to Idyllwild. We stopped for lunch and then drove out the back way, through Banning and Beaumont.”

Pierce has been an EV advocate since even before purchasing a Nissan LEAF in 2012. “What drives me is getting more people informed as to the benefits of driving electric,” she said, explaining that she probably ‘sold’ quite a few EVs when she did a stint of rideshare driving to supplement her retirement income. “The Chevrolet Bolt was offered by GM Maven for Lyft and Uber drivers as a rental option, so I took them up on it. I got hooked on the car, and a whole lot of my riders were very impressed, too.”

Pierce sees many advantages in IEEVA sharing the same president with the Tesla club. “We wouldn’t have a chapter if it wasn’t for Andy,” she said. “Organizationally, it just makes things easier.”

“When you’re a smaller community, it makes sense to join together with other groups,” agreed Robert Nuenke, IEEVA co-founder and past-president. “There’s no point in making things too specialized, or too divided.”

“That’s what I love about our EV community,” Nuenke continued. “There’s just a lot of commonality. One of the guys has a Tesla like me, has the same motorcycle as I do, and he’s flying an experimental electric plane.”

Temecula Tesla

Huynh described the last major chapter/Tesla club event as a great success. “We had a tour of the Tesla service center in Temecula,” he said. “We were there for 2 hours, they showed us how they repair the cars… It was very interesting for everyone, even the folks in our chapter who drive other brands.”.

This year’s NDEW Tesla Club-IEEVA co-sponsored event is scheduled for October 3 at the Vernola Marketplace in Jurupa Valley. The two organizations have many vendors lined-up, as well as the loan of a Tesla Model Y and Model 3 from the Temecula dealership, 

“It works for us to hold these events at shopping centers,” Huynh said. “Just more traffic there… Always people coming in and out who see us.”

Connections that last

In 2019, Elaine Bosworth, Vice-President and Chair of the Chapter Development and Membership Committee of the Electric Auto Association,  introduced Pierce and Nuenke at a ‘ride and drive’ event in San Diego. She suggested that the two Inland Empire residents form a new EAA chapter there. 

“It made sense to us because we’d both been traveling to Orange County or L.A. or San Diego for EV events,” Nuenke said. “We immediately formed the organization with some guidance. We held meetings at the K1 Speedway at Ontario Mills, and at various coffee shops in the area.” 

The new chapter’s first advocacy event was held in San Bernadino for the 2019 National Drive Electric Week. “It was successful because of Tesla,” Nuenke said. “We had a Jaguar EV lined-up, but Jaguar wouldn’t let us take it on test drives. Tesla saved the day.”

At the time, “Doing whatever I could to help Tesla get to the point where they were able to be profitable was a big deal for me,” Nuenke said, referring to his job at Tesla. “I really wanted to be part of that revolution.”

“I’ve always been a big EV advocate, always talking to my neighbors and family members,” he continued. “The change that we want to see in the world starts with ourselves and our personal friends and family. Right now, my neighbor to the left is buying a Tesla, my neighbor on the right is buying a Tesla, and the guy down the street already has one.”

“To think that I was a catalyst for the people on my street, that’s a good feeling,” he added. “One neighbor switched out all of his lawn equipment. In fact, half the folks in our neighborhood are using electric lawn equipment now. Sometimes it’s that simple. So it made sense to put my efforts into my local community.”

Advocacy partnership, 2-wheel version 

Due in part to Nuenke’s 30 years on a motorcycle, including his long service as a motorcycle safety instructor, the IEEVA has formed a very strong connection with the local motorcycle advocacy group. 

“We have participants in the IEEVA who are also part of the largest electric motorcycle advocacy group in the area,” Nuenke said. “Sometimes that involves travel. Recently, a bunch of us did a ride to the desert where we were like rock stars because folks who had never even heard of electric motorcycles were seeing them for the first time. It was like when we first started driving EVs. We got the same kinds of questions.”

With IEVVA meet-ups, “We’ve kept it organic,” Nuenke said. “We don’t necessarily have a fixed format and we don’t want to make it political. We want to make it fun and get everyone’s input. We talk about our vehicles, we hear about modifications. Everyone is proud of their ride.”

“We want all to feel welcome,” he continued. “We want to keep it comfortable and informal. Maybe it works for us because the Inland Empire is just a little more laid back than the coast. It suits us more.”

“Ultimately, it’s about legacy, right? If I were to leave this earth, what kind of a dent in the universe did I make? I’m really proud of our chapter for the people we’ve inspired…  Our advocating, our telling our neighbors. That’s what makes a difference.”

EV conversion displayed at chapter event