Minnesotans can take free ride in EV at outlet mall

ALBERTVILLE, MINNESOTA - (June 29, 2017) --- An event at the Albertville Outlet Mall will offer Minnesotans a chance to take a brief spin in a plug-in vehicle. The electric vehicle ride and drive event takes place on Friday, June 30th from noon until 2:30 pm. This event is offered as part of Midwest EVOLVE (Midwest Electric Vehicle Opportunities: Learning, eVents, Experience), a regional program that promotes and demonstrates electric vehicles. An assortment of electric vehicles will be on display and available for test drives such as Nissan Leaf, Chevy Bolt and Volt, Ford Electric Focus, BMW i3, Tesla Model S & X, Toyota Prius Prime and Volvo XC90 T8. Partners for this free event include Twin Cities Premium Outlets & Albertville Premium Outlets, Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association, American Lung Association in Minnesota and ZEF Energy. Employees from these organizations will also be available to answer questions and discuss various electric vehicle programs and services.

Midwest EVOLVE is overseen by Twin Cities Clean Cities Coalition, a statewide alternative fuel program that helps the U.S. Department of Energy to find ways to reduce petroleum consumption and promote cleaner transportation fuels. Midwest EVOLVE is a partnership between eight U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities coalitions in seven Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The program website is www.MidwestEVOLVE.org<http://www.MidwestEVOLVE.org>.

"Electric vehicles are new to the Midwest, and few people here have firsthand experience with them," said Robert Moffitt, communications director for the American Lung Association in Minnesota. "That's the idea behind events like this, to demystify electric vehicles and to answer people's questions about this new and exciting type of vehicle. For us, plug-in vehicles are just one more choice Minnesotans can make to help reduce air pollution and climate changes."

The Midwest EVOLVE program is partly funded via an award from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, under Award Number DE-EE0007743. The American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest oversees the program.