Raleigh, North Carolina is greeting electric vehicles with open arms. With several public charging stations, groundbreaking research into electric vehicle technology that will change the way we use and reuse the batteries , and last year’s host to a national conference on electric and alternative energy vehicles, the city was ideal for a visit from the Volt team.

Chevrolet hosted several private ride-and-drive events at energy company Progress Energy, energy efficiency company Advanced Energyand Smart Grid company, Elster. At Elster, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue even stopped by and took a Volt out for a drive. Like several others before her that day, Gov. Perdue remarked that she was impressed with the Volt. One of the Elster executives driving the Volt laughed and said the Volt seemed like something out of the future. He especially enjoyed the startup sound the Volt makes. At Elster, we also partnered with a local food truck and had a sandwich named after the Volt! By the way, it was delicious*

The team wanted to get the general public behind the wheel of a Volt too, so we set up and hosted a drive event at the Downtown Raleigh Farmers Market. Many of the people coming up to the Volt had never seen it before and jumped at the opportunity to sit in the Volt and check it out. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the Volt and the technology inside of it. We’re hoping that leads to a few sales!

Following the interest at the market, the local social media club enjoyed their own drive event/ Tweet-up, giving many of them an opportunity to experience the Volt and share their encounter with their followers on Twitter. The event also gave the team an opportunity to sit down and get feedback from some of the club’s members.

Hendrick Chevrolet also hosted a drive event and educational seminar for some of their new Volt salespeople. Local Chevrolet Zone Manager Jim Brady walked them through the Volt and answered questions. Some members of the local electric vehicle club also popped in to take the Volt for a spin and share their experience with and knowledge of the vehicles and technology. We even had the chance to visit with a few local Volt owners who stopped by to meet some members of our team.

Speaking of owners, a trip for the team is not complete without meeting some of the local Volt owners. About 10 came by a small diner in Raleigh to enjoy breakfast and discuss all things Volt. The normal friendly competitions arose, like who had the best lifetime MPG, or who had driven the farthest using the least amount of gas (Mr. Bobby Williams won with more than 4,000 miles without a single fill-up through the use of regular charging and short trips), but it was all in good fun.

After four event-filled days and more than one hundred individual drives, our team bid Raleigh farewell and headed home. Next up? The Pacific Northwest!

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