Public Information and Awareness (1)

Editor’s Note: These series are selected from manual Electric Vehicle Community Market Launch Manual: A Guide to Prepare Your Community for Electric Vehicles which was prepared by the Electric Transportation Coalition (ETC) and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas (EVAA) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING PUBLIC INFORMATION AND AWARENESS PROGRAMS

Before developing a communications plan, communities must address several issues. First, communities should work with local organizations—such as utilities, Clean Cities Coalitions, and environmental groups—that are already highly involved with EVs to clearly define the plan’s goals and objectives. The more specific these goals, the better For example, one goal may be to obtain formal City Council support for local EV infrastructure programs. Another may be to increase the general population’s level of awareness of EV benefits by a certain percentage, which can be measured through surveys. A third may include informing businesses about how to use available EV incentives.

Next, the community needs to identify its key stakeholders and target messages to each of these groups. Stakeholders are stratified audiences, such as the general public, the news media, elected officials, fleet operators, businesses, city employees, school children, college students, and potential early EV adopters.

The principal message to all stakeholders could be that the community is creating an EV infrastructure that will make EVs easy and convenient to own and operate. However, messages targeted to each group will be more effective. For example, a message targeted to fleet operators could state that EV technology today meets the needs of a number of fleet applications, and that it is relatively simple to provide a central recharging area for EVs at night. A key message for a business could be that a significant federal tax credit exists for companies that install EV charging stations. A key message for a potential purchaser is that a significant federal tax credit exists for individuals who purchase EVs (see Volume III of this Manual for a list of tax credits for businesses and individuals).

Before developing messages for each audience, it is important to determine, if possible, their probable biases and opinions about EVs. Drawing on the resources of national and local organizations1 identified in this section can help accomplish this goal (see Volume III for an in-depth list of organizations). The local utility may have a mechanism for surveying its customers, and the community also may want to develop a brief questionnaire for opinion leaders to find out their top priorities and concerns relating to EVs before starting a communications program. Such actions can ensure that messages are on target.

The organizations in Volume III of this Manual can also help a community respond to any resistance or opposition it might encounter and better explain the beneficial role EVs and their infrastructure can play in a community.

Once the community has laid the groundwork for its communications plan, it can map out implementation strategies. There are no hard and fast rules for carrying out an effective campaign, but a successful plan usually includes several key elements:

  • A component to reach the news media, via news events, news releases, ride-and－drive events, and more
  • A component to reach legislators and regulators, via forums, briefings, written materials, or other mechanisms
  • A component to reach the general public, via displays of EVs, mailings, utility bill inserts, etc.

As implementation of the plan progresses, it will become clearer which mechanisms prove most successful.

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May 19, 2008 · Filed Under Electric Car Conversion Blog

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