World EV Day 2021 (today, 9 September 2021) has already resulted in announcements from the White House, the UK Cabinet Office, UK Department for Transport and major leaders in sustainable technology and the automotive industries.
World EV Day, founded by Ade Thomas of Green.TV Media in 2020, has already become established as a day marking a global movement to promote the role of electric vehicles in the move to net zero and decarbonisation, driven by social media announcements and acting as a worldwide nexus for governments, manufacturers, consumers and wider stakeholders.
The messaging on this year’s World EV Day is being led by the White House with a video released at 2.30pm BST and can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHH5xCs6llI
https://youtu.be/XHH5xCs6llI
Gina McCarthy, the White House National Climate Adviser, serving under United States President Joe Biden, celebrates World EV Day as a day of change, driving EV adoption and the United States commitment to EV.
Speaking about World EV Day, Gina McCarthy says: “The exciting thing about today [World EV Day] is that I don’t spend a lot of time dealing with climate deniers – we can see climate change happening in front of our eyes. But the great thing is that we have solutions to these things that actually are terrific. We know the future of vehicles is electric. There is no question about it. I know it, not just because I think I’m really smart and because President Biden says so. I know it because every automaker that we deal with is saying exactly the same thing.”
Ade Thomas, founder of Green.TV Media, long-term sustainability advocate, and the man behind World EV Day, says, “The inaugural World EV Day event in 2020 reached an audience of around 2 billion people worldwide. The response so far this year has surpassed my expectations, with so many crucial pledges, investments and developments that are a genuine catalyst for change around the globe. World EV Day 2021 drives messages home via social media, sparking conversations to educate and inform, and Green.TV Media is a strong believer in the power of using communications to ensure even greater sustainability for our planet.”
The UK’s Cabinet Office is employing World EV Day to communicate the UK Government’s commitment to the COP26 climate goals, as the host government.
UK Secretary of State, Grant Shapps, said: “This World EV Day, I want to not only provide easy access to the tools that people need to feel confident about making the switch, but also to make sure that charge points are accessible, affordable and recognisable. That’s why we have already committed £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of charging infrastructure up and down the country. And as we look forward to COP26 and beyond, our vision is that the UK is at the forefront of the zero emission transport future, creating thousands of green jobs in the process.”
Grant Shapps has also shared a post on his Instagram account about World EV Day and ‘celebrating the big strides the UK is making in moving towards electric vehicles’. A video of him speaking in the House of Commons today about this can be seen here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmhvmIjepz/?utm_medium=copy_link
World’s first EV emoji
ABB, World EV Day’s headline partner, created a competition, for children, to design the world’s first EV emoji, an ‘EVmoji’. This is part of the 2021 World EV Day’s commitment to consumer education around EVs. The winner of that competition has today been announced and ABB and Green.TV Media are calling on the Unicode Consortium to recognise the need for an official electric vehicle emoji.
Lucía, the EVmoji challenge winner, said: “I’d love my first car to be an electric car because I know they care for the environment. I’m very excited to have participated in this contest to help create the first EV emoji!”
Frank Muehlon, President of ABB’s E-mobility Division, said: “We are thrilled with the response to the EVmoji design challenge and to World EV Day. Both initiatives offer a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to learn more about electric vehicles and to generate excitement and collaboration on developments. Judging by these design submissions, the future is indeed electric.”
The winning design can be seen here: https://new.abb.com/news/detail/82138/charged-up-evmoji-winner-crowned-on-world-ev-day
Industry and trade announcements
The Department of Transport has today launched a free app called EV8 Switch – backed by £2.7 million of UK Space Agency funding.
The EV8 Switch app calculates how much money UK drivers could save by switching to an electric vehicle compared to their current petrol or diesel vehicle, along with details on the carbon dioxide (CO2) savings and air quality improvements they could achieve.
Nissan, a founding partner of World EV Day, has announced quarter of a million EV sales in Europe. They also announce that the new Nissan ARIYA is available to pre-order in Norway. Nissan’s EV36Zero is a game-changing £1 billion investment in green EV infrastructure and they are accelerating the journey to carbon neutrality by building a cutting edge manufacturing plant that brings together EVs, renewable energy, and battery production. Find out more here: https://bit.ly/3n54d7R
Nissan has also today released a teaser video for their next light commercial vehicle: https://bit.ly/3zTpCV0
Electric fuel card business start-up, Paua, has announced a major new partnership on World EV Day, working with leading EV charging company, Fastned to support easier payment for drivers across EV charging networks in the UK – which is a core part of Paua’s business model.
Leading global vehicle leasing company, LeasePlan, has today announced a commitment to set science-based reduction targets across all emission scopes of its business: https://www.leaseplan.com/corporate/news-and-media/newsroom/2021/09-09-2021
This process of setting clearly-defined and measurable science-based long term and interim targets marks a big step forward in LeasePlan’s net zero ambitions, and is a cornerstone of the company’s upcoming ‘Driving to zero’ sustainability strategy update.
In line with World EV Day’s education focus for 2021, leading UK automotive digital title, Auto Trader, has released an online game, as part of their World EV Day takeover of www.autotrader.co.uk site, and are also featuring World EV Day’s #GoEV pledge for consumers to commit to cleaner air, lower emissions and a more sustainable future.
As well as headline partner ABB, this year’s World EV Day is supported by partners including:
– ALD Automotive
– AutoTrader
– BP
– Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
– Climate Group
– EY
– Electrification Coalition
– Leaders for Clean Air
– LeasePlan
– LinkedIn
– Motability
– Parker Lord
– SSE Energy Solutions.
Ade Thomas, founder of Green.TV Media and of World EV Day, concludes, “It’s fantastic to see organisations, governments and individuals using the hashtag #WorldEVDay and to see World EV Day driving such a huge increase in understanding of electric vehicles and their role in the path to net zero and climate change.”
