The Knoxville Electric Vehicle Association (KEVA) is Knoxville’s leading non-profit dedicated to educating the public on the benefits of driving electric. Functioning as a regional chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association since 2010. Our monthly meetings and events are great places to come talk to daily EV drivers and have your questions answered as well as a community for EV enthusiasts. If you have never driven an EV we would love the opportunity to put you in the driver’s seat at any of our meetings or various events.

KEVA monthly meetings are the second Saturday of every month, usually at 11:00 AM at Carl Cowan Park on Northshore Drive.  The meeting location may occasionally change due to weather or other issues.  Information is posted to the KEVA website and KEVA FB group. Bring a chair and join the discussions. 

Partners

The Electric Auto Association (EAA) is a network of EV enthusiasts and “North America’s leading nonprofit that accelerates the adoption of electric vehicles by supporting its 100 chapters and thousands of members as they talk neighbor-to-neighbor in their communities about the benefits of driving electric.” The EAA is our parent organization and we are one of two official chapters in Tennessee (along side the Chattanooga chapter). As KEVA – the Knoxville EV Association – we have been around since forming in 2005 and worked since inception to positively impact citizens in the greater Knoxville community to educate them about the benefits of driving electric.

ETCF + state 3 logos

The East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition (ETCleanFuels) is one of roughly 90 U.S. DOE “Clean Cities” Programs across the country and serves the eastern half of Tennessee. ETCleanFuels works in partnership with the other in-state program – the Middle-West TN Clean Fuels Coalition – to serve fleets, partners and other entities with services related to education, outreach and implementation of alternative fuels in vehicles. ETCleanFuels has been working with KEVA for over a decade to plan and hold EV “Ride & Drives” and work on EV outreach throughout the region.

DET logo

The Drive Electric TN (DET) initiative was born in 2014 by ETCleanFuels to build out educational work to Tennessee citizens on EVs, and work on the Tennessee Workplace Charging Program. In 2017, TVA made a commitment to massively boost the effort and funded several types of work that involved over 100 different people from across Tennessee and beyond to develop the Tennessee EV Roadmap and other outputs to help us have good data. Since then, three “Working Groups” were started and have developed over 10 task forces or committees to work on specific barrier-removing actions to assist Tennessee in growing the number of EVs in our roads from roughly 10,000 at the start of 2020 to 200,000 by the end of 2028.

Current Upcoming Events

Upcoming EVents

Here’s a quick snapshot of what we have going on in the next few months.

August Monthly Meeting

August 8th, 11am-1pm Cedar Bluff Library

Hey everyone, 

We will be meeting this Saturday, August 8th, back at the Cedar Bluff Public Library. We have two great guest speakers to hear from this month. We will have Dr. Knowles tell us all about the results from his EV survey that a lot of us participated in. He will share all his findings and deductions from the survey. Then we will have Martin Fern, President and CEO of Atomic Electric Service tell us all about his business and what services they offer. So come join us for a great meeting and bring all your EV related questions. We will also be discussing some big news related to the Knoxville Drive Electric Festival on October 10th. Rivian will be an official participant and not only are they bringing an R1T and R1S they will also be bringing two R2’s !! One for the test drive area and one for the showcase area. Help spread the word to all your family and friends that have been waiting to see and try an R2 that this will be the event for them to check out. If you haven’t already signed up for the biggest EV event in the southeast please do so now so you can show Rivian how big of an EV community we have in Knoxville. Follow this link and click on the sign-up button https://driveelectricmonth.org/event?eventid=5126
  • Meeting Agenda
  • Introduction of new members, did any get an EV recently?
  • Report of previous month events
    • Weather scared off Cars and Coffee
  • Presentation/Discussion from Dr. Anthony Knowles
    • UTK teaching assistant professor
    • Department of Sociology
    • Center for Transportation Research
  • Presentation/Discussion from Martin Fern
    • President & CEO Atomic Electric Service
    • EV charger installs and other services
    • Any interesting updates/news in residential electrical
  • US DCFC installs 4,382 in Q2 of 2026
    • Through the first half of 2026, 7,903 new ports came online
    • Both numbers slightly down from this time last year
  • September 19th Monthly Meeting (3rd Saturday)
    • Back at Public Works building 11am
    • Guest speaker: Knoxville Sustainability Manager Patience Melnik
    • Shares with us the latest updates on EV infrastructure plans, the city EV fleet etc.
    • KDEF planning and volunteer signups
    • KDEF Posters will be handed out.
  • 2026 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival
    • Oct 10th, 10am-3pm
    • Pellissippi State Community College Main Campus Hardin Valley
    • 2nd Largest NDEM event in the country last year!
    • Rivian R2 to be featured
    • 100+ EVs in the showcase over 40+ different models
    • Signup today to help us promote the numbers
    • https://driveelectricmonth.org/event?eventid=5126
  • Other EV News
    • Ford and Geely join to produce European vehicle
    • Samsung testing solid state batteries with 500wh/Kg means 600 mile batteries
    • BEV out sold all other powertrains in Germany in June.
    • Data showing Model Y & 3 losing only 20% of battery capacity at 200,000 miles

Meeting date and time: Saturday August 8th 11am-1pm

Meeting location: Cedar Bluff Library 9045 Cross Park Dr. Knoxville, TN, 37923

September Monthly Meeting

September 19th, 11am-1pm Knoxville Public Works Service Center

Our guest speaker will be Patience Melnik Knoxville Sustainability Manager, she will tell us all about the latest updates of what the city has planned and how things are already going. We look forward to hearing about any updates on EV infrastructure.  Check back as we plan more detailed agenda.

2026 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival

October 10th, 2026  10am-3pm

Pellissippi State Community College Hardin Valley

The Knoxville Electric Vehicle Association (KEVA) and Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) are working to make the 2026 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival bigger and better.  All activities — vehicles on display, ride and drives, vendors, etc. — will be held on the Pellissippi Community College Hardin Valley (Main) Campus. The 2025 Festival was the largest National Drive Electric Week event in the Southeast, and the 2nd largest event in the whole nation! With over 100 EVs representing 40+ different models. Let’s do it again in 2025! Come see electric cars, trucks, boats, bikes, buses, and motorcycles!

2025 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival – Welcome

Experience how fun EVs are to drive in our Test Drive area where we expect 15+ models to be available. This is your best chance of the year to see all the latest EV models in one place and talk to actual owners.

Rivian to be an official participate this year bringing the R2 for the test drive area and the EV showcase! If you have been interested in seeing and trying out the R2 this is your chance to do so! 

The smaller R2 will be available to test and see at the 2026 KDEF

The smaller R2 will be available to test and see at the 2026 KDEF

This is a festival, we will have food trucks and live music. We will update when we have the food trucks lined up. The live music stage will be powered by an F-150 Lightning ! We will have some of the best blues players in the area hit the stage. Featuring the School of Rock House Band at 10:00am,  and others to TBD shortly.

Powering the music stage is a great example of how EVs can do V2L which stands for vehicle to load. Come learn how the latest EVs trucks can power your entire house for 7 days!! Both Ford and GM offer vehicle to home (V2H) integration for backup power.

2025 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival – Ridin’ & Drivin’

We are family friendly with activities for kids and games for adults and kids.

Interested in EVs?

  • Take an EV for a no strings attached test drive
  • Come see our EV showcase with wide verity of models
  • Talk with the owners who drive these cars everyday
  • Learn how easy it is to own and use an EV

Already Own and EV?

  • Please signup to show off your EV in the EV showcase
  • Help us break last years record of EVs in the showcase
  • Hangout and meet other interesting EV drivers and members of the public
  • Please share this event with your friends and family that own EVs are might be interested
  • E-bikes, One Wheels, any all electric transportation is welcome
  • Goodies for those registered in the EV showcase and raffles.

See more details and register here to attend or to show off your EV!

https://driveelectricmonth.org/event?eventid=5126

Tangled In Blues – 2024 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival

2025 Knoxville Drive Electric Festival – Then and Now: 1958 Ford Sheriff’s Car and 2024 Knoville Police Car

Our Staple Yearly Big Events

Drive Electric Earth Day (DEED) is a national campaign to share information about electric vehicles throughout the month of April. In addition to being better for the environment, electric vehicles are more fun to drive, more convenient to fuel and less expensive to operate than gasoline vehicles. Attend an online event to experience driving electric!

National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) is a nationwide celebration to raise awareness of the many benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more.  Hundreds of events are held each year, with many in-person events offering the opportunity to talk with EV owners, and to ride in or drive a variety of EVs.  NDEW usually takes place in late September, check the website for current dates.  Nationally, NDEW is sponsored by Plug In America, Nissan, and the Electric Auto Association.

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