Next Sunday, October 16--nine days from today--cities around the U.S. will host special events to promote and educate the public and potential buyers about new zero-emission plug-in vehicles, and how they actually work in real-life daily driving.

"National Plug-In Car Day," as it's called, is staged by the Sierra Club, which teamed up with Plug-In America and the Electric Auto Association to bring more visibility to the growing number of choices among electric-powered cars. 

Santa Monica, California, hopes to set a new world record for an electric vehicle gathering, with a target of more than 200 cars and owners in a single location.

Other venues like Washington, D.C., and Detroit will focus on ride and drive opportunities and letting attendees look at both production electric vehicles and conversions of existing gasoline cars.

In southern California, Orange Country will have a theme of “tailgate without tailpipes,” a format that will also appear Portland, Oregon; Knoxville, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; and New York City.

Toyota Prius Plug-In

Toyota Prius Plug-In

Tucson, Arizona, will stage a parade of electric vehicles, and then a show-and-tell afternoon with speakers who will provide some real-world experience for attendees.

Davis, California, will stage the National Plug-In Car Day events for the Greater Sacramento region, as this weekend was fortuitously the weekend of the “Cool Davis Festival” which promotes low-carbon, green living, activities. 

A week from today, on Friday, October 14, Davis will host a parade of electric vehicles through the town center--known as "Cruise Davis EV"--followed by a special electric vehicle display and driver docents on the Sunday afternoon when the rest of the nation hosts its events.

The 2012 Nissan Leaf, 2012 Chevrolet Volt, and a variety of Tesla Roadsters will likely be seen in many of the hosting cities. In a few other cities, visitors may see the 2012 Smart Electric Drive, the soon-to-arrive 2012 Mitsubishi 'i' minicar, and perhaps even a 2012 Coda Sedan or two.

In many California cities, a few first-generation Toyota RAV4 EV production models will show up, along with creative conversions of gasoline cars. There is some chance that in southern California, there may even be a 2012 Fisker Karma allowed on the road by then.

And some of the few hundred prototype Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid test vehicles may appear too, although the production version won't go on sale until next spring.

Across the country, from the capitol in Washington, D.C., to Santa Monica, California, hard on the Pacific Ocean, 14 sites will host events to bring the public more information about plug-in electric vehicles.

Check out the latest details of locations, events, and opportunities to participate at Plug In America.

+++++++++++

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.