January 25, 2025, DRIVE Electric Arizona, a nonprofit electric vehicle education and advocacy organization, conducted its first rural electric vehicle Ride & Drive event in Cave Creek, Arizona, a town of about 5,100 people in Maricopa County.

Hosted by the Desert Foothills Library, the event provided attendees with an opportunity to talk to owners of 15 different EV models and drive 10 of them. The ride and drive was prefaced by an educational presentation and discussion at the library on Thursday afternooon, before the event, to spur interest and engage library goers about EVs.

Vehicles present included Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+, BMW i4, Tesla Model X, Rivian R1T, Rivian R1S, Lucid Air, GMC Hummer EV, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford F-150 Lightning EV, Chevrolet Bolt, Chevrolet Bolt EUV, Cadillac Lyriq, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and Nissan Ariya, providing an impressive 90 drives in the 4-hour event without the pressure of a selling environment.

The morning of the ride and drive, EV owners and volunteers enjoyed a great breakfast together at Local Jonny’s in Cave Creek, just a couple of minutes away.

Photo Credit: Suzanne Martinson & Shaun Barnette