Festival highlights plug-in vehicles, electric safety

Great River Energy, along with its member-owner cooperatives Cooperative Light & Power (CLP) and Lake Country Power (LCP), recently partnered with Minnesota Power for the second annual Electric Avenue at the Lake Superior Harvest Festival held at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth, Minnesota.

Approximately 8,000 festival attendees had the opportunity to see a wide variety of electric transportation options procured through electric vehicle (EV) owners, manufacturers and local dealerships.

EVs on display included the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1S, Porsche Taycan, Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Subaru Soltara. In addition, attendees were able to see a variety of e-bikes as well as a Workhorse W56 electric delivery van, an Altec hybrid electric bucket truck and Polaris Kinetic side-by-side UTV.

“As electric transportation adoption continues to grow across Minnesota it is important to keep consumers aware of all the new vehicles and options available to them,” said Rodney De Fouw, member strategist at Great River Energy. “Partnering with other co-ops and utilities to showcase a wide variety of options to the people who live and work in the greater Duluth area communities has been a great opportunity for us.”

In addition to EV education, families stopped by a new addition to the Harvest Festival: A safety booth, powered by the Ford F-150 Lightning, where they met with representatives from CLP and LCP to learn important safety tips.

Children heard about the different hazards inside and outside the home, and how to stay safe. They also learned about the type of equipment lineworkers are required to wear to do their jobs safely.

“The Harvest Festival was a busy venue to engage with young families and children about electric vehicles and their local electric cooperative while teaching important safety lessons they should remember for a lifetime,” said Tami Zaun, public relations coordinator at LCP. “We brought along several props like rubber gloves, underground cable, aluminum lines, a hard hat and tools to show the kids some of the essentials used by lineworkers. It was a fun, educational day.”