A Sacramento-based nonprofit has just rolled out a $43.5 million national media campaign, aimed at convincing more Americans to buy electric vehicles.
“The heart of our mission is to really drive consumer interest, answer consumer questions, get them in vehicles and drive demand as fast as we can,” said Josh D. Boone, executive director of Veloz, the 501(c)(3) behind the push.
The organization adopted the name Veloz from the Spanish word for fast.
“The goal of the campaign is to help folks get the facts about EVs and save money,” Boone said.
The advertising and promotional blitz will cover multiple media platforms, including television, radio, digital and podcasts — and comes a crucial time for the EV segment of the auto industry.
Earlier this month, legislation on Capitol Hill dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
The sprawling 940-page budget bill includes a provision that will see federal tax incentives for buying an electric vehicle expire on Sept. 30. That means the tax credit of up to $7,500 on a new EV, or $4,000 for a used one, is going away in a matter of months.
Boone said the Veloz campaign was already in the works before the budget bill became law.
“The simple answer is there’s no direct connection,” Boone said. “When Veloz launched nearly nine years ago, our strategy was always to start consumer campaigns in California, build on those successes and then take that work national … But the timing happens to be good because as EV policies are shifting, there’s a real opportunity to drive consumer interest and demand through education.”
The campaign’s $43.5 million in funding comes from Electrify America, an organization founded in the wake of a scandal involving Volkswagen.
The German carmaker got caught cheating on diesel vehicle emission tests in 2015. As part of its settlement agreement, VW created Electrify America, which manages about $2 billion in efforts to build out EV charging infrastructure and promote zero-emission vehicles.
“This is our first national campaign,” Boone of Veloz said, “and we believe it’s the largest nonprofit education and awareness campaign the country’s ever had around EVs.”
California leads the nation in electric vehicle sales, but the rate of adoption has been slowing, even before Trump took back the White House.
In the first quarter of this year, the California Energy Commission reported 100,326 statewide registrations for zero-emission vehicles, which the state defines as all-electric, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. That’s down from 103,018 units sold in the first quarter of 2024.
It also marked the third consecutive quarter in which ZEV sales in the Golden State had declined.
Nationally, Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book team reported sales of new electric vehicles in the second quarter of this year were 6.3% lower than at the same time in 2024.
“Cox Automotive still believes that new EV sales will continue to expand in the U.S., but the growth trajectory has been curbed,” the company said in a news release.
Auto analysts and dealers expect a boost in sales between now and the expiration of the federal tax credits, but it’s an open question what happens afterward.
The sticker price on an electric vehicle often runs higher than gasoline-powered cars and some consumers are reluctant to make the transition to an EV because of “range anxiety” — concerns that the vehicle might conk out on the road before reaching a charging station.
“We feel that the ebbs and flows of sales increases and little bit of decreases, and policy changes — that’s all a natural part of a new technology,” Boone said, adding that the number of public charging stations keeps expanding.
Part of the campaign highlights what Veloz touts as the cost-effectiveness over time of EVs, due to lower fuel and maintenance costs. One such ad is narrated by Nick Offerman, who played the Ron Swanson character in the NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation.”
Here’s the 30-second spot:
“We felt that Nick brings kind of a middle-of-the-country, approachable tone to the campaign,” Boone said. “We’re trying to reach folks that may be from blue states or red states or purple states.”
The Veloz initiative is scheduled to continue into next year. Boone said the campaign is also committed to reaching low-income and disadvantaged communities through multi-lingual media buys.