Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Star Talk" co-host interviews Ambler man

Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Star Talk" co-host Chuck Nice interviewed Ambler's own “Zero Emission Musician” Rick Denzien for a debut podcast called "Electric Generation" in a special "Electrifying the Road Trip" episode. Link to podcast: https://electric-generation-sponsored-by-ford.simplecast.com/episodes/electrifying-the-road-trip

A world record set for the longest music tour in an electric vehicle caught the attention of ‘Electric Generation’ podcast producers sponsored by Ford. An initial pre-interview revealed that Denzien’s father was a retired line worker for the Ford Motor Company; and that both his parents were amateur race car drivers. https://thedriven.io/2019/02/20/zero-emissions-musicians-take-a-tesla-model-3-ev-on-tour/

"I'm glad to be part of a team that is helping to build a nonpolluting, renewable energy future,” said electric car advocate and climate activist Denzien, who has personally taken 5,081 people for rides in his electric vehicles since 2013, with over 300 of them having purchased EVs – a track record that rivals the best traditional car sales departments.

Denzien has also organized National Drive Electric Week Electric Car Shows in Ambler since 2015. The car show in 2021 called DriveTheFutureEV.com, was well attended with 106 electric vehicles participating, representing 22 different EV models, with two Ford Mustang Mach EVs being a highlight of the show, according to Denzien. “This was the most successful EV car show event ever in Ambler,” said Denzien. Over 600 people attended, with 120 electric vehicle test ‘Ride & Drives' given by EV owners participating in the event. The show was held at Weavers and Ambler Beverage Exchange parking lots, also co-sponsors of the event.

Denzien was a key player in getting EV destination chargers installed at both The Ambler Beverage Exchange and Weavers Way with the help of Dennis Rowan Energy Integration. Congressperson Madeline Dean attended the 2021 DriveTheFuture.com event to dedicate the chargers. “While at the show, she took a complete tour of all the EV models on display and committed to getting her first electric vehicle,” said Denzien.

A Climate Reality Mentor, trained by former Vice President Al Gore in 2020, Denzien is knowledgeable about the path to driving electric, and also the obstacles that prevent a smooth and quick transition to clean energy transportation, despite the demand of consumers and desire of the general public.

“We are now at the moment when climate change devastation meets one of the major technologies that can help solve it,” he points out.

Every gallon of gasoline burned by any internal combustion engine like a car puts 20 pounds of climate and health changing pollution into our air. By 2030 there will be 2 billion+ cars on the road; this creates an increasing problem for people. The warming climate is already raising sea levels, increasing the intensity along with frequency of severe storms, and will cost untold lives and trillions of dollars. “Society can no longer afford to dump pollution into the air like it was an open sewer, just to make profit for a few,” he said. As it turns out, much of that tech to solve this crisis was inspired by EV industry leader Tesla.

“Tesla has, for many years, been freely giving away its top secrets to legacy automakers in the singular hope of propelling the EV revolution forward. But, the hyperactive PR, from many legacy automaker’s, seems designed to keep stock prices high while giving the public a mistaken impression that EVs are ready to be delivered. Instead, mass media is continually flooded with Internal Combustion Engine Car advertisements,” he explains. “It’s a case of greenwashing, but even so, the conversation is more than started – Henry Ford’s wife Clara Jane would be proud. She drove an electric vehicle in the early 1900’s,” he points out.

He explains further those lessons taught in the 1970’s, when Japanese automakers effectively killed Detroit, are now mostly unheeded. “Back then, things got so bad, the Big Three automakers needed to be saved by government bailouts. And GM needed to be saved again in the 2000’s, a scenario that is about to repeat itself in the 2020s.”

The former EV-1 maker (1996), GM, fell hard for short term profits hurting people and the planet. There was suspicion that GM used its EV-1 to increase its fleets’ MPG average to meet upcoming California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements. The filmmakers of the 2006 award winning documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car,” "revealed this uncomfortable possibility," says Denzien. (The film featured Martin Sheen, Tom Hanks, Ed Begley Jr.) legacy automaker’s joint lobbying efforts got the CARB law changed, lowering standards. GM recalled all its EV-1 cars, towed them and had them crushed against the protests of the majority of their lease holders (2003). GM’s EV-1 program was scrapped and a new generation of gas guzzlers came to market resulting in a major, almost 20-year, setback for EV development by traditional United States automakers.

Denzien also points out that, “This past year (2021), GM again recalled all its fully electric vehicles, because of faulty software and excessive battery fires, and now has little hope of making any new deliveries in 2022.” It could be said that GM is #1 worldwide in slowing down rapid EV adoption.

With the stage set, Tesla was founded (2003) to bring about the rapid electrification of the transportation sector. Tesla vehicles are the most made in America car, that happens to be an EV. Tesla’s have the highest safety rating, highest MPGE topping 145 miles per gallon equivalent and are the #1 export for California and is high on the national export list.

In addition, Tesla provides jobs, employing over 90,000 plus tax paying, mostly American workers, and pays millions of dollars in local, state, and federal taxes as well as buying services and parts from thousands of suppliers across the USA including Pennsylvania.

Tesla continues to grow as the EV industry leader, by building a reliable worldwide charge station network, something that every traditional car maker has yet to do, a model for efficiency making it easily possible to travel from Philadelphia to LA which Denzien and partner Debra Lee did in 2019. "With the growing super charger network, 98% efficient electric motors, and home-grown over the air updateable software Tesla is around 15 - 20 years ahead right now," said Denzien

But legacy automaker’s real fear is not from a friend like Tesla, which has partnered with legacy automakers Toyota, Mercedes Benz and others to produce 5-star EV’s for them as early as 2012. “At the DriveTheFutureEV.com show we had a Toyota RAV4-EV from 2014 and a Benz EV from 2013 – All the guts and software were made by Tesla,” said Denzien,

Despite erroneous reports that GM is the foremost leader in EV transportation, this is not the case. Denzien explains that “It's a comical gaffe. Obviously, GM is not the worldwide leader in making EV’s, they are not delivering any new EV cars at all right now. Tesla delivered almost 1 million EVs in 2021 and will probably make over 2 million EVs in 2022. Actually, several companies in China produce more EV’s. But Tesla and China, unlike GM, did not take a 15-year hummer break”.

US legacy automakers are facing intense competition from a dozen, pure EV makers in China whose production is ramped with quality cars ready for volume sales in the US market.

"We saw the first wave of made in China EVs were at our September 2021 EV car show, and they are excellent”, said Denzien, “There is a high quality and wide range of choice. We saw the China-made Volvo XC40 Recharge and 2 of the latest Polestars, also South Korea had great vehicles at the show.”

Ironically, the DriveTheFutureEV.com, an official National Drive Electric Week Event, in Ambler was held on the former site of a Chrysler dealership (where Weavers Way now resides). Denzien speaks to his years of unsuccessful conversations with the dealership asking for an EV offering, starting in 1993 until they finally went out of business.

Ambler has 12 public charge stations, owing to the work of Ambler Borough Manager Mary Aversa and Rowan Energy Integration. There are also many charge stations at the homes of EV owners in the Ambler borough. “EV destination charge stations should be free, after all it is one of the best business attracting guest amenities around”, said Denzien who shares his & her destination chargers at home for free (powered by wind & Solar power) available via the PlugShare.com EV charge network. “If we spend $0 on gas and oil, we can save 85% in the cost of vehicle transportation fuel & service and that puts money back into our pockets, instead of the fossil fuel industry.”

“We are now at the point where Ambler, PA could become the EV capital of the East Coast. We have the EV chargers, many residents have EVs and home chargers and we have a huge EV Auto Show that the public supports,” said Denzien.

Podcast Links:

https://techcrunch.com/sponsor/ford/electric-generation-episode-two-electrifying-the-road-trip/

https://new.podtail.com/podcast/electric-generation/electrifying-the-road-trip/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SohCK0B6A0at5cfWqFF27

https://podcasts.apple.com/sa/podcast/electrifying-the-road-trip/id1588947867?i=1000540580859

https://toppodcast.com/podcast_feeds/electric-generation/

https://RickDenzien.BandCamp.com
https://Patreon.com/zem