We would like to share some organizational and leadership changes we’re making to the club. As many of you have noticed, it’s been awhile since we’ve held a major, region-wide event. The number of Tesla owners in the Mid-Atlantic region has tripled over the past year, thanks to the award winning Model 3. While this is fantastic for Tesla and the environment, the logistical demands of creating an event for a region as large as the Mid Atlantic, potentially three times the size of our last major event (200+ people, 90 Teslas) has proven to be a daunting task for our volunteer event planning team. In short, we can’t keep up with Team Elon, and that’s a good thing.
Over the past few weeks, the leadership has been discussing how the club needs to evolve to meet the needs of the changing landscape: 3x more owners than the year before; owners preferring to attend smaller, local events that don’t require as large of a time commitment or the use of superchargers to attend; and confusion amongst Tesla owners when club boundaries overlap, or have similar names to non-tesla affiliated groups.
With these preferences and considerations in mind, and in discussion with Tesla, we have decided to split the Mid-Atlantic region into multiple clubs, each with their own leadership. The new clubs are official Tesla Owners Clubs (TOC), are affiliated with Tesla, and share a common set of values, operating processes, and structure. As of this email, three have been established, with a few others in the works.
To respect the privacy of our members, and to honor the commitment we made to you when you provided us with your contact details, we will not be sharing roster information with the new clubs. Instead, we encourage everyone to reach out to the new clubs and register. Please be mindful that while official Tesla Owners Clubs (TOC) may use Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels, that not all clubs on these channels are affiliated with Tesla. You can determine if a club is sanctioned if they use the official Tesla Owners Club logo, similar to the one seen on the top of this web page.
It began in 2012 with a New York Times article, and a small group of like minded individuals who wanted to make a difference. That in turn created @TeslaRoadTrip, which has 55K followers including Elon! Tesla Road Trip went on to incorporate in 2014, and then started doing business as Tesla Mid-Atlantic in 2016. It’s been an amazing ride, and I’m very proud of what we have accomplished together. While socializing amongst ourselves has been fun, I am particularly proud of the public outreach programs, new owner education programs, and our EV advocacy, including testifying before state legislators in Virginia, Maryland, and New York. Our efforts have made a difference. While one door is closing, several others are opening, and under our new leaders I am expecting great things.
Thank you to the original Tesla Road Trip team. Our trips together were a blast, and I am proud to be able to call you friends. Thank you to our founding members who took the leap with us, and to all our members who contributed financially and/or with their time.
Andrew Doane, President
Tesla Owners Mid-Atlantic