"Zero Emission Musicians," Take a Swing at Climate Change and Set World Distance Record In All Electric Vehicle "Go Out and Play" Music Tour
Philadelphia area based "Zero Emission Musicians" Rick Denzien and Debra Lee, set a world record as the first ever 100 percent electric vehicle professional cross-country music tour in January, traveling 8,070 miles to California and back, in a 2018 Tesla Model 3. In addition to recording sessions, concerts and workshops, they visited over 50 Tesla Super Chargers in cities across the mid-Atlantic, southern, south-western, and western United States, before returning to Philadelphia, for a final sell-out show at The Living Room at 35 East, a premier listening venue in Ardmore, PA.
AMBLER, Pa., Feb. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Philadelphia area based "Zero Emission Musicians" Rick Denzien and Debra Lee, set a world record as the first ever 100 percent electric vehicle professional cross-country music tour in January, traveling 8,070 miles to California and back, in a 2018 Tesla Model 3. In addition to recording sessions, concerts and workshops, they visited over 50 Tesla Super Chargers in cities across the mid-Atlantic, southern, south-western, and western United States, before returning to Philadelphia, for a final sell-out show at The Living Room at 35 East, a premier listening venue in Ardmore, PA.
Zero Emission Musicians is an activist group dedicated to creating a better world through music and eco-sustainability. Founded by recording artist and EV car enthusiast Rick Denzien, he outfitted the 2018 long range Tesla Model 3 with a single sleeper berth for the cross-country trek, leaving on Christmas morning December 25, 2018.
"We made it to LA in 4 1/2 days, saved $1,000 in gasoline and oil on this trip, compared with an average gas car, and saved about 6,725 pounds of harmful exhaust emission from polluting the atmosphere," said Denzien. "The average cost per charge was $4.60, roughly 80 percent less than to fuel up a gas car. We also stopped at destination chargers that remain free as the latest, coolest guest amenity for EV travelers."
The couple got their first EV, a Nissan Leaf, in 2013, and has been gasoline free ever since. "Debra and I have 120,000 miles of gasless driving on our EV wheels," Denzien said, "and we've stopped at about 700 charge stations all together, including the Tesla Superchargers on this cross-country tour."
"Charging at home is super convenient and local charge stations are very accessible all around the Philadelphia area and easy to find with a PlugShare.com app. We toured regionally with the 2013 Leaf many times, getting 100 plus miles per charge; to the Harrisburg area, the Jersey Shore, Poconos, Delaware, and Ithaca, New York, but this tour beat our previous longest EV tour by over 7,000 miles."
"The $15,000 we've saved in gas over the years was enough to fund most of our 14,000 watt home solar array which powers both EV cars (the Tesla and Nissan LEAF). EVs also cost less in general maintenance than gas cars, as there are approximately 3,000 less moving & ancillary parts."
Since going solar in 2016, they produced 13 million watt hours of electric power. "An 8,070 mile round trip to LA, Sacramento, and back to Philly and DC takes only 1.5 months of our roof top solar to fund," said Denzien. "Plus our music, and Michael G. Ronstadt's music is recorded in our own studio with the power off our own roof."
Zero Emission Musicians also co-sponsor a Philadelphia region family event twice a year in Ambler (Montgomery County), PA, for National Drive Electric Week (NDEW), a nationwide movement that spreads awareness of today's widespread availability and the benefits of plug-in electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more.
https://driveelectricearthday.org/event.php?eventid=1652
The next NDEW event is on Earth Day Weekend, Saturday, April 20, 2019, as part of the http://www.ThriveFest.Us Annual Eco Sustainability Music Festival in Ambler, PA, April 18-20, 2019 held at the Weavers Way / Ambler Beverage Exchange parking lot and area venues like Gypsy Blue. Making an ideal, fun family outing, local electric vehicle [EV] owners showcase their vehicles while songwriters and artists showcase original music.
The NDEW event offers EV "Ride 'N Drives" with EV owners, including other Zero Emission Musicans, and solar & sustainability experts on hand to answer the questions of students, home and business owners, and government officials, on Saturday, April 20 from 1 - 6 PM. Live original music is featured throughout the day and evenings in downtown Ambler venues by artists from throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
Denzien combines passion for music and eco-sustainability at live performances and speaking engagements for schools and colleges, business groups, environmental groups, churches, and private events, sharing his experience and knowledge on EVs, solar installations, and eco-sustainability. He has facilitated workshops teaching EV owners how to build their own charge stations to install for use at home, and has personally taken close to 5,000 people for rides in electric vehicles since 2013.
His mission is to help audiences understand the benefits of sustainable energy, clear up wrong information and objections, sing a couple of songs, and motivate others to transition from gas to Electric Vehicles. "Most people are under the impression that driving all electric isn't affordable or convenient. I'm living proof that it is," says Denzien.
"EVs cost roughly 80 percent less to operate than ICE or Internal Combustion Engine or gas vehicles. Lower income people pay a higher percentage of their income for ICE transportation as the cost of gas represents a regressive tax," he said.
"Many working people who own gas cars, musicians and touring artists included, pay up to 90 percent of their income on gas. Driving all electric keeps money in their pockets. There are many pre-owned EV's from $5,000 - 12,000 that look and drive like brand new. Third party companies are now making replacement batteries that put any older EV back in better than factory range condition and the old batteries are then re-purposed as new stationary solar power storage getting rid of dirty gas power generators."
Along with cost savings, driving 100 percent electric has a direct benefit to the health of people and the planet's life sustaining environment. "Outside of agriculture and diet, transportation is currently the single largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that have contributed to the climate change crisis. Burning fossil fuel for transportation is probably the most wasteful and inefficient way to move a vehicle down the road, through the sky or on the rails, yet the money interest keeps people in the dark and cares nothing for the negative externalities they create for peoples' health and the health of a livable planet," said Denzien.
"We are killing each other in not so slow motion with ICE exhaust; it has become a moral issue for us, our way to follow the Golden Rule," said Denzien. "To us, it is mind numbing how local, state and federal governments around the world are almost completely ineffectual at dealing with the climate change crisis – or deny it outright. We're just doing our best to do our part, and hopefully inspire others to do the same."
For more information on National Drive Electric week, visit https://driveelectricearthday.org/event.php?eventid=1652
Itunes Album Link: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1264054886
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Play-Abbey-Road-Edit/dp/B0747WRQDN/ref=cm_sw_em_r_d_dp_da_aw7Dzb83SWQM2_lm
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/album?id=Byeae7bnb7sa6qmu4xknmc7w2zm
SOURCE Rick Denzien
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