2026 Tesla Model Y RWD and an old Ford truck at a car show. Three Lakes, Wisconsin. August 1, 2026. Fritz Hasler photos. A few weeks ago, CleanTechnica published my Clean Energy Evangelist Report Card. However, 1) I left some things out which I will add here and in a future article. 2) Please see some suggestions on how YOU can be a Clean Energy Evangelist. If you are going to be a clean energy evangelist, you need to: 1) Be knowledgeable on what’s most important, 2) Be knowledgeable on what the advantage and cost differential of each clean energy choice is, 3) Set an example by making as many clean energy choices in your life as possible. Unless you have unlimited funds, you can’t run out and reduce your fossil fuel use to zero immediately. However, when it’s time to junk your old car or if your water heater, furnace, or lawnmower quits on you, that’s the time to seriously consider a clean energy replacement. Hopefully you can eventually switch everything you own to battery electric and heat pump electric, install solar panels on your roof, and install battery storage in your garage. Also, carpool and use public transportation when you can. A real clean energy evangelist will take his EV to car shows (see lead photo) and drives it in parades. I’ve done this for 10 years, but I was more successful in the beginning. At that time, I was able to get friends with EVs to join me. Lately I can’t get friends and family to help and I’m doing it by myself. If you look carefully, in the photo you can see my 100% Electric and 100% Automatic Driving placards on my windows. At the car show this summer, very few people were interested in my brand new 2026 Tesla Model Y. The show was populated with gas motorheads showing off their restored gasmobiles like the old red ford truck you see in the photo. I won’t do this again unless I can find someone with a more unusual EV like a Rivian truck to join me. However, I will still do the 4th of July parade. The most important thing you can do to be a clean energy evangelist is to replace your gas vehicle with a pure battery electric vehicle. Driving a BEV is a visible statement that everyone around you will observe. If there are few EVs in your area, it’s important that people know that an EV is a practical alternative to a gas car. Seeing yours will help accomplish this. Your present gas car burns more fossil-fuel-producing CO2 (than is burned producing the electricity to run your EV that replaces it), emits more lung dangerous sub-micron particles, and produces more sub-micron particles from brake pad wear than anything else you do. A BEV doesn’t burn any fossil fuel while operating, is 90% efficient, and seldom uses its brakes. Everyone knows that my Tesla is a BEV, but when I drove another BEV brand, I had small silver 100% Electric stickers made and I put them on the front and back of the car as you see in the photo below. My 100% eeectric Nissan LEAF and esssbike. Aspen Grove Trailhead, Utah. May 20, 2014. Fritz Hasler photo. sMy Tesla 2026 base Model Y rear wheel drive with mountain ebike. Pine Isle. Medicine Lake. Three Lakes, Wisconsin. August 10, 2026. Fritz Hasler photo.If you are buying a new Tesla base Model Y (see above), you can get a loan now with 1.5% interest (up from 0% thee month months ago when I bought mine) with monthly payments of ~$559. A base Model 3 got 2% interest with payments of $529/month. There is a new long-wheelbase three-row 6 seat Model YL launch edition which just became available for $992/month. With interest rates higher now, these rates are very attractive. All new Teslas have Hardware V4 that can run “Full Self Driving” V14 for $99/month. All new Teslas have an EPA battery range of over 300 miles. Those on a smaller budget can get a used Tesla for much less. A year ago, my son bought a gorgeous 7-year-old Tesla Model 3 Performance (see below) with good range and warrantee still left on the battery for $15,000. One problem with buying a used EV is that most used car lots don’t know how to sell EVs. They don’t know what they have and don’t know how to catigorize them and communicate that information to their customers. They don’t know how much range the EV has left on the battery, whether a Tesla is dual or single motor, Tesla Hardware 2, 3 or 4. or whether it comes with a permanent Full Self Driving subscription. They don’t know if they have one of the golden few Teslas sold between mid 2023 and spring 2026 that come with HW 4 and a permanent FSD V14 subscription. Permanent FSD subscriptions are no longer available. You usually have to go to the lot and get in the car to find out this information. One advantage: Since they don’t know what they’ve got, you could possibly steal a deal. My son’s $15,000 2018 Tesla Model 3 Performance Dual Motor. Lindon, Utah. June 24, 202 All US EV brands can now charge at most (all newer) Tesla Superchargers, and some even have native Tesla sockets that don’t require an adapter. A Chevy Bolt EV starts at $27,600 and comes with a native NACS (Tesla) socket. Buying an ebike is your bookend transportation action. In my case, my ebike substitutes for the second car that my wife and I no longer own. Get an ebike like the one shown above, or better yet, a mountain ebike like the ones shown below. A mountain ebike can drive on gravel if needed and can be driven off the edge of the road in an emergency. It also gives a smoother ride on any kinds of bumps in the road and can drop off and jump curbs if needed. I frequently go on errands on my ebike, especially when my wife is driving our Tesla. I pick up prescriptions, go to the gym, or pick up an item or two at the grocery store. With an ebike, you can make longer trips and climb hills much more easily. If you are not athletically able to ride a two-wheeler, an electric trike or 3-wheel recumbent bike will serve. My brother and I on ebikes. River Trail Trax Station, Salt Lake City, Utah. April 22, 2026. Fritz Hasler photo. One thing I left out of my previous article: Switch out your house to 100% LED light bulbs. Maybe most of you did this long ago, but I keep finding incandescent and fluorescent bulbs that I missed. Several years ago, I switched almost every bulb in my two houses and garage to fluorescents. More recently, when IKEA ran a fabulous special on LED bulbs, I bought 200 60-watt equivalents and threw out all the fluorescents in my Utah house, my Wisconsin house, and my Wisconsin house garage. A fluorescent bulb uses 25% of the energy of an incandescent bulb with the same light output. An LED bulb uses 10% of the energy of an incandescent bulb with the same light output. You get a double bonus here because they save you 90% of the money you used to spend on lighting…. And the LEDs last longer. They are supposed to last 20 years. I’m 86, so, in principle, I should never have to change light bulbs again. This has not been the case in practice. Maybe some of my LEDs may last 20 years, but I have had to change quite a few. When IKEA ran its 60W-equivalent LED sale years ago, I think I paid 50 cents a bulb. Unfortunately, they cost ~$2.50 at IKEA now. However, you can buy 60W-equivalent LEDs online at Amazon for $1.28 each. Saving 90% on electricity, you will pay back the installation cost very quickly, and with longer-life LEDs, this is a monetary and convenience win, win, win over time. Recently, I found a hidden 2-ft fluorescent tube bulb in a closet that had burned out. When I went to replace it, I discovered ACE Hardware no longer stocks fluorescent tube bulbs, so I came home with an LED. I will discuss some other items in another article, e.g.: Switch your fossil gas or resistance electric water heater to a heat pump water heater. Switch your fossil gas furnace or resistance electric heating to heat pump heating. If you find any of my articles helpful to you, please use my referral link when buying a new Tesla: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (Be sure to use it when you make your order). Tesla keeps changing the program, but here’s the latest: If you are buying a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you will get two months of free Full Self Driving (a ~$200 value) on top of the one month that comes free with every new Model Y right now. This will get you a total of 3 months free Full Self Driving. It will be $99/month after that. For a Cybertruck, you will get $1000 off your purchase price. At this moment, Tesla is offering a year of free Supercharging with the purchase of a new Model 3 Premium or Performance.