Star Tribune
Electric-car-sharing program owned by Minneapolis and St. Paul hits major milestone
Evie, the Twin Cities car-sharing program featuring all-electric vehicles, hit a major milestone last month when the service recorded its 150,000th trip.
The first cars hit the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis in February 2022. After a slow start, usage has accelerated rapidly. In the past three months, members collectively made nearly 50,000 trips, including 14,000 in October, which set a monthly record.
“It’s exciting,” said Will Schroeer with East Metro Strong, a nonprofit that advocates for better transportation options on the east side of the Twin Cities. “Word is getting out. People are finding the service is useful.”
Evie is the nation’s first 100% renewably powered and municipally owned car-share service in the country. Minneapolis and St. Paul together own Evie, which is operated by Hourcar and came into existence with funding partners that included the Met Council, the U.S. Department of Energy and private philanthropy.
Evie has grown to a fleet of 170 Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt cars and a network of charging stations across a 35-square-mile area stretching from neighborhoods in north Minneapolis to downtown and east through St. Paul’s Midway area and areas adjacent to the State Capitol.
The service area is expected to grow even larger with cars to be available at four stations along the Gold Line, the new bus rapid transit line that starting in 2025 will run from downtown St. Paul to the suburbs of Maplewood, Oakdale and Woodbury.
With fees charged by the minute, hour or day, Evie is filling a transportation void for those who don’t or can’t afford to own a car, but need to get to places not served by traditional public transportation or need to travel when buses and trains are not running, Schroeer said.
Nearly 40% of trips have been taken by people of color and those who qualify as low-income. They have used the cars to get to jobs and medical appointments and make runs to Target.
“The beauty is it can meet a variety of needs,” Schroeer said. “We are serving people who really need this service.”
Cars can be picked up at and returned to a legal parking spot anywhere within the service zone. But vehicles can be driven anywhere, which has allowed some users to visit state parks and go camping near Duluth, Schroeer said.
The electric-car-sharing program fits with both cities’ efforts to fight against climate change. Since Evie’s inception, users have logged more than 1.5 million zero-emission miles, officials said.
“By embracing electric vehicles, Minneapolis is improving mobility options for residents, reducing emissions, and leading the way toward a greener, smarter, and more sustainable future for generations to come,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.
There were about 41,400 electric vehicles on Minnesota roads as of July, according to MnDOT.
“Don’t be shy about trying them,” Schroeer said. “People find the cars are easy to drive and figure out.”
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
