I know from experience that getting sponsors for EV events is tough. (Oh man, do I know it. Trying to do everything on a $0 budget gets wearisome). The obvious choices - the companies selling the cars and equipment - are not dropping dollars like in a lot of other industries. Some random thoughts:
- most automakers don't want to make the cars (and in fact they hope slow sales will help them argue against rules that make them build the cars) and so won't spend on marketing; the few that do want to make the cars are generally struggling and don't have the money for marketing. Tesla is just starting to not struggle, but they are also not yet in great need of more demand, and would rather put their limited time and money towards getting S production and service stable and getting started on the X. I would guess they should be interested in something like this in the future, but they may well not be there yet. I actually think Nissan has a lot to gain here - they have made a huge investment in EVs, there is very little cross-shopping between the Leaf and the S, most new buyers are highly influenced by recommendations from existing owners, many people can't afford the S, many first-EV families want a second, and at this point the faster the market grows the better for all of the participants. I think it would be wise for Nissan to sponsor this type of event as the good-will from Tesla owners talking to prospective buyers would help sell Leafs. But I doubt the marketers at Nissan see it that way; they are focused on commodity differentiation and brand management as they've always done with gas cars (even as they recognize that the Leaf is by far their best conquest vehicle AND has their highest satisfaction ratings - take a hint guys, selling this thing is different!)
- EVSE makers are generally a great fit and interested in promoting the market, but they are all really struggling now, and a Tesla event is probably the worst fit for them as Tesla makes their own inexpensive L2 and free DC chargers
- Utilities are starting to realize that EVs are in their best interests; but they are generally huge companies with a lot of rules and regulations and they are not used to doing this sort of marketing - I think they will get there eventually, but not really fast. If anybody has a contact at a big utility in CA this would be worth trying, but I doubt they would move fast enough
- You would think big environmental and health organizations would be all over the EV movement as it's one of the most effective ways to counter air pollution, groundwater pollution and GHG emissions - but when you talk about non-profit support for people buying expensive cars, most of them just look at you cross-eyed and say that's not what they do. Some day they will realize it is in their own best interest (some are making visible progress), but that will take them a while too as it's so different than the approaches they've generally taken in the past
- CA has AQMDs that do have money to spend on air-quality issues...but they are divided in to strict territories (kind of odd given the qualities of air pollution) so you'd only have one to approach, and they are obviously more interested in events that sell new EVs, rather than events for existing owners; I don't think Teslive would fit in with their mission
So rather than the direct industry players, perhaps the aftermarket makes more sense. The problem there is that the cars are new enough that there aren't big industries set up around that; in fact there just aren't that many aftermarket products. A lot of the stuff that is out there (wheels, wraps, hitches, etc) is heavy on installation, so it tends to be more of a local service org than a large national marketer. I think that companies selling aftermarket items on these forums - like Al & Eds, or Torklift - would love to participate and have a booth, but I doubt it makes sense for them to be a major sponsor (not that I know enough about the balance sheets of the companies or of Teslive expenses to really say). Same for the really small guys pitching stuff here - OVMS, mesh tops, J1772 adapters, consoles, etc. There are a couple of things that are from larger established companies that don't need a lot of installation - like Lloyd's or WeatherTech. I'm not sure margins and market size are enough to interest them, but if anybody has contacts it would be great to ask.
So as dsm notes, perhaps a large company that simply wants the brand association is the best way to go. Most people guess that environmentalism drives EV buyers, but frankly from surveys I've seen that's a minor driver (there are probably more environmentalists involved in the "movement"; but I don't think many individual environmentalists are buying cars). I think the biggest single driver overall - and especially for Tesla buyers - is the technology. And the Bay area is full of large technology companies. The ones doing consumer marketing are probably the most interesting - Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. I think Google has many ways to emphasize connections between the two brands, has shown some serious support for EVs (Plug In America's first grant back in ~2007 was a generous one from Google; I think they have the largest corporate charging network, and they will one of the first site hosts for Plug In America's "Plug In At Work" campaign), AND there is already a relationship between the company CEOs. I don't know anybody in Google marketing; but if I was trying to find support for Teslive, I'd sure try to get in there.
