A SoCal EV cars and coffee that also doubles as a food drive — that’s exactly the kind of thing this community does right.

SoCal Tesla Club and SoCal EVs put this one together in Lake Forest, and the turnout was solid. Cybertrucks, Rivians, a Lucid, a couple of Mach-Es, a pink Juniper, and yes — one very clean Prius holding its own in the mix. I showed up with a bag of canned food, pasta, and pretzels for the Long Beach State University Beach Pantry donation, dropped it off, and spent the rest of the morning walking the lot and catching up with people. This is what the SoCal EV community actually looks like on a weekend.

What stood out

  • Food drive for Long Beach State’s Beach Pantry — community showing up before Thanksgiving
  • Zach’s Model 3 with 250,000+ miles, freshly wrapped in green — still going strong
  • Eric’s Rivian R1T Gen 2 Tri Motor running a Kuat bike rack — didn’t know Kuat made Rivian gear
  • Tesla Lake Forest on-site doing test drives — Model S Plaid, Model X, Cybertruck, Juniper
  • EV Confessions episode with Richard aka Tesla Flick — coming soon
Unique iridescent car and several Teslas, including a white Model Y, parked in a sunny lot.

Wide shot of the Lake Forest cars and coffee lot — EVs lined up including Cybertrucks, Rivians, and Teslas. Morning light, outdoor setting, community event feel.

The food drive made this one different

Most cars and coffee events are purely social — show up, walk around, talk cars. This one had a purpose layered on top of that. The donation box for Long Beach State’s Beach Pantry was right there in the lot. You brought a bag, you dropped it off, and then you went and looked at cars. Simple. It didn’t feel forced or performative — it was just something the community decided to do before Thanksgiving and people showed up for it.

That’s the part of the SoCal EV community that doesn’t always make it into videos. These aren’t just car people. They’re the same folks who show up to Zero Emissions Runs, do toy drives, and turn a parking lot meetup into something that actually helps someone. If you want to see what that looks like on the road, the Zero Emissions Run 2025 recap is here.

Cars worth stopping at

Zach’s 250,000-mile Model 3

This one stopped me. Zach’s Model 3 has over 250,000 miles on it — the most miles of any Tesla I personally know. And it’s not sitting in a garage. It showed up to a cars and coffee event, freshly wrapped in green, looking clean. It was wrapped black before. The fact that this car is still out here, still getting wrapped and attended and driven, says something real about long-term EV ownership that no spec sheet can tell you.

Eric’s Rivian R1T Gen 2 Tri Motor with a Kuat rack

Eric’s Gen 2 R1T tri motor was in the lot with a Kuat bike rack mounted up. I genuinely didn’t know Kuat made accessories for Rivian — I went to SEMA and somehow missed that whole section. The rack looked clean and purpose-built, not like an afterthought. If you’re running a Rivian R1T and want to add a bike setup, apparently Kuat has you covered. Filed that one away.

The pink Juniper

Pink Model Y Juniper with wind splitters and HaloBlk covers. It worked. These Junipers are becoming a canvas — every one I see at a meetup has something different going on with it. Mine’s wrapped too, so I get it.

Bestie’s Model 3 — white underneath

Bestie had her wrap removed and I had no idea the car was white underneath. She’s got sparkle wheels that didn’t show up on camera the way I wanted them to, but in person they caught the light in a way that made me stop and look twice. Small detail but the kind of thing you only notice at a meetup when you’re actually walking around the car.

A red off-road Tesla Model Y with a roof rack parked next to a dark sporty Tesla Model 3.

Close-up of standout vehicles at the meetup — Zach’s green-wrapped Model 3, Eric’s R1T Gen 2 with Kuat bike rack, or the pink Juniper with HaloBlk covers. Detail shots preferred over wide lot shots.

Tesla Lake Forest showed up too

Tesla Lake Forest brought out a Model S Plaid, a Model X Long Range, a Juniper, and a Cybertruck for demo drives right there in the lot. Having the dealer on-site at a community meetup is a smart move — if someone’s been on the fence about a test drive, they’re not going to find a better environment than a parking lot full of EV owners who can answer every question they have. Real owners are a better sales tool than any showroom.

EV Confessions: Richard aka Tesla Flick

I filmed an EV Confessions episode with Richard — Tesla Flick — at this event. That video is coming separately, so keep an eye out for it. EV Confessions is one of my favorite formats because you get the real story: why someone bought their car, what surprised them, what they’d do differently. Richard has some opinions worth hearing. If you haven’t seen the EV Confessions series yet, start with the GTR owner who switched to Tesla — that one’s a good entry point.

The SoCal EV cars and coffee scene keeps growing. Lake Forest, Long Beach, Fontana — these events are happening constantly and the cars keep getting more interesting. If you came out to this one, drop your name in the comments. And if you spotted your car in the video, say what’s up.

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