Electrify Expo: Setup Day With Empire Custom Wraps

Empire Custom Wraps needed my Cybertruck for demos at Electrify Expo. I’m the only person they know who hasn’t wrapped theirs yet. That’s how I ended up at the Port of Los Angeles on a Saturday morning, handing over my keys so Davey could move the truck around the venue all weekend.

Pre-Dawn Supercharger in Anaheim

We met at the Supercharger off Roosevelt in Anaheim before the convoy headed in. Empire was rolling from Temecula. While I waited, I pulled 73 kW at 22 cents per kilowatt-hour before 8 a.m. That’s the lowest rate I’ve seen in a while. The stalls top out at 72 kW, cabinets are older than the V3 hardware, but there’s a Target and a few other spots close by. Not a bad stop if you’re heading toward San Pedro in the morning.

I charged to 72% and stopped there. The plan was to leave the Cybertruck at the event for the weekend with Sentry Mode running. A lot of foot traffic, a lot of strangers walking by and recording. I ended up leaving it off during the day and running it only at night.

This was my first Electrify Expo. I’d seen it come up every year and never felt pulled to go. What changed it was talking with people at a community pre-party a few weeks before. Everyone kept mentioning the test drive demo program. I picked up a media pass and booked it.

Arriving at the Port

The scale of it is the first thing that hits you. The Electrify Expo footprint at the Port of Los Angeles is big. GMC had a row of Hummers. I spotted a Lucid Gravity almost immediately. Blazer EV was in the Chevy area. Kia was setting up on one side. Empire was getting the Cybertruck into position.

Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of a Dunlop and Falken tire trailer at the Electrify Expo venue at the Port of Los Angeles

A Car I Didn’t Recognize

There was a tent I almost walked past assuming it was Faraday Future. It wasn’t. It was Drako. I’d never heard of them. The Dragon is the one with gull-wing doors and a rear hatch that opens like a trunk lid. Blue paint, yellow calipers, tan leather inside. The second car in the booth was the GTE, a sedan. Both sitting on a checkered display floor under a branded tent. Clean presentation for a brand most people at the event probably also hadn’t seen before.

Community Showing Up

Frank from the Orange County Rivian Club was already there with his Quad R1T. Neil’s F-150 Lightning is worth a mention too. Green with color-matched wheels, e-bike at the back. It reads like a Jurassic Park Jeep. That’s a compliment.

Wil and Marty came through with the Cyberbeast and their Porsche Taycan. HaloBlk had a booth still getting set up when I walked by. Their SEMA Model 3 was out front with the full panel covers on display. I’d already installed some of their pieces on the Juniper, so I was curious what they’d have on the table this weekend. If you haven’t seen their stuff, the HaloBlk upgrades I put on the Model Y cover it well. Their site has the full product lineup.

EV Auto Style was also set up. Son’s Model Y, George’s Model X, and a Cadillac that was all murdered out. Grille, chrome, handles, wheels. All of it blacked.

Cybertruck in the Tent

The tent came up and the truck went in. I gave Davey access so he could reposition it as needed over the weekend. Empire was doing live wrap demos on it. They needed something unwrapped to show the process, and I was the easy option. It sat there the whole weekend as a demo surface.

Tesla Cybertruck parked inside the Empire Custom Wraps tent at Electrify Expo with branded banners on both sides

The rest of the floor was worth walking. The variety in the vendor and display area went beyond EVs. A pair of classic Civics had no business being this clean.

Custom Model Ys, a Lucid Air under the Hankook ION banner, and the Tesla area with a couple of standout builds.

Line of custom Tesla Model Ys including a black one with yellow-green hexagonal wrap and a pink Model Y at Electrify Expo

Dark grey Lucid Air EV displayed under a large Hankook ION banner at Electrify Expo with event staff nearby

Getting Back on Sunday

I didn’t have the Cybertruck Sunday. Empire had it. So I took the Metrolink from Anaheim to Union Station, transferred to the Metro in LA, then grabbed an Uber from Long Beach down to San Pedro. About three hours for roughly 65 miles. It works, it’s just not how you want to spend a Sunday morning.

KobraToldYa picked me up on Saturday when I needed a ride. Butter EV got me Sunday and pulled up in the Hummer SUV. First time I’d been in one. That’s one way to end up in a car you’ve been curious about.

The actual event coverage, day one with the Rivian clubs and the test drive program, is a separate video. This was just the backstage view.