Get rid of your gas

At the recent EV4 Roadmap conference held November 1 and 2 in Portland, Ore., the most animated discussion wasn’t over the need for more cars or infrastructure, it was over what it will take to get consumers to change their mindset about electric vehicles (EVs) in the first place. 

In his January 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama stated a goal of putting one million electric-powered vehicles on American roads by 2015. “We can break our dependence on oil … and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” President Obama said. 

There’s already a consensus that our nation’s energy security depends upon reducing our addiction to foreign oil. So what will it take to spur mainstream sales? 

George Billino, senior staff project engineer at General Motors, which makes the Chevy Volt, believes that just getting people into the cars is critical. “We’ve distributed them to dealers, not for sale, but simply to get people to test drive them,” he said. “We’ve been working to break consumers of their ‘gas anxiety.’”  

Other efforts, particularly in Portland, Ore., have addressed the chicken or the egg question of refueling convenience with the installation of electric recharging stations, such as Electric Avenue, at Portland State University. There, people can park at a charging station, swipe their credit cards and leave their vehicles to charge. The vision is to have an “Electric Highway” of charging stations accessible along the Interstate 5 corridor between British Columbia and Baja California. 

“I believe that EVs are the next big growth industry,” said Stephan Smith, owner of Smith Creative Group, which has been a key partner in Electric Avenue and EV USA’s branding efforts. “It represents a whole new way of thinking, particularly for those living it the urban core. Expanding electric vehicle use advances what Portland already has in terms of electric mobility using streetcars and light rail. When you read about all the jobs leaving, such as Freightliner, this is where Portland can grow and be identified as a national leader.” 

But the one, overriding sentiment expressed at the EV4 conference is the need for a mind change among consumers. A community can do all the right things to get itself “ready” for EVs by getting vehicles on car lots, installing charging stations and get political backing for financial incentives, but still fall short. Why?  Because EV adoption depends entirely on consumers.