EV Interest Group Is Worried: Will You Plug In?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Did you know that there’s an Electric Drive Transportation Association? It’s a group that wants you to ditch your ICE-powered car and run on battery instead. Their member list is huge. Just about every important automaker is on it. Utility companies from Austin Energy all the way to the Tennessee Valley Authority are members. Battery manufacturers, component suppliers, infrastructure developers are members. The City of New York is. Hertz is. And if things get dicey, the association can call upon their member L-3 Communications-Combat Propulsion Systems to provide fire support.

But as big as they are, they are scared. They are worried that customers may not plug in. Or, as Reuters put it, they are concerned that “the ‘range anxiety’ drivers of plug-in electric cars may suffer is preceded by anxiety over the wisdom of buying one.” And what do they do to allay these fears? Cheaper cars? Longer lasting batteries? Free charging stations?

None of the above. They started a website. GoElectricDrive.com tells you how to find an EV, how to charge it, and how much you will save. If I had traded in my (I admit it) 14mpg Ford Expedition for an unspecified EV, the website tells me that I would save $22.22 per fill-up. Without asking what car I drive now and which one I will drive in my virtual electric future. Now I’m confused. What fill-up? I thought there won’t be any? And they think my fill-up is 14 gals. My Expedition sucked up 28 gals, and much more out of my pocket.

That calculator is suspect. If they approach the matter in such a lackadaisical manner, then I won’t believe the other stuff either. Like that “public charging stations are planned in major metropolitan areas.” I believe that – duh – “owners of plug-in cars soon get used to driving past the gas station.” But will they feel “good about saving money and the environment?” Maybe.

Range anxiety? Doesn’t exist on the website. But hey, it’s called GoElectricDrive.com – so when your battery runs flat, you still can walk. It’s good for you.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Blobinski Blobinski on Nov 19, 2010

    What do you think will happen to power rates when they have to start building more power plants. The one comment in that Fox article - essentially 'we hope there are more solar powered charging stations, so we don't have to build more power plants.'

  • Tparkit Tparkit on Nov 19, 2010

    Reuters titled their piece, "Electric-car website aims to ease buyers' fears" Truth be told, the EDTA aims their efforts at easing politicians' fears. The EDTA's primary model is the axis of thugs who forced ethanol down our collective throats. To induce Congress and the alphabet agencies to invent yet another such boondoggle, it must first provide political cover by legitimizing in the media the notion of electric cars for ordinary people. Any other sources of EDTA inspiration? Recycling is one. Recycling is hugely cost-inefficient, and outside of aluminum and paper, no manufacturer wants to use collected glass, plastic, etc unless it is heavily subsidized. To make all this go down, the public first had to be bamboozled into thinking that all those streetside containers, special collection trucks, and separation facilities (not to mention the workers who man them) were a Good Thing. This brings us back to electric cars, or more specifically, the cost of infrastructure necessary to support them. Need several thousand dollars worth of electrical work at your home to plug in an EV? Really expensive gear to allow EV owners to sell excess power back into the grid at peak hours? Reserved charging spots at universities, malls, etc? It's all easy as long as the public picks up the tab, and the collective PR machine demonizes anyone who disagrees. How much money would the various levels of government be willing to plow into such a program? Consider the province of Ontario, Canada, where the average cost of power is about 4 cents a kilowatt hour. Despite this, the Ontario government pays producers between 13 and 19 cents for wind power, and between 44 and 71 cents for solar power. Translation: there is no limit to the sums politicans are prepared to spend on a grow-the-government/green agenda -- as long as they think they can get away with it. EXTRA: Wondering who else might be on the team? Here's an example from Terence Corcoran, writing the other day in the National Post: The Canadian Council of Central Planning Executives, otherwise known as the CCCE, yesterday produced Clean Growth 2.0: How Canada can be a Leader in Energy and Environmental Innovation, the second in a series of strategy papers that propose turning Canada into an "environmental superpower" and "an energy and resource powerhouse." The captains of Canadian industry and leaders of our free market economy want a "road map that provides clarity and predictability," with key sectors of the economy -- government, industry, stakeholders -- all pulling in the same direction set by "smart" policy. Such policy would include a national energy strategy, a nationwide carbon tax, subsidized investment in technology, and mass government indoctrination to force lifestyle changes, including programs to "get more people out of their cars and using public transit, car-pooling, cycling and walking."

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    • LimpWristedLiberal LimpWristedLiberal on Nov 19, 2010

      FoW: Everyone is sacrificing. One time I drove my old car along a Forest Service road and ended up crossing a stream. I almost got stuck. Now I don't even own a car. I can't go see a show in the city without renting a car or riding the bus for hours because the last train is at 10:30 PM. So if I bought a car capable of stream crossing, I would be sacrificing urban parking or vice versa. Or I could buy a car and a truck and sacrifice even more money.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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