A Modest Parade With a Major Message: Plug In, America
By John O'Dell January 18, 2009Parade of EVs, Plug-in Hybrids Draws Several Hundred Spectators and 74 Vehicles
By Danny King, Contributor
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. - Though a substantially smaller crowd than the 1 million to 2 million people expected to line the streets of Washington D.C. Tuesday to witness the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, about 200 people turned out on a sunny Saturday in this seaside city to view a collection of 74 plug-in electric vehicles parade past in a silent show of force.
Organizers said the parade, which they called "Inaugural Parade West: Plug In, America!" was held to demonstrate the reality of electric transportation and to encourage the incoming Obama administration to promote production of vehicles that get their fuel by plugging into the power grid instead of the petrol pump.
The plug-in parade, led by independent film producer and director Chris Paine, whose 2006 Who Killed the Electric Car? help reignite public interest in EVs, included vehicles ranging from Tesla Roadsters to a converted school bus.
"Car companies were rolling these [electric] cars out as a centerpiece of the Detroit auto show" last week, said Paine, whose film blasted General Motors for discontinuing its battery-electric EV1 that year.
"If that's not revenge, I don't know what is," Paine said in dual reference to the industry's reborn interest in electric vehicles and to his upcoming follow-up to Who Killed, to be titled Revenge of the Electric Car.
While President-elect Obama has called for 1 million new electric plug-in cars by 2015, the goals of parade organizer Plug In America are loftier.
(A list of the vehicles in the parade follows the jump.)
The grassroots lobbying and public information group wants automakers to churn out10 million plug-ins by 2016, a tally that, members say, would include plug-in hybrids that would still use gasoline or diesel engines, and purely electric cars such as the Tesla or the prototype Smart and Mini Evs being tested in limited numbers.
Absent from Saturday's parade were entries by any major automaker -- although a prototype Ford Escape plug-in hybrid and a Mitsubishi iMiEV electric car were brought in by Southern California Edison Co., which is testing the vehicles for the automakers.
But the event still managed to draw twice the number of vehicles organizers had hoped for when they began promoting the event just two weeks ago.
It also attracted a crowd of enthusiastic onlookers who lined portions of Santa Monica's Main Street to cheer the enthusiasts driving their vehicles along the route.
"It just proves the time is now," said Plug In America member Zan Dubin Scott, one of the event organizers.
Many spectators seemed to think so, too.
"I love the idea of electric cars and independence from oil," said parade attendee Kim Glann, a stay-at-home mother from Culver City, California.
She said that instead of buying a newer conventional car now, she intends to keep her 2001 Toyota Corolla until plug-in electric vehicles become more commonplace. "It has good mileage, I'm holding out."
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Parade Participants:
40 Toyota RAV4 EVs
4 Tesla roadsters
1 Solectria EV
1 Balqon 50-ton truck
1 eBox by AC Propulsion
1 PHEV school bus by IC Enova
1 PHEV Dodge Sprinter Van
3 Zero Motorcycles
1 Brammo
1 prototype plug-in Ford Escape hybrid
1 prototype Mitsubishi iMiEV electric city car
2 Phoenix electric sport utility trucks.
1 SolarCity SolarTaco (only gas car, affixed with solar panels)
2 Vectrix electric scooters
2 Chevy S-10 EVs
3 plug-in Prius conversions
1 Jeep EV conversion
2 Porsche EV conversions
1 VW Jetta EV conversionby
1 Ford Escort EV conversion
1 Hummer H2 electric conversion
1 Miata EV conversion
1 Geo Metro EV conversion
1 Suzuki EV conversion
(List provided by Plug In America)
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"to his upcoming follow-up to "Who Killed," to be titled "Revenge of the Electric Car.""
That's funny. Every electric car built so far has been a failure due to a design not yet ready for the market.
Yet some people insist on blaming the world for it (or the MAN).
While interesting, not one of these cars would be considered acceptable if it weren't under the warm fuzzy glow of being electric.
There's no conspiracy here. When an adaquate battery is developed then electric cars will become common.
"I love the idea of electric cars and independence from oil," said parade attendee Kim Glann, a stay-at-home mother from Culver City, Calif.
Anyone who believes that $40000 "Chevy Dolts" or $100000 Telsa vehicles are going to penetrate the market in sufficient numbers to achieve "independence from oil" is smoking crack.
All of the fad fixes combined i.e. hybrids - biodiesel - ethanol - plugins - natural gas - etc won't eliminate 30% of oil usage period. The electric vehicles in particular will however increase the amount of coal America burns.
What a bunch of fantasy and folly the average American is being sold about electric vehicles.
I think the parade's turnout is an indicator of future sales.
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