Plug In America Plans Jan. 17 'Inaugural Parade West' to Promote EVs, PHEVs
By John O'Dell January 2, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
(Note:Story updated 1/5/09)
Although it applied early for the honor, Plug In America, the support group for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, didn't make the cut when organizers of the Presidential Inaugural Parade were picking participants.
So the organization, whose motto ought to be "never say die" (a good one for backers of battery-electric cars, dontcha think?) , is staging its own, pre-inaugural parade to pull in some publicity for EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
The event, dubbed "Inaugural Parade West: Plug In America," will be staged on Jan. 17 - three days before the real parade honoring the swearing-in of the 44th president - in Santa Monica, reports Zan Dubin Scott, who helped start the advocacy group.
Scott said that the parade so far has booked 32 40 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids for the event, which is scheduled to begin about 9:30 a.m. (at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, in case you are interested in attending, and no, it won't be televised although a clip or two may well show up here and there and the evening news).
Parade "participants" will include Tesla Roadsters, Toyota RAV4 EVs, Vectrix electric motorbikes, Chevy S10 EVs and a variety of Prius plug-in conversions.
The RAV4s and S10s are vehicles that were released by the carmakers in the late 1990s to help comply with California's Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) mandate before it was watered down and automakers' interest in pure electric vehicles turned out to be illusionary.
General Motors Corp., which built the first "mass market" electric vehicle of the modern age with the two-seat EV1 and seems determined to reenter the green car segment in a big way with the Chevrolet Volt plug-in due out at the tend of 2010, have been invited to participate in the parade, but so far hasn't responded, Dubin Scott said.
But the automaker did send the only full-size, drivable model of the Chevy Volt out to the annual AltCar Expo in Santa Monica in early November, so who knows?
As incentive for GM and other automakers with plug-ins and EVs in their future product portfolios to attend, Dubin Scott said, filmmaker Chris Paine, who trashed the auto industry - especially GM - in his film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" will be shooting footage at the parade for his followup, "Revenge of the Electric Car,"
In addition to celebrating the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, parade organizers will use the event to urge automakers and politicians to work together to get EVs and plug-in hybrids on the road.
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