After decades of starts and stops, slow progress is finally being established toward making mass produced electric vehicles (EVs) a reality, according to Chelsea Sexton, an electric vehicle industry advocate and advisor.
Speaking during the Wednesday keynote session at the Battery Show in Novi, Mich., Sexton, who was active in General Motors’ now-defunct EV-1 program two decades ago, says EVs are now finally starting to catch momentum like a snowball gathering speed. However, she cites several factors still impeding progress, such as consumer awareness, infrastructure issues, and the scarcity of available products.
“Most Americans (still) do not know much about electric cars,” Sexton told a packed audience. “Marketing efforts have been spotty.”
Recounting her experience in the EV-1 program, which was conceived as a “soup-to-nuts” program to bring EVs to market 20 years ago, Sexton attributed the program’s demise to the a lack of support from General Motors’ executive leadership, which she and others claim engaged in self-sabotage to kill off an unprofitable program. Sexton showed a slide of many of the cars, which were available only through a leasing program, being crushed as General Motors did not want to supply replacement parts.
Sexton, who left General Motors at the end of 2001, has since then participated in a number of efforts to promote the development of clean-air vehicles. She is probably best known for participating in the 2006 documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car?.
Sexton recalls that General Motors never tried to create a buzz around the EV-1 program, unlike the Saturn car that was introduced around 1990 and was heavily promoted as part of a unique car buying and ownership experience until the car met its demise earlier in this decade.
Electric vehicle supplier Tesla has heavily marketed its vehicles since being formed several years ago, according to Sexton. She notes that the EV maker has tried to provide a more hassle-free ownership experience with online vehicle software updates and online ordering. She says those efforts are missing from manufacturers of EVs. In addition, after-sales support, such as educating drivers on charging, is lagging.
Although automakers such as Ford, VW, and Toyota have announced major efforts to develop EVs, those vehicles are several years away. Meanwhile, Sexton and other industry experts note that automakers not only have limited lines of EVs but do not make an extra effort to sell existing vehicles, such as do the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.
“Dealers are not promoting these vehicles properly,” Sexton says. Citing user frustrations, she adds, “Drivers do not know the difference between vehicle chargers, they do not know which ones to use. We are not concerned or obsessed with the driver experience.”
