Automakers Hope Consumers Pick From Growing EV Field

LOS ANGELES – Automakers long have argued electrified vehicles haven’t caught on with the public because of a lack of variety, but lately they’ve been seeing the green light, experts say.

“I have seen a strategic change with auto manufacturers to embrace the new vehicles in a way that suggests to me that there is no turning back,” Sandra Berg, vice chair of California’s Air Resources Board, tells WardsAuto at the recent Los Angeles auto show. “They are committed.”

Los Angeles was an ideal backdrop for showing off green vehicles. California’s strict zero-emissions-vehicle mandate requires a sharp reduction of greenhouse gases. To help achieve this, California requires large- and medium-volume automakers to bring a certain number of ZEVs to the state.

ZEVs include battery-electric, plug-in hybrid-electric and hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles. While EVs and PHEVs were vastly outnumbered by vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines, the variety of models reflected automakers’ efforts to grow consumer demand while meeting the state’s ZEV requirements.

“The number one problem is a lack of product,” Chelsea Sexton, an EV-industry writer and advocate, told alternative-fuel-vehicle industry professionals and journalists at the CalETC Power Lunch held on the show’s opening day.

CalETC is the California Electric Transportation Coalition, a nonprofit association that promotes electric transportation.

There were 21 plug-in electric vehicles on display, according to show organizers. They included a PHEV minivan and luxury electrified models.

At the high end, Mercedes-Benz had C- and E-Class PHEV sedans up front and center at its display. BMW offered all-electric versions of its 3- and 7-Series sedans.  Jaguar showed its i-Pace concept, an all-electric SUV.

Growing demand for Tesla EVs has made luxury automakers sit up and take notice, says Ed Kim, vice president-industry analysis at consultancy AutoPacific.

“We are looking at the wave of high-performance EVs coming from luxury automakers –vehicles that people are really going to lust after,” he says. “They will represent the ultimate in auto technology and design.”

On the mass-market side, the Chevrolet Bolt was the one of the most significant EVs on display, both for consumers and General Motors. With a claimed 238-mile (383-km) range and priced at under $37,000 before federal incentives, the Bolt “will be as important for Chevrolet as the Corvette and Camaro,” Shad Balch, West Coast manager-new product and public policy for GM, told the CalETC luncheon crowd.

Volkswagen introduced an e-Golf with an electric range of 124 miles (200 km), up from the current models’s 83 miles (134 km). It is the tip of the electric iceberg for VW, which has some 30 electric vehicle launches planned. The automaker aims to sell 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2025.

Even Chrysler, not a leader in electrification, jumped on the electric bandwagon at the LA show, presenting a PHEV version of its new Pacifica minivan. With a price point of about $35,000 after federal and state incentives for a fully loaded model, it is priced to move metal, says Kim.

That doesn’t mean marketing the Bolt, or other EVs, is easy. GM aims to leverage the enthusiasm and knowledge of its early adopters to bring more consumers into the EV fold. The conversation needs to focus on the cars’ performance aspects, Balch says.

“We have to talk about EVs the way we do other cars,” he says.

To be sure, EV sales haven’t grown as quickly as many expected and hoped, says Shannon Baker-Branstetter, energy and environmental counsel for Consumers Union, a Washington-based advocacy group.

There is both an information gap and a perception gap, she says, but adds, “The reality is (the market for EVs) is growing slowly, and that’s okay.”

Global regulatory demands mean automakers will launch growing numbers of EVs, AutoPacific’s Kim says. “There may not be a lot of latent demand for plug-in vehicles but, like it or not, we are going to start seeing a lot more in showrooms and on the road.”

CARB’s Berg sees consumer interest in EVs rising. She drives a Tesla Model S; her previous car was another all-electric model, a Nissan Leaf. “I had as many comments on the Leaf as the Tesla,” she says. “People are curious and I’m happy to talk about it.”