Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
The current state of vehicles powered by the electric grid and the prospects for wider deployment in the near future 1
Witnesses
- Brian Wynne, President, Electric Drive Transportation Association
- Edward Kjaer, Director, Electric Transportation, Southern California Edison
- Robert Wimmer, National Manager of Technical and Regulatory Affairs, Energy and Environmental Research, Toyota Motor, North America
- Joseph Dalum, Vice President, DUECO
- Thad Balkman, VP of External Relations, Phoenix Motorcars
My personal research into the development of hybrid plug in vehicle and full electric vehicles has led me to believe that the auto industries have no real interest in launching full scale production because they’ve concluded that 1) After market parts sales/service will be terrible. I’ve worked over 10 years in the auto industry and the aftermarket parts and Origional Equipment parts is a multi-billion dollar industry. Electric Vehicles are nearly maintenance free, basically eliminating the aftermarket and OEM parts/service market. 2) Automakers financial ties/stocks with big oil companies work against oil sales and thereby their own interest.
Strange thing is, that if the auto industry had gone along with mass producing the EV-1 vehicle, instead of recalling them all and smashing them at the plant in Arizona, I believe the EV program would have provided jobs, improved sales and strengthened the confidence of the American public. The Toyota Rav-4 or the ford ranger pick up all electric, or the many other electric vehicles that were produced could have been mass produced, instead of a token 300 here, 600 there. Almost all the Electric vehicles were not to be sold, but leased, then returned. Some were recovered by environmental groups and put back on the road, but not enough to put a dent in the sky rocketing green house gases being released. Do the right thing, the public is watching!