By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Electric vehicles made a big impact last week at the 2013 Silicon Valley International Auto Show. Steve Smith, President of the Silicon Valley Auto Dealers Association gave Fresh Dialogues a tour of the electric offerings Sunday from Fiat, General Motors and Ford; and explained that the affluent, well educated Silicon Valley market is particularly open to EVs. This year shows a surge in the number of electric and hybrid vehicles from major players. It’s significant that even Cadillac has announced a hybrid coupe, featuring both lithium-ion battery and a four cylinder gas engine.
Smith confirmed that even consumers not ready to go all-electric are focused on fuel economy statistics this year. The cute new Fiat 500e got an EPA 116 miles per gallon equivalent combined fuel economy rating (122 MPGe city and 108 MPGe highway) and the company estimates fuel costs of $500/year. That would keep your average Hummer driver on the road for, umm, maybe a month?
The new Chevy Spark looked cute and compact in powder blue, but spokesperson Anne-Marie Damman confirmed that for now, the 80-mile range EV will only be available in California and Oregon. The reason? They’re the only states with sufficient charging infrastructure in place. Although California’s EV infrastructure leads the way, it’s also suffering growing pains.
Tesla’s all electric Model S was missing from the line up in Silicon Valley, but its Model X made a big splash at this week’s Detroit Auto Show. Check out some of the Silicon Valley Auto Show highlights in the slideshow below.
Check back later this month for the full interview with Steve Smith of SVADA on what makes the Silicon Valley Auto Show so unique and why he thinks car sales will spike this year.
