Fredrik Wass 05 28 09, 8:51 PM

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The Myth of Electric Vehicle Subsidies

Niche vehicles and utility fleets could be the tipping point for electric vehicles sales. But it won’t take subsidies, according to automakers.

“Why should we believe any of you? Who’s real and who’s not?” were the opening questions from Sherry Boschert to representatives from Ford, Zap, Phoenix Motorcars, Smith Electric Vehicles and Bright Automotive. They were all a part of a panel discussion on where they’re at when it comes to putting electric vehicles on the road, and making them competitive at the Opportunities in Grid-connected Mobility conference in San Francisco.

Boschert is a board member of Plug In America and the author of “Plug-in Hybrids, the cars that will recharge America.” Her first electric car was a GM EV1 that she was forced to give back to be destroyed, so one can understand her skepticism.

The automaker representatives looked a bit chocked but tried to answer her questions. Michael Brylawski, VP of Bright Automotive pointed out that times really has changed in just a few years.

“The environment today is different from before. When you have the capital, and you got the market, and consumers that want cost effective vehicles, the barriers are lower,” he said.

Michael Tinskey stressed that electric vehicles is now turning into an option for anyone, just not the green fanatics. “The only issue is price. If you really believe in green, performance or cost of ownership, you got that in the electric vehicles. It’s going to happen and it’s real,” he said.  Tinskey is Manager of sustainability and electrification deployment of Ford Motor Company.

Regarding the vehicle-to-grid aspect of electric drives, the automakers are not really there yet. At least according to the ones present at the conference. Ford has not really embraced the vehicle-to-grid technologies, but according to Tinsey, they do have features on their electric vehicles that allow using the cars for the purpose of power backup for homes.

Greg Starr, Chairman emeritus and director of Zap Car gave an example from one of his customers who uses his car to power his cabin, and then drives six miles to work, recharging it during the day.

It has been said that utility fleets are the market where electric cars will make their first big breakthrough. Michael Brylawski from Bright Automotive said that this is also a good environment for development, together with the utilities. But you shouldn’t see the electric vehicle market as a niche market.

“We don’t see the market as only an electric vehicle market. We see it as a vehicle market. It’s 100 percent economics. There’s a myth that electric vehicles need to be subsidized,” he said.

But the automakers still could use some help.

“Electric vehicles are going to be successful if the utilities are open to how to make it happen. It’s still a moving target,” said Bryon Bliss, VP, sales and marketing of Phoenix Motorcars.

“Large corporations need to know how these things work. We need help and support from the electric utilities. It’s not just about EV manufacturers doing this by themselves,” said Mark Aubry, Smith Electric Vehicles.