More electric vehicles (EVs) were on display at the recent LA Auto Show than have ever been exhibited at the show. The growing EV marketplace was also highlighted during a briefing held by the California Electric Transportation Coalition (CalETC) that featured senior California government leaders, car manufacturer representatives and several EV drivers who shared their real world experiences.
California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols and California Energy Commissioner Carla Peterman emphasized that California has been promoting cleaner cars and zero emission vehicles for a long time because of the state’s severe smog problems. This includes Southern California, where air quality is the worst in the nation. Smog is largely caused by the pollution created by internal combustion engine vehicles. Even new, cleaner engines still create pollution that harms our health. Nichols and Peterman both were optimistic about the move to alternative fuel vehicles and see Southern California as a leader in that effort.
While environmental and health goals are a key outcome of increasing EV sales, the panel of car manufacturers and electric drivers made it clear that they think other factors including convenience, cost-savings and perhaps most importantly the cool factor will be critical to getting more electric vehicles on the road. After the briefing, seasoned automotive journalists John O’Dell (Edmunds.com), Alan Ohnsman (Bloomberg News) and Mark Vaughn (Autoweek), led tours of all the latest EVs being showcased at the LA Auto Show.
The vehicles on display included the all-electric Nissan Leaf (99 MPGe), Honda Fit(118MPGe), and Mitsubishi I(112MPGe) along with the range extended plug-in Chevy Volt (98MPGe) and plug-in Prius (95 MPGe) which both have a traditional gasoline engine that turns on once the vehicle has used up its electric battery range. The Leaf has an EPA rated range of 73 miles, the Honda Fit has a range of 82 miles, the Mitsubishi I has a range of 62 miles. While the Volt has an electric range of 38 miles and the all-electric mode of the Prius has a range of 10-15 miles. Interestingly Chevy Volt drivers have collectively driven over 100 million all-electric miles (nearly 2/3 of the total miles driven).
The term MPGe, or Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent, is the measure of the average distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. The rating was developed to evaluate the performance of electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles. The ratings are based on EPA's formula, in which 33.7 kilowatt hours of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline.
Five new plug-in electric vehicles were also announced at the show including the 2014 Chevy Spark EV (GM isn't providing an official estimated range, but the Indian version of the Spark, the Chevy Beat EV, has a range of 80 miles.), the 2014 Fiat 500E (Fiat claims it will have at least 80 miles of range), the 2014 Honda Accord Plug-in (115MPGe; 13 miles all electric) and two new vehicles from Ford, the 2013 C-Max Energi (100 MPGe; 21 miles all electric) and Ford Fusion Energi (Ford expects 100MPGe for this vehicle named Green Car of the Year). The Ford C-Max went on sale in October and the other vehicles will go on sale sometime next year.
BMW also showed off two new plug-in electric concept cars: the i3 electric Coupe that is expected to get 100 miles of range and the i8 plug-in hybrid supercar. Additionally, the Fisker plug-in Karma hybrid sportscar (62 MPGe and 32 miles all electric range) was also at the car show, however, the all-electric Tesla Model S--named Automotive Car of the Year by Motor Trend--was not on display.
The 2012 LA Auto Show saw the biggest number and broadest variety of electric vehicles ever on display and show the growing diversity of options for consumers.