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Horsepower: Accelerating EVs into the Fast Lane Anthony Eggert, Commissioner, California Energy Commission, Transportation Lead Diane Wittenberg, Executive Director, California EV Strategic Plan Diarmuid O'Connell, Vice President of Business Development, Tesla Motors Marc Geller, Co-founder, Plug-In America Greg Dalton, Founder of Climate One, Moderator Born before the Model T, revived and then extinguished a decade ago by GM, the electric vehicle is poised to dominate the global car industry, says this panel of transportation experts convened by Climate One. \u201cThe demand for these vehicles is greater than the supply,\u201d says Marc Geller, Co-Founder, Plug in America. \u201cThrough this year it would appear that Nissan and Chevrolet have all but sold out of their first 35,000 vehicles, with the Leaf and the Volt. There are customers who are ready for electric and plug-in hybrids for many different reasons, but it\u2019s really an issue of getting the cars to market.\u201d Manufacturers are responding, says Diarmuid O\u2019Connell, Vice President of Business Development, Tesla Motors, because this time there is a market, and money to be made. \u201cThis is hardly a philanthropic endeavor that we\u2019ve taken on,\u201d he says. One potential obstacle to widespread adoption of EVs is their (for now) higher upfront cost. Anthony Eggert, former Commissioner at the California Energy Commission, stresses the low lifetime cost of owning an EV. \u201cYou really want to look at total cost of ownership. It\u2019s not just the initial purchase price of the vehicle, which is going to be higher,\u201d he says. Diane Wittenberg, Executive Director, California EV Strategic Plan, agrees. \u201cAn average conventional vehicle, to drive 100 miles, costs about $6 in fuel; with pure electric, it would be about $2. Most people don\u2019t know that off the top of their heads. It\u2019s an education challenge,\u201d she says. Manufacturers must also contend with customer fears that EVs will leave them stranded. \u201cWe should be clear when we\u2019re speaking about charge time,\u201d says Marc Geller. \u201cWe act as if these vehicles are actually driving 24/7, as if they\u2019re all in taxi fleets. Most people\u2019s cars sit 22 hours a day.\u201d During the Q&A, a member of the audience asks how policymakers plan to replace sales tax revenue lost when drivers fill up with electricity rather than gas. \u201cThese vehicles will eventually have to pay their fair share of road taxes, to be able to use the system,\u201d says Anthony Eggert, \u201cbut the actual impact to the collection of road taxes is likely to be negligible for the next 5 plus years.\u201c \u201cThat would be a high-class problem, as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d responds Tesla\u2019s O\u2019Connell. \u201cLet\u2019s hope that we\u2019ll be solving that problem within five years.\u201d This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club on January 13, 2011\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices