One of the most notable people I talked with at EVS27 in Barcelona last month was Brian Wynne, President of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), President of the GoElectricDrive Foundation, Vice President of the World Electric Vehicle Association, and a member of the prestigious Committee of 100 of the US Chamber of Commerce.
One of his presentations nailed what I think is the most critical thing that needs to be communicated to a much larger portion of the population — that driving electric cars is totally awesome, fun, and considerably more enjoyable than driving gasmobiles.
As I noted a couple weeks ago, electric cars are totally bloody awesome… but that has not been the message most EV manufacturers have used to market their cars.
Luckily, that’s what EDTA is looking to focus on to a greater extent. One way it is getting the word out is through partnerships with sports teams. As Brian notes, “the largest marketing vertical in the world of course is sports,” and many sports teams are actually enthusiastic about sharing information and enthusiasm about electric vehicles — a good technology that helps their communities. Hopefully we’ll have more news on these partnerships before to long.
Aside from all that, Brian had some insightful comments on the diversifying EV market and the new BMW i3.
Thanks to Brian for the interview, and for several other interesting and fun conversations we had during the event. It looks like he is taking EDTA in some great directions.
To follow my custom of sharing the favorite songs of cleantech leaders I interview, here’s Brian’s favorite, Enter the Sandman:
Check out more of my EVS27 stories here.