Join us for Live WebChat Tomorrow with Bryan Wynne, President of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)

Tomorrow at 11:00 AM PST we’ll be co-hosting a web chat with Bryan Wynne, President of Electric Drive Transportation Association. Join us (return to this post) to ask questions directly and see the conversation develop.

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Here’s Bryan Wynne’s intro (from Chevrolet Voltage) to the discussion:

Does it seem that suddenly everyone is talking about electric vehicles? Well, that’s because they are. But it’s not a sudden development in the automotive world. At the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), our members have been pushing technology boundaries, building business models and busting myths for a long time. Electric drive is not a fad; in fact, we’ve been at this for 20 years. And, of course, some of the earliest successful automobiles were electric!

But there is good reason why this is suddenly getting lots more attention. Not only has there been a wave of exciting vehicle announcements from manufacturers (check out a list of electric vehicle announcements on our website), the federal government just invested $2.4 billion in electric drive vehicle and component manufacturers, battery suppliers, infrastructure providers, and training facilities.  This reflects a national recognition that electrification of transportation can help us achieve our energy, environment and economic goals. It also reflects how far the industry has already come.  We are prepared to leverage the investment and take electric drive into the mainstream.

When hybrid technology breakthroughs made commercially viable grid-connected vehicles a possibility, EDTA hosted the first plug-in hybrid vehicle workshop in 2003–for an overflow crowd.  In the short time since then, electric drive has come a long way, with the major automakers (and many start ups) developing and testing electric drive vehicles.  Companies are going about the challenge in different ways: some are focusing on battery electric vehicles, several are moving on plug-in hybrids, and others are working on battery electrics with range extenders. Many manufacturers continue to work diligently on fuel cell vehicles.  This demonstrates the flexibility of electric drive technology, and the innovative spirit which is needed to address the myriad of consumer tastes, and the variety of commercial vehicles in the fleet.

We all know that it has been a roller coaster of a year for the automotive industry, with the recession hurting every aspect of the value chain, from parts suppliers to consumers.  But the industry has weathered economic and technology setbacks before and we are positioned to come out on top of this one. Vehicle electrification is not just a national policy goal; it is the foundation of our members’ business strategies. It is not just vehicle manufacturers that are bringing innovation to this game. Electric utility companies and component manufacturers are also investing time and treasure toward a common objective.

EDTA has been a steady voice for 20 years.  Today’s unprecedented attention and investment might seem like an overnight success story, but this industry’s success has been years in the making. More to the point, we will be at this well into the future.

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