Plug-In 2013 conference plugs along

Every now and then, the electric car industry comes together in a sort of Woodstock-of-the-Watt-Hour to take stock of itself and to exchange ideas, sign contracts and maybe have a beer. The most recent parliament of the plug-in was last week in San Diego at an annual industry event known as Plug-In 2013, although obviously they change the year in the title as necessary.

Why keep gathering? Because these things keep selling, albeit still very slowly now; and because EV sales numbers will inevitably rise as global demand for oil rises, as governments make ever-stricter emissions requirements and as individual buyers see the benefits of battery electric drive. Electric car sales in the United States are on track to reach almost 50,000 in 2013, or close to 100,000 if you count the Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, those cars, trucks and SUVs that can run on batteries alone for several miles. Granted, in a market that is going to whack the 15 million mark this year, a mere 50,000 or 100,000 electric-powered cars is less than a drop in the bucket. More like a droplet. But annual sales have been growing slowly and steadily since mainstream manufacturers got on board when the Leaf entered the market in 2010 and now has everything from the Spark EV to the Tesla Model S. So the industry is paying close attention to this confab, and we figured we'd keep tabs on it, too.

At the San Diego Convention Center's sky-lit top floor, we started our tour with a hybrid. VIA Motors takes full-size GM pickups, vans and SUVs right off the end of the assembly line in Silao, Mexico, replaces the entire transmission with a big electric motor/generator, adds 24 kWh of batteries and -- in an operation that takes only an hour and a half -- creates a series hybrid. The stock GM V6 gas engine is left in place but serves only to charge the battery pack. VIA sees its customers as fleets that are minding every nickel of expenditures. If you can plug it in once or twice a day, you can operate the rig all day on electricity alone and at a fraction of the cost of gasoline. Fleet guys love to hear things like that. VIA announced at Plug-In 2013 that it had $20 million worth of orders for its $15,000 conversions.

We first met Boulder Electric at Plug-In 2009. Since then the Colorado company has sold “25 to 30” of its medium-duty electric trucks -- half to FedEx and the rest to city fleets -- and has orders for at least that many more from the likes of UPS, Aramark, Ameripride and several municipalities. The aluminum frame and composite-bodied DV-500 looks like a typical UPS van, with 534 cubic feet of cargo space inside. The electric motor makes 665 lb-ft of torque and Boulder EV says the lithium iron phosphate battery is designed to last 300,000 miles.

Car2Go is well-established in San Diego and had a booth at Plug-In 2013 to tout its achievements and encourage new members. Owned by Daimler, Car2Go has fleets of two-seater smart EVs in 12 cities in North America. You pay a $35 lifetime membership fee, then either 38 cents per minute, $13.99 per hour or $72.99 per day to drive one. An app tells you where all the cars in your city are parked, you find one near you, sign up, swipe your card and drive off. When you're done, just park it and it'll wait for someone else to come get it. Car2Go says the San Diego branch is the first all-electric car sharing program in the U.S.

The big carmakers were on hand, too, with their EVs.

A month ago, Toyota launched a $199-a-month lease with $4,000 down for the RAV4 EV, a car based on the previous RAV4. San Diego was a perfect place to park one, since it's sold only in California, the only state that requires zero-emission sales from the biggest carmakers. So far Toyota has sold or leased more than 1000 RAV4 EVs, but the California Air Resources Board requires it sell or lease 2,600 of them, hence the lease deal.

Mitsubishi parked an egg-like all-electric i-MiEV in the middle of the show floor, a rep saying it has sold close to 1,500 since the former kei-class JDM people mover came on the U.S. market in December of 2011. We checked and the number was actually 1,646 as of the end of September. Next year Mitsubishi will come to market with a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) version of the Outlander.

The Nissan Leaf is by far the biggest-selling EV in America with, by our count, 35,588 sold, leased or stolen (Ed Butts!) since coming on the market in 2010. If they could sell the one they had at Plug-In 2013, that number would be 35,589.

Plug-In 2013 was the North American debut of the production BMW i3, perhaps the most high-tech small car ever made. With a carbon-fiber tub and extruded aluminum frame bolted to it just like a Lamborghini, the 2,634-pound (EU) four-seater gets to 60 mph in a claimed seven seconds. It may look a little goofy, but just show people those exposed carbon-fiber door sills. That'll stifle 'em. It goes on sale in spring of next year in all 50 states for $41,350, the price before all those tax credits.

The highly practical Chevy Spark EV has been on sale in California and Oregon for two and a half months. Through September, Chevy has sold or leased 310, which seems like kind of a low figure considering it's only $999 down and $199 a month for a 36-month lease. Look at it this way: when they swap out the ICE drivetrain and swap in the electric motor and batteries, front/rear balance swings to 51/49, dang near perfect. We're in line to borrow one from the press fleet in LA.

Honda had a Fit EV on hand, too but there was no one there to talk to when we happened by. Nice car -- we've driven it. It might be our favorite among the compact, non-Teslas on the market right now. Honda's lease is $259 a month.

And then we were off to speak at a Plug-In 2013 symposium on media coverage of electric cars. We blamed the slow acceptance of EVs on uninformed web commenters who perpetuate myths about EVs and how we thought that such myth-based comments in popular media might be hindering wider acceptance of the efficient little cars. (Our favorite is the guy who stated as fact that EV batteries must be replaced every 3,000 miles at a cost of $15,000. Where did he get THAT? So far batteries are lasting over 100,000 miles with minimal degradation. Sheesh.) Other panelists had other ideas, including one guy who said an EV demolition derby would be just the thing. Who can argue with that?

We have to think that someday electric cars will represent a much larger portion of the car market, either by necessity because of greater demand for oil, or because everybody will have solar panels on the roofs of their houses and will get electricity for free (after the panels are paid off).

Soon it was over and we hypocritically jumped into a gasoline-engined car and drove the two and a half hours home. Oh, the irony!

By Mark Vaughn