Mike Tinskey, director, global vehicle electrification and infrastructure, talked electric vehicles this morning. Here’s the gist of his keynote:

Ford’s electric vehicles have driven 30 million miles. Electric motors are 90 percent efficient. Electric has a 4x advantage over conventional gas vehicles. 30 percent of traffic and 20 percent of vehicle emissions are attributed to people looking for parking.

Tidbits such as this drove home the significant saving opportunities that lie ahead.



Sally Hogshead, author and motivational speaker, followed. She mixed it up with the crowd, stepping out to make connections with a few unsuspecting audience members, including Philip Mezey, Itron’s president and CEO (his archetype: The Catalyst).

“Fascination is intense emotional focus,” she said.

Hogshead said we only have a nine-second attention span. We beg to differ. Most would agree that she captivated us for nearly an hour, using anecdotal stories, facts and statistics to make the case that we use our personalities’ best traits to sell ourselves. Each person fits one of 49 personality archetypes—Maverick, Authentic, Sustainer, Perfectionist, to name a few.

Her message: go forth and fascinate.

Click here to learn more about Sally Hogshead’s Fascination Advantage.

In a Q&A session on @Ford, Tinskey counts seven ways that we can get smarter about EV infrastructure rollouts:

1. Form advisory committees composed of utilities, OEM’s, municipalities and cities to drive planning and policy.
2. Streamline permitting processes for residential high-voltage charging stations so consumers don’t have to wait
3. Open high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to electric vehicles
4. Offer off-peak pricing to consumers so they can reap the savings of charging their EVs at night
5. Install public charging stations with free parking
6. Don’t start from scratch—there are considerable resources available to leaders interested in increasing their EV footprint
7. Citizens work at the grass roots level and ask city leaders to implement smart policy

Read the whole article here.

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