Green Technology in Automobiles

2015 is New Magic Date for Fuel Cell Vehicles

AMP Equinox a Functional and Stylish Electric Vehicle Option

No major automaker has yet taken the leap into the soccer mom arena with an electric crossover, SUV, or minivan. AMP Electric Vehicles aims to change that with its AMP’d Equinox, an electric variant of this popular Chevy model.

The New York International Auto Show is the most well-attended auto show in the country. New York City is also a media capital and thus a prime place to forward the cause of ‘green’ vehicles. Automakers did this in a big way this year with electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and alternative fuel vehicles of varying types at the 2010 NYIAS.

For the first time, electric vehicles were also showcased in a ride-along venue on the show floor. Here, Green Car Journal and the NYIAS hosted the EV Pavilion, an electric vehicle ride-along that featured the electric MINI E, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, THINK City, and newcomer AMP Electric Vehicles. These electric cars negotiated a seventh-mile track with five turns to lend a sense of what electric vehicles are all about.

AMP, an EV Pavilion participant and sponsor, is now marketing its electric conversions of Chevy’s Equinox crossover vehicle and the past few model years of the Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice. Sponsor PEP Stations was also on hand with examples of its credit card–friendly electric vehicle charging stations (shown here charging a Mitsubishi i-MiEV), which feature touch-screen and point-of-sale operation. Exposing attendees to the concept of public charging and illustrating how chargers work is an important part of the puzzle in encouraging electric vehicles to the mass market.

Those who rode along seemed quite taken by their rides and there were always many questions – about single-charge driving range, top speed, time to recharge, and of course cost and availability. It was evident that curiosity and enthusiasm exists big time for electric vehicles, just as it’s evident that first-hand exposure to electric vehicles at venues like the EV Pavilion are crucial elements in the electric vehicle’s drive to market.