story and photos by: Ray Smith
The buzz created by the latest developments in electric vehicles resonated throughout the 21,000-square-foot “SEMA Electrified” display at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where attendees looked over converted classics and powerful Tesla motors.
The cars are quiet, low maintenance, environmentally friendly, and interestingly appealing to some of the 130,000 buyers, manufacturers and custom builders who attended SEMA Show, November 1-4, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The EV trend grows with every increase in gasoline prices, spurred by tougher government regulations on emissions. And yet the concept has captured only a 6 percent share of new car and truck sales in America.
How can that be? Simple. As long as big oil companies produce fuel options that help reduce emissions, drivers are going to stay with their most comfortable mode of transportation, the one they can trust to make it home, or at least to the next filling station.
“Just saying we’re going to zero emissions and calling it a day, that will cause confusion,” says Graham Conway, principal engineer at Southwest Research Institute, who led a panel discussion at SEMA on the feasibility of widespread EV adoption and true environmental benefits. “The thought that we’re going to change completely to zero emissions, to completely change the electrical grid overnight, that will cause some problems.”
Electric vehicles are a critical component in the drive toward carbon neutrality, and there are two directions the industry can go, he notes.
One, we should consider EVs as the only viable technology moving forward, and we’ll make sure to find resources and clean up the grid. However, mass adoption faces many challenges, so we should focus on multiple technologies moving forward.
Among the biggest challenges in the EV movement is the availability of charging stations, as well as the cars themselves, says Kerisa Paige of Bolts EV. “Wherever you go, you have to map out where the charging stations are. Some of them might not work. Right now, we’ve put the cart before the horse. Unfortunately, we have to backtrack,” she says.
Robert Freerks, consultant for RLF Enterprises and former oil company engineer, had the gloomiest outlook for the EV industry among the panelists, laying into everything from California wildfires to coal-powered plants in China that choke the atmosphere with far more CO2 than internal combustion engines.
He doubts the readiness of the nation’s electrical infrastructure to support widespread EV adoption. Any suggestion that EV drivers will return unused power back to the grid at night is far-reaching, he says.
“You’re asking people to make commitments that they really don’t want to make,” he declares. “Who’s going to plug into the grid to feed back into the grid when they don’t have enough power to make it home?”
Also, the mileage range of electric vehicles plummets when you use power to accelerate the vehicle, Freerks adds. “You’ve got to drive with an egg between your foot and the accelerator.”
Environmental groups are opposed to lithium mining operations needed to manufacture batteries, and manufacturers are going to rely on China for a lot of metals used to make the vehicles, the engineer continues. “That’s a risky endeavor because the Chinese are not always our friend.”
The “SEMA Electrified” display in the North Hall showcased 35 vehicles and 60 different exhibits, including electric conversions of OEM vehicles, conversion components, charging solutions, and EV accessories and safety equipment. SEMA’s educational program offered five electric vehicle tracks. The Volkswagen ID.4 was named Electric Vehicle of the Year at 2022 SEMA, the first year for that category.
