Hybrid/EV Sales Center progress (video)

Back in June of last year, I was informed that Classic Chevrolet, my employer, was going to dedicate one of the dealership’s buildings to EV and Hybrid sales. Progress has been agonizingly slow for me, with electric service upgrades, trenches, design meetings, etc, but things are coming together and I should be moving into the building this month.

My previous experience at Apple, migrating people from Windows to MacOS, seems very similar to migrating people from gasoline-powered vehicles to those powered by electricity. There are many, many questions to answer and, as a result, selling a plug-in vehicle is very resource-intensive. I find myself answering the same questions over and over. My vision is to leverage technology to move some of the workload to automated information distribution. The new building will have several large screen TVs playing videos and presentations, in the background, to answer questions, without the involvement of a salesperson. That means I’ve got lots of iMovie and Keynote work ahead.

The plan requires a new kind of space for plug-in vehicle sales. I decided the days of cubicles or offices is over. Space is needed where current EV owners can talk with the EV-curious about their personal experience. That means we need a place, around which to gather. Imagine a table, instead of a salesperson’s desk. Perhaps there’s an iMac or iPad the client can use to select the question they want answered and see the answer appear on the TV. It should be a place where customers can learn about products they can use with their EV (i.e. solar panels for their home, electricity providers that give discounts for EV ownership, Level 2 chargers or inductive chargers, etc). That means we need a place which current EV owners want want to visit (like Apple product owners stopping by the Apple Store when they’re not planning on a purchase).

Here’s the update: The budget precluded replacing the acoustic tile ceiling or fluorescent lighting. The old wallpaper has been removed and the painters are priming the sheetrock today. The tile floor has been repaired, where the cubicle walls were anchored previously. An internal door has been added from the “EV Theater” to the EV/Hybrid showroom. Some graphics have been applied to the windows, but more need to be created. There’s so much to do!

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the Chevy Bolt EV won’t be arriving anytime soon, so I’ve got time to plan for that. Also, heavy December sales of Volts has Classic’s Volt inventory down to only four Volts left and they’re all LTs. Our next allocation of Volts should be released on the 22nd of this month, so I should have many more heading in, by March. In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep doing dealer trades, with dealers who haven’t figured out how to sell the Volt, to get Premiers for my clients.