The Houston Auto Show was great fun but exhausting as well. In the last couple hours of each day, my feet, knees and lower back were all starting to complain. I feel energized, while the show is going on, but each night, after the show closed, I’d return to the hotel and be asleep within 30 minutes.
The day after the show closed, my voice was scratchy from all the talking (and yelling, when the speaker vendor across the aisle decided to crank up his wares). I pretty much slept all afternoon, once I made it back home to Fort Worth.
So why do it?
Well, the short answer is I love it. I love talking with EV owners about their vehicles. I love talking with newbies and the EV-curious about the EV lifestyle and about new trends in the industry. But the main thing is that even now, 9 years after getting my first plug-in vehicle, there’s still no many uninformed, and even more importantly, misinformed buyers, salespeople and media, when it comes to electric transportation. The most insidious, in my opinion, is the misinformation. It’s usually planted as advice that is generally positive, with regards to EVs, but much like the dating practice of “negging,” it places a shadow over all the compliments of EV capabilities, leaving the listener with the impression that EVs are really cool, but somehow are just not quite ready for prime time.
Here are a few examples:
- “I’m looking forward to getting an EV, as soon as there are more chargers installed.”
- “They’re so fast, I can wait to get one, once they can go 500 miles on a charge.”
- “They’re good for the environment, until it’s time to dispose of that battery pack.”
- “Since the electricity they use is generated by burning coal, they are as bad for the environment as gasoline-powered cars.”
This year I got three new adventures on top of my usual show experience:
- I got to speak to an auto salesperson, new to the business, about my experience selling electric vehicles. I gave her some tips and techniques, so she can ramp up much faster than I did.
- I got a chance to speak to a dealership owner about some of the minor changes that can be made to accelerate salesperson interest in selling electric vehicles and finally,
- I got a chance to discuss career awareness with some vehicle mechanics. This was the highlight of the show, for me.
The three mechanics were looking under the hood of the Ford Mustang Mach-E. They were laughing, pointing and basically discussing why they’d never own an EV. We had some fun with the pros and cons of EV’s, when I turned to their real issue: their careers. I told them about what happened to me, in the oil crash of the mid-1980s and how I was caught flat-footed. I told them about the cost, to my family, for my lack of awareness.
Then, we discussed opportunity and inevitability.
I explained how I had also seen the portents, a couple times in my career, and how i used that awareness to move, before my peers did, and how greatly I profited and advanced my career, by doing so. I gave them examples of things they could be doing now to prosper, instead of struggle. I also shared trends I am seeing in the EV world that would let them continue doing what they love and embrace EVs.
This advice may have made an impact. If at least one of them takes my advice and it makes their transition into this new world easier, my effort will have been worth it.
