The electric vehicle industry is booming—one is even safe to say ahead of the common hybrid thanks to the gas prices and accessibility. And honestly, it makes sense that one of the largest events in the upcoming National Plugin Day (NPID)—advertised as NPID: Los Angeles —is set to actually take place in Long Beach.
First, let's talk numbers given Reuters claims earlier this year that the public has a "lack of appetite for battery-powered cars." In the first six months of this year alone, sales have doubled that made in 2012 over the same period, which amounts to over 50,000 sold.
If you take into account hybrids, that adds an additional 2M cars on the road that are either electric or hybrid, with that number of purely electric vehicles to surge into the hundreds of thousands come 2015 (not quite Obama's hope of 1M, but we're getting there). One but has to look at the stellar month of this past June compared to the same month last year: Nissan Leafs saw its sales jump by 25% and the Chevrolet Volt by 59%.
Bosch, one of the country's most popular EV charging station manufacturers, has installed over 7,000 residential chargers in four years—some of them even as cheap as $450, adding to the appeal.
On a municipal level, cities are responding—particularly including Long Beach. CSULB received two 240-volt charging stations for its Parking 1 structure back in August of last year through the support of plugin advocate and former faculty member Doug Korthof. The city sent out an RFP last year and officially granted the contract to ECOtality North America, who has built 12 stations across various city-owned parking lots and facilities.
And NPD:LA event is set to take place at the California State University Office of the Chancellor to celebrate the installation of their three new 240-volt stations that were donated by Google and—even better—be offered to CSU employees free of charge.
This shouldn't be shocking to those who know the CSU well: the Chancellor's Office has had a robust rideshare program since 2007, providing points that in return can access groceries and gas, free Long Beach Transit passes, cheaper-than-cheap rail passes ($40 per month), and even a guaranteed ride home if your fellow carpooler must leave before you.
The NPID:LA event is expected to be one of the largest of the 90 events planned throughout cities across the U.S., with 500 attendees planning on showing of their electric clout. A parade of electric vehicles—a Tesla Model S, Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, the smart Electric Drive, Brammo electric motorcycles, the Fiat 500e, the Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid, and more—are planned to drive along Shoreline Drive—part of the famed Grand Prix route—before ending at the CSU Office of the Chancellor.
NPID:LA is set to take place on Saturday, September 28 from 9AM to 2PM at the California State University Office of the Chancellor located at 401 Golden Shore in Long Beach. For more information on NPID and other events across the nation, click here.
