Electrify Expo, North America’s largest electrical car competition, kicked off its 2022 calendar in California this month as EV curiosity and recognition burgeons.
Attendance on the competition in Long Beach on June 3-5 was up practically 40 p.c from 2021 and featured 125 exhibitor cubicles. Event organizers mentioned greater than 25,000 demo rides came about.
“One of the biggest barriers, if not the biggest barrier to EV mobility adoption, is trial. Without trial, we don’t create those light bulb moments,” mentioned BJ Birtwell, founding father of Electrify Expo. “So we really dedicate the majority of our festival to creating those light bulb moments because if we create those light bulb moments, we’ve pushed that consumer deeper into the purchase funnel.”
Eric Watson, vp of gross sales operations for Kia Motors America, mentioned Electrify Expo attendees are important in bringing in new customers.
“Electrify Expo is a significant part of our multicity, experiential marketing strategy to connect with self-identified e-curious consumers on moving from traditional gas engines to EV,” Watson mentioned. “We quickly recognized that these attendees need very little convincing to make the switch. The number of consumers that came through our booth to see our new Niro and test drive EV6 brings many new owners further down the road toward Kia EV purchases.”
Though Electrify Expo’s largest viewers resides within the 35-49 age vary, Birtwell mentioned he has additionally seen an uptick in attendance from youthful crowds.
“We love that it’s a family related event. But we do get a large portion of Gen Y and Z that are coming to the event; 16- to 25-year-olds that are looking for other modes of transportation or for fun. It’s a much younger deal and we have to support that,” Birtwell mentioned.
Birtwell mentioned the way forward for Electrify Expo would come with more room for different applied sciences.
“You can’t talk about EVs and not also talk about things like autonomous vehicles, aerial mobility, artificial intelligence, and some of these other ideas that come along with the idea of electric vehicles,” Birtwell mentioned. “In terms of the future of Electrify Expo, the expansion and growth into these areas is a very natural thing that we’re already starting to see.”
Source: www.autonews.com
