Washington Auto Show Increases Focus on ‘Green’

The Washington Auto Show is a bit of an anomaly. Held at the beginning of the year, this major auto show offers over 750,000 square feet of floor space filled with 700 new cars and concepts from the world’s automakers. Beyond that is the show’s political importance because of its location in the nation’s capital and proximity to the White House and Capitol Hill. Truly, no other auto show can lay claim to the kind of political interest shown here or the fact that Members of Congress and Cabinet members are seen attending.

This year, along with conventional new models on the show floor were many production and concept hybrids, plus plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt and electric cars from BMW, Chrysler/Fiat, Nissan, and others. The Green Car Pavilion from recent years expanded into a 65,000 square foot Advanced Technology Superhighway exhibit with an array of advanced and alternative fuel vehicles.

In addition to its ‘green’ consumer focus, the industry also expanded its presence as both the Electric Drive Transportation Association and the Society of Automotive Engineers co-located their annual conferences here.

Leading off the Washington Auto Show’s first Policy Day was the third annual Green Car Summit on Capitol Hill, where a lively and spirited exchange took place covering the realities of electric drive and its place in the market. Panelists included Volkswagen CEO Stefan Jacoby; Electric Drive Transportation Association president Brian Wynne; Better Place vice president Jason Wolf, Ford director of Global Electrification Nancy Gioia; Nissan senior vice president Scott Becker; International Council on Clean Transportation president Dr. Alan Lloyd; and CODA Automotive president and CEO Kevin Czinger.

Green Car Journal publisher Ron Cogan announced the winner of the 2010 Green Car Vision Award™, the Nissan Leaf, at a press conference on the second Policy Day. Nissan’s upcoming electric hatchback rose to the top amid other worthy electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen contenders including the Coda Sedan, Ford Focus BEV, Mercedes-Benz F-Cell, and Toyota Prius PHV.

Even more positive news emerged for Nissan at the show as Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the closing of the Department of Energy’s $1.4 billion loan agreement with the automaker, which supports modifying Nissan’s Smyrna, Tennessee plant to produce the Leaf and the battery packs to power it. Clearly, the auto show’s ‘Change Happens Here’ tagline proved no exaggeration.