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Laura Thieme

Bizresearch President – 10 years - 2007

Fisher College of Business Lecturer on Search Marketing

OSU Russian Studies Grad – 1993

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7th July 2007

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids: Funding Demand 1 reply

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids - How do we fuel and fund demand for these type of cars?

I’ve got the electric car and plug-in hybrid bug.  It started at the SEW Live Columbus search marketing conference, where I spoke on a panel regarding paid search marketing and measuring sales and profitability.  WebProNews covered the panel and interviewed me afterwards.  An East Coast auto dealer that sells electric vehicles, amongst more well-known popular brand cars, solicited my search marketing services.  I’ve been trying to get close them for three months.  A recent concern expressed regarding electric car stability (manufacturer or the company selling them) - which I’m not surprised by, the more I learn about electric cars. 

A couple of weeks ago, I set out to test drive electric cars and blog about my experience.  I had two companies contact me regarding my desire to do this, within 48 hours of my blog post.  I’m having a hard time closing this deal because either the companies don’t get search or the power of the Web, or aren’t convinced I should get paid for doing this.  I see no sense in commenting further on the former or the latter.  However, I do think using the Web to market electric cars is an interesting topic.

There are over 50,000 electric car keyword searches every month on the Web.  Fewer people look for hybrid cars on the Web, far fewer, like 6,000.  There is hype right now on electric cars, alternative fuels and hybrids.  Look at the success of the Toyota Prius hybrid, definitely well-advertised.  But is it as good as other all-electric cars, and what about a modified Hybrid Prius to a Plug-In?  Google has enjoyed recent press about funding development in plug-in hybrids announced recently through Google.org Foundation.  

There is one car that I think would be super cool in electric car form:  the Mini-Cooper - how about a plug in hybrid or electric car version?  I want to test drive every single electric car that’s still on the market.  As I’m preparing to do my test-drive PR & social media experiment, I’m reading up on electric cars.  I read an interesting article contribution on CNN by Alexandra Paul on electric cars.  She’s a founding member of Plug-In America.  She owns a Toyota Rav EV, no longer in production.  I bought the DVD “Who Killed the Electric Car?” from my local Borders tonight.

The more I learn about electric cars, vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the harder I realize it is to actually buy one of these cars.  Why is that?  Paul makes reference to this in her article on CNN.com, and says that electric vehicle manufacturers basically spend no money on advertising for their electric cars.  I’m experiencing this as well.  The only EV company that I’ve seen thus far that truly gets the power of web search, traditional PR, and advertising, is Tesla Motors.  Tesla shows up in the top ten search organic search results for electric cars.  I’ve read the write-up in Vanity Fair on Tesla, and with purchase endorsements of George Clooney and Google’s Page and Brin, what more advertising do you need?  Their press is phenomenal.  And it is a beautiful car.  It’s Hot!  Hot!  Hot!  I’d drive it, if given the chance.   However, will this car suffer the same fate as previous EVs that actors and actresses endorsed?  And, since it can not be afforded by the average American, have we not progressed further than GM’s EV1?  Perhaps not.  If you watch the movie, and you know anything about the Tesla, perhaps it won’t suffer the same fate.

Other electric car dealerships and their vehicle manufacturers unfortunately do not understand the power of search marketing or affiliate marketing per my recent experience.  Yet they will spend thousands of dollars on traditional TV and print advertising in some cases, for other car types they sell.  It’s a proven fact that search marketing costs about $8 per lead, where as direct mail costs $70 per lead.  Electric car manufacturers and dealerships - learn the power of search, invest in advertising online, social media and PR.  Learn from Tesla - they’re doing many things right.   Zenn, Miles, Sparrows, or other electric vehicles, none of them are showing up in the top ten organic searches for “electric cars”.  Zap does - and also pays for it.    They get search but I have to receive a call from my stated interest in their affiliate marketing program and the car.  I filled out the form two weeks ago, and resubmitted yesterday.

Marketing & Advertising For the Electric Car:

Try to promote an electric car yourself.  Good luck.  I’m having the exact same type of problems creating hype for electric cars myself.  One Tennessee politician offered to arrange an electric car race with Robert Redford and Paul Newman many, many years ago.  But the person who set it up realized there were no electric cars in the showrooms.  Even if hype were there, how would they handle demand? 

One senator comments in the movie - you never saw a good lookin’ woman or man draped over an electric car - that’s how they sell cars.  That’s true in my experience.   Will Clooney, Page and Brin change that?  Of course, have you seen the Tesla?  It’s EVMcSteamy.  I seriously doubt we’ll see Tesla advertised during Everybody Loves Raymond on TBS or FOX.  HBO maybe, but the question is would Tesla advertise?  And, as of tonight, they just lost their organic listing.  Would they invest in paid search and organic?  Their page titles need to be optimized.  I could help them…. 614-846-7560.

Marketing - it’s all about demand -

Who Killed the Electric Car movie references the story behind zero emissions mandate in Californie, and the history behind the GM EV1, the Impact, and a waiting list for their electric cars.  GM initially had actors and actresses drive the car, because no one else could afford the car.   Reference is made to producing four cars per day.  The auto manufacturers sued the California Air Resources Board.  As of July 2004, all GM EV1s were off the road.  No actor or actress could in fact re-lease the EVs.   Most of these people loved the GM EV1, but they couldn’t get the car.  They were going to Mesa, Arizona - 50 EV1s crushed at the GM - Ouch - I just watched a seriously bad moment on the movie.  GM is interviewed - says that every single EV will be re-used and recycled, and hardly crushed.  But they were crushed. 

Toyota RAV4 EVs were also tracked down, and they were being crushed as well.  Perfectly good cars.  Honda’s EVs were also getting shredded.  You have to see this movie.  The cars get shredded into a million pieces.   GM’s Burbank facility had about 70 electric vehicles remaining.  Alexandra Paul watched over the parking lot where the EVs were being stored, as part of a protest.  EV activists asked if people would buy out the remaining leases - they offered $1.9M to GM to put the cars back on the road.  GM did not respond, according to the movie.

Car makers say that consumers weren’t demanding the car.  Most of us never even knew about the GM EV1, or the Toyota RAV4 EV.   How many advertisements did you see for the electric car? 

Batteries - Stan Oshinsky who has over 200 patents to his name - manufacturered Ovonic batteries for the electric car.  GM bought controlling shares in the company.  Then GM sold to Texaco.  Interesting.  An oil company buys controlling shares in the batteries that fueled electric cars.

I just read that Think, previously owned by Ford, sold to Norwegian investors, has bought interest in Tesla Motors batteries, to the tune of $43M.  So GM buys Oshinksy batteries, sells to Texaco.  Ford sells its Think electric vehicle to Norwegians who buy batteries from Tesla Motors.  Hmmmm.  Almost humorous.

In March 2005, GM had police escorts arrest the EV1 protestors, including Alexandra Paul.  I’d have been proud to have been arrested on that one.  The last EV1s were taken away and destroyed.  GM disabled the one that is at the Petersen Automotive Museum, but #99 remains. 

Personally, I’d like to meet Stan & Iris Ovshinsky, and get involved with Plug-In America.  I still want to test drive lots of electric vehicles and document my findings here and on Bizresearch.  The Web feeds grass roots efficiently and enables word of mouth through social media. 

One Response to “Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids: Funding Demand”

  1. Wanda Capurro says:
    October 11th, 2007 at 2:31 pm

    Love to correspond more with you on this subject.

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