Crowds See the Future of Transportation at Mt. Kisco Car Show
When thinking of fuel-efficient cars, Ellen Conrad can’t help but compare the new vehicles as this decade’s worldwide web.
In 1990, when the Internet was in its infancy, Conrad said few may not have believed that it would have the significant role it now holds in our lives today.
Conrad, one of the co-presidents of Bedford 2020, an initiative by that town to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the end of this decade, said electric cars, plug-in vehicles and standard hybrids may seem new today, but should rapidly grow in prevalence and importance.
“People can understand that the future is here today. It’s not tomorrow,” Conrad said. “I think in 10 years, people will laugh at how little we knew today.”
That was the point of the Bedford 2020 Car Show at Grand Prix New York in Mount Kisco on Sunday afternoon. With dozens of fuel-efficient vehicles on display, more than 500 attendees got a good look at what the future of the automobile business holds. While Conrad doesn’t believe that the public is adequately aware about these types of vehicles today, last weekend’s car show is just the first step in getting residents up to speed.
Of the three types of vehicles that were on display, each has a very limited reliance on gasoline to keep the wheels turning. Electric cars are powered exclusively by electricity and have a motor that has rechargeable batteries. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have large battery packs that can be charged through a typical household electrical outlet and can be driven at least 40 miles before they switch over to gas consumption.
Finally, the more well-known model is the hybrid car that requires gas but not nearly as much as a conventional car because of the use of a battery and electric motor.
Mary-Beth Kass, Bedford 2020’s other co-president, said the general lack of knowledge about fuel-efficient vehicles is surprising to her.
“That’s really one of the goals of today,” Kass said. “To educate people, to see you can still have an electronic vehicle and it can still be a high-performance car.”
As much as the car show was for residents, for Kass it was also a chance for municipal leaders in Westchester to get a better idea of what these vehicles can offer.
One of the trailblazers in the world of fuel-efficient vehicles is the City of White Plains and its Department of Public Works Commissioner Bud Nicoletti. For the past 28 years, Nicoletti said the city’s DPW fleet has been less reliant on gas compared to other Westchester municipalities through use of the latest in clean car technology. With the encouragement of Mayor Tom Roach, Nicoletti said the push to get greener would only continue.
“Because of the complexity of White Plains, we get the chance to try out this technology, more so than a smaller town, and then they’ll use our experience and benefit from either our mistakes or lessons learned or pluses that we found that worked,” Nicoletti said.
He also said White Plains has received additional state and federal dollars because of its practice to acquire more energy-efficient vehicles.
Assemblyman David Buchwald, who said he was happy with the event’s turnout, mentioned that the future of transportation continues to evolve. Buchwald said the mentality of relying only on gas-powered vehicles must be diminished.
“We’ve got a lot of progress still to make, and this event is a great kickoff for that,” he said.
