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Thanks for joining us, for sustaining us here on KLCS PBS I'm David Nazar.

Electric vehicles.

They're all the torque these days.

However, from differing viewpoints, certainly depending upon who you talk to.

For example, some people are raving about EVs, saying they're the greatest thing in the world to help save the environment and combat climate change.

Others?

Well they're dissing the EV industry, saying it's a threat to all of mankind.

The truth is, this argument is somewhere in the middle.

There are lots of pros and cons with this industry.

The positives we have some of the latest and most innovative high tech rides.

Have you seen some of the new electric cars and trucks?

They're crazy sleek, crazy, stylish EVs reduc our dependance on fossil fuels, proponents say we get rid of those gas guzzling cars and truck that pollute the air and water.

The new electric engines, they're fast, they've got lots of horsepower, and they're now being offered in almost every make of car, truck, minivan on the market.

However, there are also lots of negatives.

Let's be honest, the mandates critics say they're bogus.

No one should be forced to purchase an EV, especially when the technology is expensive these days, or at least more than much of what the gas engine vehicles cost.

And there are concern about the real world distances these can travel.

There' a shortage of charging stations that can make commuting a bear for the everyday driver and the electric grid.

Well, it's going to be overtaxed with millions of EVs on the road and the jury's still out on some of the reliability of the electric motor technology.

So that's the honest story.

Pro and con.

Later in this program, we're going to have that honest discussion about the positives and negatives with a leading expert in this field.

And then you decide.

First though, we travel to Long Beach, California to electrify Expo, its North America's largest outdoor EV festival, a massive showroo of electrification technology.

There's the cars, the trucks, the boats, the electric motorcycles, bikes, scooters, skateboards, surfboards and more.

This as interested you consumers demo these electric products to find out if mass adoption of the EV industry can meet the path to electrification as well.

Look plug in hybrids.

This is a future.

You know, we said this a few weeks ago, with hundreds of folks.

Bobby Kennedy Jr. We had the governor's offic here, right in the light court, behind me at City Hall to do everything in our power to meet the goals we established as the first state in America and one of the few jurisdictions in the world that now is requiring all new purchased vehicles to be alternative fuel vehicles by 2035.

Love them or hate them, the told us that they were coming.

Electric vehicles, EVs for sure.

We're the future, they said.

And now the future is here.

They represent a shif shifted technology and culture and how we think about the environment.

This is the Electrify Expo, a consumer oriented even where attendees can experience and learn about electric cars, bikes, scooters, skateboards and other personal electronic devices.

Manufacturers and companies display their latest electric vehicles and mobility solutions.

This includes cars from major automakers like bikes, scooters, skateboards.

The attendees hav the opportunity to test, drive, and ride many of the vehicles and devices on display.

The event is designed to be family friendly, with activities for kid and demonstrations that appeal to a broad audience, from those new to electric vehicles to seasoned enthusiasts.

Looking for nee to have this done in San Diego?

Yeah, we're from San Diego.

Yeah, we want to see the latest and greatest innovation after riding EVs and PVS.

They are beyond belief for me, like the instantaneous reaction to the way they work.

It's it's a complete change to the to the sport sports of motorsports and everything that happens to be with it.

Electric is the future.

So as far as Langsto Motorsports, we carry motocross and street to US street bikes, but electric is the future.

And I also feel electri is what this next generation is more familiar with.

Not just, vehicles, but computers, tablets.

It's a little bit more user friendly.

But, for us more cycle enthusiasts, it's just we like the idea of kids not being afraid of getting on two wheels.

Not everyone is excited about this new EV future.

We are protesting the companies who are attending the expo as they are complicit in the genocide in Palestine and the genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo, encouraging attendees to be conscious of their purchases by thre three years to buy refurbished, and to not invest in companie that are investing in genocide.

That's why they're drawn out to.

But no matter how you feel about electric vehicles, this expo is a lot of fun and the perfect place to explore those feelings.

And joining me now to discuss the EV industry, the pros and the cons is BJ Bert.

Well, BJ well is the founder and CEO of Electrify Expo North America is the largest electric vehicle festival.

He has spent the last 25 years in the car culture industry and is now taking that quarte century wealth of car knowledge into the electric vehicl industry is the electric craze.

Obviously it's making its wa throughout the US and the world.

BJ Bert, well, thank you so much for being here.

Great to be here.

Lots to talk about.

I'm looking forwar to getting into this discussion.

Thank you for having me.

Definitely.

Now, obviously for our viewers, you have a vested interest.

You could say in the electric industry, your founder, your CEO of the Electrified Expo, we just had that report all about the Electrify Expo.

So with that said, as you know, there are many pros, there are many cons to this.

Can you distance yourself from this argument and give us both perspectives?

Because as you also know, some folks listen, they are crazy about EV EVs.

Others hate the industry.

They say oh big brother, they're upon us.

What's your take with those arguments?

BJ?

It's pretty easy for me to be balanced on this, because I actually came int the industry as an EV skeptic.

I didn't like EVs.

I actually didn't have a good opinion of them.

And I formed all of those opinions before I'd even driven on TV.

So I always felt like, know, I was a car guy.

So I always felt like if I couldn't hear the rumble of the V8 or the scene of an inline four turbo, they forget about it.

You're never going to be behind the wheel of that car.

And then I finally drove an EV, and I had my light bulb moment, and I realized that I had it all wrong.

And it was at that point where I knew that the experience with an electric vehicle of any kind, whether it's electric car, electric truck, even an e-bike, those experiences, are the real game changer for people to have their light bulb moment and realize how the fun factor of going electric and what going electric really means.

So I can absolutely have a balanced conversation about this.

I'll tell you something that's a little surprising.

Our mission at Electrify Expo is not to tell everybody that they must go electric.

In fact, at Electrify Expo, we just provide 1,000,000ft of experiences, and we allow people to come in to electrify Expo, have an experience with electric cars, and figure out if it's if it's the right thing for them.

So we're really just trying to provide those experiences like, like my story and allow the consumer to make the decision on whether or not they want to go electric.

So speaking of your story, what sold you on the electric vehicles?

Well, you know people come to electric vehicles for a lot of different reasons.

And we can dive into this, you know, especially in the first few years of the industry, most of the EV adoption was happening by people who had more of a sustainability or an eco conscious mindset.

They were early adopters of electric cars.

They had already made up their mind that they wanted to go electric.

They didn't need to understand the whole technology even.

They just wanted to, d their part for the environment.

And so they made a decision to go electric.

Well, fast forward to 2024 and, we are now at a stage where, we've gone through that first wave of consumer and the next wave of consumer has come in.

And that consumer is not an early adopter.

They don't even have a necessarily an eco conscious mindset.

In many cases they're stepkids.

So, we're really here to provide those experiences to those types of people so that they can decide whether or not electric is the right thing for them.

Give our viewers an overview of where we're at with the EV industry, let's say here in California, then throughout the U.S. with regards to simply what's going to be going on with this EV industry, and let's say the next 5 to 20 years.

Well, I'll tell you, I'm I'm not an analyst.

And I'm not an expert in predicting the future.

What I can tell you, I guess what I am an expert in is listening to thousands of consumers, who are going through the EV shopping experience.

And what I see happening over the next several years are some big changes.

Number one, we're going to we're going to see some mass Iva adoption because, people are going to have more experience with EVs.

And as people get more experience with EVs, they realize that, well, they change is change is uncomfortable for a lot of people.

But once you actually go through the experience and you realize how awesom the electric vehicle ownership experience is, it's it's in many ways addictive.

Because the driving experience, is so tranquil and so fun.

Like the thrill factor and fun factor of these cars are so great.

The, the lower cost of maintenance is, is an amazing thing.

The technology in these cars are amazing.

So, all of these things, especially the technology in these vehicles, are going to advance considerably.

So the electric car that we see today, especially from, say, for example, of battery tech, battery technology will not be the same in five years.

So as those things develop, and these cars become more affordable, longer range, they charge faster.

A lot of these questions that people have about EV will no longer be such an issue, and therefore more mass adoption will happen.

You said the billion dollar word affordable.

The EVs, they're still pricey today.

Relatively speaking, more expensive than, say, your average gasoline car.

You know, I, I, I see it differently.

I think that there are a lot of electric cars out there that are pricey, but loo what's happening in the market.

I mean, there are EVs that ar now priced in the $30,000 range, and now Tesla and General Motor and others are preparing to go under 30.

So, you know, we're really reaching price parity with gas vehicles.

And that's one of the things that we really, face and struggle with, with consumers is a lot of them are coming into the festival with, with, expectations or with, you know, knowledge that might be two or 3 or 4 years old.

And that whole reeducation process is a is a real issue.

Because these cars are going faster.

Meaning, meaning they're, they're, they're charging faster.

They are going longer.

And there is an education process that people need to understand.

So, I love to see how the automakers have absolutely just, upended many of their business models to accommodate, the desire, to go electric.

These automakers are doing a great job.

I mean, it wasn't until about 4 or 5 years ago this was really a one horse race.

And now you come to today and look at all the offerings that are in the market.

Not only can you get a, a compact size EV, now, you can get a, a third row SUV electric vehicle.

So the offerings are all there, and the automakers have done a really great job of, of, of making those offerings available.

And that's and I'm I'm sure you've seen it too.

That's just expanding.

There's more and more vehicles, electric vehicles coming online, more trims, more models, more competition from overseas.

So it's going to be, it's going to be a very competitive market.

Yeah.

I do give you that.

I'm shocked at how many electric vehicles and trucks in minivans are out there.

As you say it seems most all the carmakers are now building EV with that, said BJ Barrett.

Well, you've been in the car industry your entire life and your life anyway.

I mean, you're literally working with I mean, directly with every automaker, whatever Ford, Volvo, Tesla, Toyota, BMW, Rivian, and others.

What are the manufacturers telling you that we, the public don't know.

You know, what are we not privy to?

Because I know there' a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on in the electric vehicle industry.

The automakers are so great at keeping secrets.

So I'm not sure if I hear more more than you do.

I say I hear, I hear rumblings, I know that these automakers are developing new products, and they're they're they're coming to market with some really exciting products.

There's automakers that have been late to, the market that are that are coming in over the next couple of years with some really strong offerings.

Obviously we're we're seeing the, the Chinese auto manufacturer who are going to be attempting to enter the US market here at some point with really competitive offerings.

And that'll be an interesting decision for the consumer to decide.

Do they go with a brand tha they know and that they trust, or do they go with a brand that has a really economical model, but they don't know so much about the company?

That's going to be a, a really interesting time and an interesting kind of, competitive, marketplace.

So, you know, what I am hearing from, the auto manufacturers and really just from consumers overall, because I think we need to address the, the, the real world challenges that are a part of this industry.

It's not all rosy.

There are things that that can be done to speed up the, the adoption of, of electric vehicles.

That is not necessarily happening at the pace.

Like I just mentioned the automakers are doing so much to retool their factories and manufacturing facilities to, to churn out these electric cars.

But at the same time, they're doing their job, and we're not seeing the infrastructure rolled out at a pace that makes the consuming public feel comfortable, about going electric because they don't see chargers everywhere.

So, you know, that's that's that's a real, real challenge.

Another real challenge right now is just we're not talking about it enough that, you know, the the high interest rates on auto loan that that's hurting people going wanting to go shopping for for a new car.

I mean, these are all these ar all real world challenges.

But, you know, I'm I'm really yes, I do own a, a North America's largest EV festival.

And I certainly want to see it continue to grow.

But at the same time there are real, real challenges.

And I think tha we got to address that through mostly through education.

And I really do appreciate you taking an objective approach to this and talking about the pros and the cons, which, you know, if you listen to the liberal media, EVs are the greatest thing in the world.

They keep marketing.

If you listen to, conservative media, you know, it's the end of the world.

Neither of which are really true.

Again, it's it's somewhere in the middle.

I want to get back to something you said.

That's important.

We shouldn't ignore this.

Thing that you mentioned.

You said that when people go to your Electrify Expo, certainl consumers are so interested of.

You mentioned maybe their preconceived notions.

They have information about electric vehicles that may be a bit old.

I am going to grant you that, because obviously, back in the day, people thought, well, that these, cars, their distance, cannot last the way a gasoline engine can.

The cars are more expensive.

Now, there are other problems with the cars.

And yes, the industry has advanced and so you are correct about that.

But I will count on one thing, because as a report, I'm out in the street.

I'm out in the field talking to so many people every day.

And when you go to more rural parts of California or more rural parts of the country, I talk to a lot of people like, well, we need the big sport utility and the giant minivan that, you know, can put ten people in in the truck.

If you just can't do that or you talk to someone, we love the off roading o they're farmers and, you know, they have their big monste truck, eight cylinder engines, you know, and they go off roading or they're hauling or they're pulling things on the back of their truck, and they're they're convinced that an EV just isn't prepared for that.

Now, you say, what about those critics who still say, you know what?

It's not for us.

Well, some people are scared of roller coasters before they go on the road, but once they go on and they actually have a really great time, and then they want to get in line right away to go on it again.

I don't I don't, I don't agree with the rural community, not being bullish on electric cars.

And let me tell you why.

The if you look at hom ownership, the rural community has a lot of home ownership.

And, if you have a home and you can charge at home, you basically have a fueling station at home.

I've owned my Eevee for two and a half years.

I had the luxury of charging at home.

I would charge in the wild once more.

I mean, in the wild.

I'm charged out in the wild once, and I'm public in a public charger.

And I didn't even need to.

I just did it because it wa there.

Like, you charge at home.

So, the beautiful thing about, you know, living in, in the rural communities, and having access to a home and being able to charg at home is that these vehicles, the fully even the fully electric vehicles, you know, they're going 300, 400 miles on and range now.

So, yes, you're definitely stretched out on those country roads and I like I kind of live in a rural community.

So I, I understand it.

But I'm not perfect use case.

I never needed to charge in the wild.

Now, there are instances where, yes, there are real world challenges where in heavy duty situations or medium duty situations where you need, a truck that can tow and haul, I think that the industry still has a ways to go in orde to provide the type of product, to that consumer that can alleviat those concerns and challenges.

That said, let's just say you're an electrician, or you're in construction and it's light duty.

There are offerings out there for you right now.

So there is, you know, there is a lot of education, that needs to happen.

And that's why experiences are so important.

Because if I can put that person who's a skeptic and they'r my favorite because I was one.

So I identify with them when it skeptics come to our shows and they have their experience an electric car and I see them leave different than how they came.

It's like boom, that's that's that's what we're trying to do here is just give the people their experience so that they don't have to listen to the media.

They don't have to read it in the paper or online.

They have their own experience and they can understand, hey, this could actually work for me.

BJ.

Bert well are you concerned about the fact that there are many anti electric industry folks?

They insist that electric vehicles are not going to help the environment.

Obviously climate change is a thing so many folks talk about today.

But they're claiming the opposite.

They say you know electricity obviously uses fossil fuels for its production.

Coal what have you.

And they're questioning where is the benefit where the environment is concerned.

I know you're a scientist, but you are a car exper and this is really your field.

True.

I'm not I'm not a scientist or an analyst in this regard.

I think that's a real that's a real, real, real question.

And that's a real challenge.

I will tell you that the the way that we, we, find minerals for batteries today might not be the same way or the same minerals we use in batterie three or 4 or 5 years from now.

And in fact, it's very likely that it could change.

So I think that those are real challenges that need to be addressed.

But if you look at the, the actual, whole process from mining the minerals to building the vehicle and owning the vehicle, you know, all the research says that once you get to that year, a year and a half point of driving that vehicle, it's lights out.

There is no comparison that that vehicle is yielding significantly less CO2 than what a gas car would continue to yield.

So there are absolutely, environmental benefits to, to owning an EV, but are still real challenges on how we mine for, for the minerals, and how we and how th automakers build these vehicles.

Absolutely.

Can you compare and contrast for me, an EV, an electric vehicle, electric car, electri truck versus a gasoline engine?

To be honest, I'm kind of old school.

I've an old truck with a big monster engine.

What?

What should convince me to go and get an EV?

Compare and contrast the two?

It's it's it's going to depend on each count, each shopper.

For me, it's instant acceleration and the thrill factor of EVs.

Once you felt that, it's it's hard to go back to a gas car after that, if that's of any interest to you.

You know, you, you know, in a, in a, in a nice car, an internal combustion engine car, you know, there's so many moving parts, right?

You know, there's there's pistons going up and down, there's a crankshaft going around, there's a camshaft going around.

There's all these moving parts.

It's interesting, you know, you have an electric motor and you lift up that hood on an EV and it's almost like a, it's almost like a shock.

You don't see anything there.

In fact, the the the the the hood on an electric car is actually called a frunk because there's no engine under there.

It's almost like an extra trunk in the trunk.

So that's what that's what the owners call it is a front end.

So but the electric motor is, is instant acceleration.

It's obviously super quiet.

And that's a, that' a that's a head scratcher, too.

When you're in a vehicle and, you know you hear the rags of the engine and you feel the rumble and the vibration going in into electric car, especially for the first time or so.

It is just such a tranquil and more relaxing experience to drive, and I just can't properly explain it.

You have to do it.

You have to experience it for yourself to understand the tranquility of it.

So, you know, it's on one side.

I'm saying I love the thrill factor of the XV's.

On the other side.

I'm saying I love the tranquility.

It kind of seems like just juxtaposing opinions, but they just really mesh well together.

So I would say, you know, that's a big part of it.

And the great thin about electric motors, too, is, I mean, there are some EVs that have a single motor.

There's some of these that have two motors, some have three motors and have four motors.

It's pretty amazing what you can do with these, with these cars with four motors.

So it's, it's it's a definitely a different ownership experience.

We talked about this just for a second earlier in the interview.

You were mentioning infrastructure.

With so many EVs expected to be on the road, in future years, can our electric grid.

Can we handle this because so many critics are sayin we're already so overly taxed.

We don't have the electric infrastructure to support the EV industry.

Now, we've all seen it.

We've all read it.

We've heard governors ask for, limited chargin during peaks peak summer days.

Like we we see it too.

And that's a that's a real question.

I think that, you know, any industry that is going through a major disruption and there is a lot of innovation happening, and it does put a strain on innovating, the other parts of that industry that are going to be needed in order to make it work, you know, I mean, I use thi example sometimes, but you know, when we went from horse and carriage to gas cars, you know, the way that people got gas because there were no gas stations, right?

People were buying, buying gas cars, there were no gasoline.

People had their ga delivered to them by milk truck.

So we're we're not at the milk truck phase.

We're a little bit past that, but it's it's absolutely a real challenge.

And there are experts, you know, working hard to address that.

In our remaining minute.

The final question, why do you believe that this argument has gotten so politicized from the liberals and conservatives?

The left, the right, it's become it's not a car issue anymore.

It's a political discussion.

Yeah that's a really good question.

I and I got a couple points on this one is that the more that we make EVs about climate change and about sustainability, the more we're alienating what we all want.

And that is for people to buy electric cars.

So if you're on, if you're on the side of sustainability and you're environmentally minded, you certainly want more people to buy electric cars.

The the issue has been, is that the continued message that we hear is about and being environmentally conscious and about climate change, and that's why you need to buy an EV.

But the way that we are going to achieve mass adoption is not by talking about environmental benefits, because the other half o the consumers that are out there don't care as much abou the environmental benefits of.

It's a great byproduct.

That's fantastic.

Good.

We're all accomplishing the goal that we want, but the more that we talk about it, the more that it that it draws skepticism from an audience that, you know, doesn't want to hear it.

So I think I think that's one major point.

The other the other is that is just look, let's be honest, you know, left leanin audience has gravitated to EVs much faster than the right leaning audience.

So if you if you'r a political candidate and you're trying to appeal to a voter base, that's a it's an issue.

You can address it.

Should it be with when have we ever politicized another form of transportation like this?

We don't need to polarize transportation.

There's really no difference in terms of a gas car and a diesel car and an EV.

They're all vehicles, so they just use alternative types of fuel.

So we got to stop, politicizing EVs.

It's it's it's definitely going to, slow down the adoption if we continue to do that.

E.J.. Well, thank you so much for the interview.

I really appreciate your candor.

Thanks for having me.

Now, for more information about our program, just click on KLCS.org and then click contact Us to send us your questions or comments or even your story ideas so we can hear from you.

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Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm doing this on.