Who will be in the driver’s seat?
Women may soon become the leaders in EV purchasing
Amy Sinclair speaks to friend about driving electric
Amy Sinclair is the only woman presently serving on the board of the Golden Gate Electric Vehicle Association (GGEVA), and for many years she has been one of the few female members of this Electric Auto Association (EAA) Bay Area chapter.
She’s also been part of a decisive minority when it comes to electric vehicle (EV) purchases. While women account for 45% of nationwide auto acquisition, they make up just 32% when it comes to going electric.
“There’s definitely change on the horizon,” said Sinclair, who is a member of both the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Women of Electric Vehicles (WEV), as well as EV Gals, a smaller, Bay Area-only group. “There are just a few important things that need to happen first.”
An early adopter
Sinclair’s first venture into the world of clean energy vehicles came in the early 2000’s when she and her husband purchased a Ford Escape Hybrid, a car they still own today.
“I’ve always been involved with sustainability and my husband and I wanted to lower our carbon footprint,” said Sinclair, who has spent many years working in the sustainable energy world, most recently at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “Later, I educated myself on the many benefits of going all electric and we ordered our Nissan LEAF online in 2010.”
From there, the couple leased a Mercedes B-Class Electric, followed by a Honda Clarity EV. They turned to ownership again with the purchase of a used Tesla Model 3 in November of last year.
“I couldn’t be happier with the Model 3,” said Sinclair. “It was a little more than I wanted to spend on a used car, but it’s certainly worth it. The Tesla supercharging network is a game changer.”
Sinclair believes that the longer range of the Tesla and other vehicles now on the market will draw more women toward EVs.
“Range anxiety has been a big barrier for women,” she said, suggesting that higher range capabilities and the improvement in charging infrastructure should help with the gender gap. “The idea of running out of power and getting stranded on the side of the road can be terrifying to women for safety reasons.
Automakers must change perspective
“It’s important to consider that women tend to have the final say on family car decisions and electric cars have not been family oriented enough,” Sinclair said. “Mothers are driving the kids, the dog, and lots of stuff around town and there haven’t been a lot of electric minivans. Many EVs are made for the luxury market, which is more traditionally men.”
Sinclair believes that in order for California to reach its 2035 EV sales mandate, and for other states to increase the EV market share, EV manufacturers must move away from sedans and luxury models, and toward more affordable, family-friendly minivans, crossovers, and SUVs.
“Carmakers need to attract women with the type of vehicles that many women with families need,” she said. “And the marketing needs to focus on, and attract, women. We need to see more images of women and families in the marketing materials.”
Education is the tool
“The more we can educate women on the benefits of driving electric, the more women will buy and lease electric,” Sinclair remarked. “Not enough women know about the tax credits and they’re not as aware as they should be of the significant savings in operating costs. They need to know they won’t have to do a smog check or an oil change, or replace a timing belt.”
“And a lot of moms out there want to do their part around global climate change,” she continued. “They just don’t realize how easy it is to drive electric. They need to understand they’ll be driving a cleaner vehicle, and that it’s possible to charge up with clean energy, too. Community choice aggregation (CCA) programs are now widespread in California, and they give families access to affordable 100% renewable energy, regardless of whether they rent or own their home or apartment. Many of these CCAs also offer low-income rebates and incentives to drive electric.”
“The used EV market is something that needs more awareness,” Sinclair added. “And in California, we have to keep diversity in mind when it comes to putting women in EVs. We absolutely should be engaging with multi-lingual markets and women of color.”
Sinclair asserted that additional EV education for dealers would benefit women, too. “In my experience, very little education about EVs, or about rebate opportunities, takes place at the dealership,” she explained. “Even in the environmentally-minded Bay Area, the dealerships where we leased our cars were clueless and could not answer our questions. They just wanted the EV off of their lots so they could meet their quotas.”
“When a woman comes in the door, it can be a lot easier for the dealers to avoid questions about electric vehicles, and to steer a woman into a gas vehicle that’s cheaper up-front to buy.”
EV women unite
The need for education is a primary reason why Sinclair is active in the GGEVA, as well as in EV Gals and WEV.
EV Gals is a small group that formed in 2019 among women in the clean energy space. “We’re all Bay Area EV drivers, all EV advocates, mostly women who have worked in clean transportation, especially around government,” Amy said. “We just started getting together to talk about how we could make a difference.”
Still loosely structured, the group advocates for more EV education, including hosting free ‘EV 101’ trainings on purchasing, owning and operating an EV. Formerly in-person and now online during the pandemic, the gatherings are promoted through social media and emails.
WEV is a larger, national organization, also for women who work in the EV space. “A WEV chapter started in the San Francisco Bay Area in the last year,” Sinclair said. “We’ve been planning to go out to a diverse audience of women and people of color to advocate. It’s a very resourceful bunch with a great knowledge base… a wonderful group of women focused on diversity and education.”
Gateway electric
Whether it’s with the GGEVA, EV Gals, or WEV, Sinclair makes sure to present as wide a picture as possible when educating about clean energy vehicles.
“I’m a great believer in women getting started with hybrid plug-ins as a gateway to going fully electric,” she said. “I have an 86-year-old mother-in-law with a 20-mile electric range plug-in hybrid and she almost never uses gas. She loves telling her friends that she only buys gas three times a year.”
“If she can do it at 86, any woman can do it,” Sinclair concluded. “If it’s too big a leap to go all-electric, then try on a plug-in hybrid. It’s just time for all of us to get behind the wheel and drive electric.”
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