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MotorWeek Feeds Our Love Affair with Automobiles

While attending the Green Fleet Conference in Chicago on 10/3/2012, I had the privilege of hearing Mr. John Davis give the keynote address (the creator, producer and host for the weekly TV show MotorWeek). Mr. Davis spoke on electric vehicle (BEV) technology and hybrid vehicle (HEV) technology and ultra low emission vehicles (ULEV). John is a dynamic speaker and literally erupts with enthusiasm about cars.

October 5, 2012
2 min to read


Imagine being a young person and falling hopelessly in love with the muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s. Then – being able to turn that passion into a long and lucrative career. John is so passionate about cars his vocabulary is mostly adjectives and he is living his dream. Like most Americans from his generation, (I’m one too) John misses the glory years when an automobile held the same stature as if one of your immediate family.

I found it entertaining when John successfully conveyed that same enthusiasm for modern vehicles filled with green technology; BEV’s, HEV’s and ULEV’s. Imagine John comparing a 1968 Dodge Hemi Super Bee to a 2012 Mitsubishi I EV. In 1968 John may have said something like: The 1968 Dodge Super Bee sports a 426 c.i, dual quad hemi able to light up the tires and go from 0 – to – 100 in 5.6 seconds! (See what you missed if you were born after 1980) At the Conference John enthusiastically described the 2012 Mitsubishi I by saying: The 2012 Mitsubishi I has a bubble like front and exaggerated fenders which looks like a blend between a hardboiled egg and the Jetsons. It sports a 66 horse power, 49KV electric motor which makes a pleasant whirring sound and has seating for four. We were even able to chirp the tires while accelerating from 0 – to – 60 in 13.9 seconds!

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You can’t help but smile when someone can create emotional magic while describing a vehicle which would fit in the trunk of one of those 60’s era family cars. To live and work your passion is something we all covet. John Davis is doing just this. Imagine remaining equally excited about two iconic vehicles like a 1970 Hemi Dodge Cuda (a major contributor to smog) and a 2010 Toyota Prius (a major contributor to smug). Thank you John for giving us 31 years (so far) of MotorWeek TV car comparisons. Keep up the good work.

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