Electrifying parade planned for Santa Monica

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When it came to securing a spot in President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration parade, electric vehicle advocates at Plug In America were hoping to hear a resounding “Yes, you can!” from event organizers. Instead, the California nonprofit got a “Thanks, but no thanks” to their proposal to add a fleet of electric vehicles to the Jan. 20 procession.

So they came up with Plan B: a parade in Santa Monica on Jan. 17.

Plans call for a 9:30 a.m. news conference at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, followed by a parade of 50 plug-in vehicles south on Main Street to the neighborhood of Ocean Park and then back to the auditorium via Neilson Way.

The procession will include more than two dozen Toyota RAV4 EVs, three Tesla Roadsters, two Vetrix electric motor scooters and experimental plug-in hybrid versions of the Ford Escape sport utility vehicle and the Toyota Prius.

There will also be a 50-ton cargo truck built by Balqon Corp., a California electric vehicle manufacturer, as well as a 1971 Porsche 914 that has been converted to electric drive.

State Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), a prominent voice in Sacramento for green transportation, will be among the speakers at the news conference. Chris Paine, director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” — the “Citizen Kane” of the EV movement — will have a crew on hand to shoot footage for a sequel, “Revenge of the Electric Car,” said Zan Dubin Scott, spokeswoman for Plug In America. (For more info, go to Plug In America’s web site.)

Plug In America leaders are philosophical about getting snubbed by Obama parade organizers, who had to wade through more than 1,300 applications before selecting the more than 90 marching bands, community groups and other outfits that will participate.

“We might’ve gotten lost in all the business back there” in Washington, said Scott. “Here we won’t be competing with as much noise.”

Here’s betting the weather will be nicer, too.

-- Martin Zimmerman