The 2010 North American International Auto Show opened in Detroit today and there is electricity in the air. There's even an Electric Avenue, 37,000 square feet of floor dedicated to showcasing about twenty electric vehicles and new technology. The electrification of the automobile is clearly gaining momentum. CSM Worldwide predicts that by 2020, half of all cars sold worldwide—about 20 million vehicles—will have some form of electric motor. Most of these sales will be in Europe and Asia, however, where drivers favour smaller, more efficient cars and tend to have "greener" attitudes towards the environment.

Ford Fusion Hybrid, North American Car of the Year

On day one of the show, Ford took top honours for two of its vehicles. The Ford Fusion Hybrid was named North American Car of the Year, and the Transit Connect was voted Truck of the Year. The Fusion Hybrid beat out the Buick LaCrosse and the Volkswagen Golf, while the Transit Connect topped the Chevrolet Equinox and the Subaru outback. Ford has sold more than 600,000 Transit Connects around the world since it was introduced in 2003. It entered the US market only last July.

General Motors announced that it will produce the Cadillac Converj plug-in concept car that it introduced at last year's Detroit auto show. It will use the same technology as the Chevrolet Volt plug-in coming out later this year. The Converj is expected to be introduced some time after 2012.

Chrysler is introducing the battery-powered version of the Fiat 500 subcompact from Fiat SpA. The gas-powered Fiat 500 will follow later this year.

Also on Electric Avenue is Nissan's new Leaf, billed as a one hundred percent electric car with zero emissions, "the world's first electric car designed for affordability and real-world requirements," according to its web site. Nissan is also showing its Mixim, another electric concept car created for the Michelin Challenge Design display, a program started nine years ago to highlight innovation and creativity in vehicle design.

Toyota is also unveiling a new hybrid-electric car, the FT-CH, a concept car that's smaller than the popular Prius. The FT-CH (CH for Compact Hybrid) was designed in France at Toyota's European Design and Development centre. Toyota hopes to leverage the broad brand awareness of the Prius and the Toyota reputation for quality in marketing this new class of hybrid in North America.  The company will launch eight all new hybrids over the next few years as part of its strategy to sell a million hybrids worldwide in the early years of the decade.

Honda's new two-seater, the 2011 CR-Z "personal sport hybrid," is designed for "adventure and an elevated sense of responsibility toward the environment" The CR-Z is powered by a 166-horspower 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine with Honda's compact and lightweight Integrated Motor Assist hybrid-electric system.

Will public demand for electric cars be sustained, or is it just another craze driven by high fuel prices and a temporary awareness of the environmental damage caused by carbon emissions? In the mid-nineties, the forces of government, the oil industry, auto makers, and public apathy combined to kill the then-promising new electric car before it had a chance to prove itself. Could this happen again? Very little has changed in the oil industry. The same companies that crushed the electric car a decade ago are making record profits today.

Ultimately it's consumers who will determine whether electric cars succeed this time. A paradigm shift must occur before electric cars can replace the oil-fueled piston engine. Drivers must  change certain behaviours—you can't drive all day until the tank is empty then fill it up again in five minutes and drive some more. Getting used to plugging in instead of filling up might take time for most of us.       

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