DETROIT — The first-ever Electric Vehicle + Energy Infrastructure Innovation and Sustainability Exchange conference (EVX) debuted on June 22 at Detroit’s Huntington Place, managed by ASM Global. The venue hosted and sponsored the launch of the event, showcasing a new and growing sector of the automotive industry in the Motor City.
Produced by MAD Event Management and Sitarian Corporation, the EVX event brought together stakeholders in the fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) and energy infrastructure market to network and educate others about the operations, infrastructure, investment, cost recovery and policy surrounding electric vehicles and their necessary infrastructure. The conference drew 60 invited attendees, including electric vehicle manufacturers, private sector infrastructure companies, and federal, state and local government officials.
According to Paul Sitar, CEO, Head of Business Creation & Development at Sitarian Corporation, and creator and director of the EV Exchange, the EVX conference was designed to help bolster collaboration among the various communities, which is key to the success of EVX’s efforts and initiatives. “This is core to EVX and what will set us apart in the industry,” he said.
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Studies and surveys are showing this is a burgeoning sector of the automotive industry. The marketing consultant AutoPacific projected that from 2021 to 2022, electric vehicle sales would increase by 37%, with estimated sales of fully electric light vehicles in the U.S. reaching 700,000 units in 2022 alone. IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2022 reports that 2 million electric vehicles have been sold worldwide so far this year.
ASM Global’s Executive Vice President, Convention Centers, Bob McClintock said, “If you look at the EV industry, there’s a great opportunity to bring minds together from the manufacturing side, the infrastructure side and the regulatory side to talk about all of the issues that they all face in this exciting new emerging industry.”
He continued, “We’re recognizing new and exciting content in our venues and finding these opportunities that we can be supportive of to help them get off the ground, to help them grow and to help them be even more important to the community. Detroit has always been the leader in automotive innovation, and this is the next phase of automotive innovation.”
Visit Detroit was the presenting sponsor of the EVX conference. According to Visit Detroit’s President & CEO Claude Molinari, “Bringing any event to Detroit helps advance our region’s economic competitiveness, but Visit Detroit recognized the importance of the EV Exchange in advancing Michigan’s mobility leadership. For more than 100 years Detroit and Michigan have been global automotive leaders, and now our region is committed to the next generation of mobility innovation.”
As for future events, Sitar said that EVX is securing its 2023 dates in Detroit and will also expand. “EVX plans to innovate the experience in the 2023 event,” Sitar said. He added that part of that innovation is the planned inclusion of products, technologies, platforms and services that will help address the ongoing survey and data findings. Strategic co-locations, like EVX Data Deep Dives (EVX 3-D), are currently being designed with community members for the 2023 conference to enhance the attendee experience.
Reach Bob McClintock at bmcclintock@asmglobal.com; Paul Sitar at paul@theevexchange.com; and Claude Molinari at cmolinari@visitdetroit.com
