Project EVIE Blog

Cars. Like sports, strip clubs, and wide-screen TVs, are something that, traditionally at least, you can’t talk to women about – they’re simply not interested. Well, if Jay Leno’s right (and when is he ever not?), electric cars could change all that. Read on…

This week, the NYTimes ‘Wheels’ blog reported that Leno is adding a segment to his newly minted Jay Leno Show called “The Green Car Challenge,” which will feature celebrities competing for the best track time in a suped-up Electric Ford Focus. Now this is cool enough in itself, especially as the Ford’s modifications will include an extra battery pack, tweaked suspension, a roll bar, and a 5-point safety harness. But what’s also interesting is the reason Jay gave for starting up the segment:

“Because whenever I would drive a green car, like an electric car, when I drove it to the show, the female guests would go, ‘What is that? Does that not use gas?’ And a lot of times, without sounding sexist, the guys are interested in cars, the women could care less. But this is something where the women will go, ‘Hey, how does that work?’ And they’re really interested. And I think Drew Barrymore said that she would like to drive it.”

Now this statement brings up several important questions… One of which is, What is the nature of Jay Leno’s fantasy of Drew Barrymore driving his car? And another of which is, Why were the female guests on The Tonight Show waiting for Jay in the parking lot? But besides from these, which perhaps we will never know, is the question, Does Jay have a point in saying women are more genuinely interested in electric cars?

His female guests certainly seemed very interested in his electric cars… and while normally I might think that when a woman asks a man about his car, she’s really getting at something else, I tend in this case to think that these women were actually interested in Jay Leno’s actual electric cars (sorry Jay, but you’re no Brad Pitt).

So… why might women be more into EVs than their gasoline counterparts? Is it because they’re quieter? Because they’re the future? Or because you won’t get your hands greasy touching them? Because you’ll never have to get out of your car wearing a skirt and pump gas? Because you’ll never have to deal with a gas attendant while wearing a skirt? Is it because they’re better for the environment? Because they run on the same thing that powers hair-dryers? Because they have cute design? Or because they’re not as threatening as gas-powered cars? Because EVs are emasculating?

Perhaps a little of all of these and much more… I’ll stop there for risk of saying too much, but please, I’d love to know what you gals think (and, if anything, to correct me)… So, are women particularly fond of EVs? Why or why not? Come on girls, let’s talk about cars.

******EX POST FACTO******

I’ve since discovered that in the early 1900′s, electric cars were marketed as being “suitable” for women drivers, as they lacked the noise, smell and vibration of gasoline cars, there was no gear changing involved (which was very difficult back then), and they did not require a hand crank to start them.