Peachtree Point, GA (CBS46) – A city north of Metro Atlanta could be called the tech hub of the Southeast. Peachtree Corner hosted its first-ever all-electric car show, but it wasn’t just hot rods on display.
From beefy limousines and trucks, to campers and even the little robotic assistant that follows you, the only difference at the auto show Saturday morning at Peachtree Point is that every vehicle on display is electric.
“We handed over our public infrastructure to allow companies to get involved,” said Peachtree Corners city manager Brian Johnson.
It’s no coincidence that one of the largest EV shows in the Atlanta metro area is taking place in Peachtree Corner, home to the 500-acre tech hub Curiosity Labs.
“We’ve created an ecosystem for companies to test or demonstrate innovative technologies in areas such as mobility, smart cities, IoT, cybersecurity, and more,” Johnson said.
A good example is the Beep shown at the auto show. A year ago, the city deployed a fleet of three fully automatic electric shuttles that operate in the city Monday to Friday as public transportation.
Georgia’s public service commissioner participated in Saturday’s event. While touting the city’s self-driving cars and numerous electric vehicle charging stations, he also made a case for making electric vehicles more accessible to everyone. He said the Biden administration’s Lower Inflation Act could help because it would provide a tax credit for used electric vehicles for the first time.
“It’s going to be huge. A car like my Nissan Leaf, while it might not be suitable for driving to Panama City Beach, is great for running errands,” said Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols. “So, we really need to think about the whole class that people can afford.”
The Echols Commission also called for the reinstatement of the electric vehicle tax credit at the state level in Georgia.
Meanwhile, city managers at Peachtree Corners hope that other cities across the country will do what they are doing and drive public and private innovation.
“You never know, tomorrow or next year, we might see technology that you know scale up from something like that, and if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have seen it,” Johnson said.
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