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As SIAB 2011 was cancelled because of low interest for participation from the car companies, the company Premium Expo has tried to organize Romania SAB&A 2011, a show dedicated mainly to dealers and resellers and less to car producers.

When you have participated in Frankfurt Motor Show only two weeks before, you cannot have great expectation from SAB&A, but the disappointment was bigger then you could anticipate when entering the gates of the show. Regrettably the disillusionment was from all points of view: location, organization, exhibitors, models exposed and number of participants.

However, the main purpose of my visit to SAB&A was to investigate the presence of electro-mobility at the show, how the interest on electro mobility is reflected in the organization of the show, how car dealers are promoting either electric or hybrid cars on the Romanian market, their awareness of government or local authorities initiatives in introducing electric vehicles in Romania and of course to disseminate the results of SEEE-Mobility and Autoclusters projects.

One says numbers don’t lies and the reality that at SAB&A show was exposed only one electric car, Mitshubishi iMiEV and two GPL-electric hybrids (Hyundai Avante and KIA Forte) make obvious the fact that we will not see electric cars on Romanian roads too soon but only if important actions are taken at all decision levels and by all parties invoved.

I could get only sales information about exhibited models, the representatives saying they have no information about car producers’ strategies on introducing electric vehicles in Romania and that that for the moment the demand for electric cars is insignificant.

I was expecting to find at the show representatives of Renault which is one of the important players in the Romanian car production as owner of Dacia plant and one of the top ranked car sellers in Romania. Their palette of electric models exhibited at Frankfurt Motor Show impressed me and I wanted to ask them more information about their initiatives in electro mobility in Romania. They were absent from the SAB&A show instead, I found them the same day at the 2011 International Trade Fair in Bucharest (Târgul Internaţional Bucureşti – TIB). I tried as much as I could to find news from the Renault representative about electro mobility plans of the company but I only get evasive answers or claims about the secrecy of company policy in this area.

In the premises of TIB 2011 I could discuss more on electro-mobility than in the SAB&A but the hopes for a quicker introduction of electric vehicles didn’t rise too much.

In the discussion with a representative of Electroprecizia, well known producer of electrical machines and instrument panels for old model Dacia cars, I could find that the company has no intention to enter into the market of electrical motors for electrical vehicles.

Questioning a representative of Romanian Association of Electricians (AREL) when discussing on the same topics of electro mobility, I get the answer that there is no initiative to develop training courses for the electricians who in future years will assure the support and repair for electrical vehicles running on Romanian roads. Installing wind turbines and solar panels seem to be the only new skills demanded these days from electricians and there is no demand related to electric vehicles.

At the Inventika fair organized in the frame of TIB 2011, I could also found information about the research done in ICPE research institute in Bucharest on special electrical machines for electric vehicles. Different models have been designed and tested on electric vehicle prototypes that were demonstrated at different innovation and trade fairs.