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SEMA 2023 spotlight: Electric vehicle conversions by Future-Tech Studio

Shakeria Hawkins at SEMA 2023
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LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The world's largest automotive aftermarket trade show, SEMA, has returned to Las Vegas.

Thousands of attendees from across the industry will take over the Las Vegas Convention Center this week for the 2023 SEMA tradeshow to check out the latest trends and innovations.

This year's event highlights SEMA’S Future Tech Studio. The tech studio showcases various vehicle makes, and models converted to run on lower or zero-emissions engines.

“Electric vehicles are becoming more popular in new vehicle sales and even in the aftermarket industry where people are converting their ICE power and internal combustion engine car into battery electric vehicles. In the aftermarket, everyone likes to tinker and modify and personalize—and converting your car to EV is a way to do that,” said VP of Marketing RJ De Vera.

For classic car enthusiasts interested in transitioning to electric vehicles, aftermarket kits like modular EV Drive system kits are available. Matt White, the CEO of Ampere EV, a company that offers conversion systems, prices their conversion system at around $55,000. As demand increases, White anticipates that the system's cost will decrease. Installing this kit allows drivers to keep their classic cars up-to-date while contributing to a greener environment.

“It is feature-rich, and it does have a lot of stuff, but we understand the average person probably won’t consider that at the price point, so our goal is to get more efficient and get our prices down,” said White.

In an exciting addition, SEMA is introducing SEMA-FEST. While the SEMA Show remains a trade-only event and isn't open to the general public, attendees with SEMA-FEST tickets can access the tradeshow on Friday.