From an article by Randy Hanson in the by Hudson Star-Observer:
The electric car is about to become a much more commonplace sight on the streets of American cities, a former Ford Europe engineer told an audience in Hudson last Thursday evening.
Jukka Kukkonen, a native of Finland and president of the Minnesota Electric Auto Association, spoke to 55 people who attended a presentation on electric vehicles at The Phipps Center for the Arts. The meeting was sponsored by The Purple Tree, a downtown Hudson retail shop that specializes in fair trade products and ones made from recycled or organic materials.
“This is the cool part, because there is so much new stuff coming out each day,” Kukkonen said before introducing a dozen or more electric vehicles currently available or about to be produced.
They included the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf, Mini E by BMW and Ford Focus Electric.
“Everybody’s on board. Now it’s just for us to think about which one we want,” said Kukkonen, who moved to St. Paul eight years ago after marrying an American he met while working for Ford Europe.
“The train is moving. The question is who is going to jump on board and who is going to stay at the station,” he later said of automobile companies. “Definitely, there is a new market and a new industry. The question is who is going to be a part of it.”