Waraniak, vice president for vehicle technology for the Specialty Equipment Market Association, said during a panel discussion at the conference that tuners will continue to have fun modifying electric vehicles, just as they do with the current internal combustion engine in today’s cars.

“Horsepower and green power can coexist,” Waraniak said.

In between friendly jabs from fellow panelists about his mullet hair style and cowboy boots, Waraniak said aftermarketers will create the buzz to show that electric vehicles can be cool.

“We’re talking about hot rod hybrids and high-performance electrics,” Waraniak said. “This is one of the neatest times to be in the auto industry.”

He said there are four megatrends that dominate the auto industry: Green, safe, connected and cool.

Sure, performance cars will be different. While today’s generation of hot rodders grew up on the sweet smell of exhaust and the loud sounds from big-block V-8s, the next generation might take a completely different view of performance. Waraniak said it is sort of like today’s young people who never heard a dial tone on a home phone.

“My car’s quieter than yours,” Waraniak said future hot rodders might say to each other.

At the same time these new machines push the performance boundaries, they will also get superior fuel mileage. For example, Waraniak talked about the Lincvolt, a 1959 Lincoln with 500 horsepower that gets 80 mpg that is owned by musician Neil Young. Waraniak said Young chose the massive Lincoln to show high fuel mileage is possible in any car.

Waraniak said SEMA’s members are working on other technologies, such as using suspension motions to generate electricity to help drive the vehicle. So the pothole actually is good for something.

He said that green performance is a major growth area for SEMA and will have a major presence at the association’s annual mega show in Las Vegas Nov. 2-5.

Waraniak

TRAVERSE CITY — Worried that your hot rod, circa 2025, will have the power of one those toy Fisher-Price Jeeps that little tikes drive around on the lawn, rather than the current range of tire-melting monsters?

John Waraniak, vice president of vehicle technology for the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association told those gathered at the Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars that there’s no reason to worry.

“People will find a way to make them go faster,” Waraniak said. He said that green and big horsepower will coexist in the electrified future of the car.

And he thinks the industry will benefit from SEMA’s members’ continued involvement in developing automotive add-ons. In fact, he said that aftermarket parts makers can help accelerate the electrification of the automobile by providing parts to retrofit existing vehicles.

Waraniak encouraged those who are developing the battery-powered propulsion systems to open up the platform to allow for modifications. He compared the automotive battery revolution to Apple’s original iPhone, which limited programmers’ ability to write applications to take advantage of all it’s features. Now that the iPhone’s platform is more open, Apple is itself using app developers in its own marketing and the phone’s full potential is being realized.

Waraniak said SEMA is committed to driving green, driving connected and driving safe. But he added that SEMA members will provide an important fourth element.

“You’ve got to wrap it all together with driving cool,” he said. “Cool is the multiplier. SEMA brings the cool factor.

“You have to have enthusiasts.”