Chelsea Sexton

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Chelsea Sexton as guest speaker at the South Pasadena Clean Car Show and Film Festival 7-22-2007.

Chelsea Sexton (born August 14, 1975) is a marketing expert and advocate of alternative fuel vehicles. Sexton entered the automotive industry at the age of 17 after buying her first Saturn. She wanted to put herself through college by working at Saturn, and she loved the cars more than what she was studying in college, and three years later, General Motors announced the EV1 electric vehicle program, and she jumped on it. Focusing on building a market for alternate-fuel vehicles through partnerships with corporate and non-profit stakeholders, shaping public policy and incentives, developing marketing strategies, and working directly with the drivers themselves, Sexton became well-known as an advocate for clean, efficient, transportation.

When General Motors closed their EV1 assembly line, after they bought the Hummer brand in December 1999, they laid off their employees. They started with the most successful consultants. Sexton was laid off at the end of 2001 and became a consultant to auto manufacturers and clean energy providers to help bring alternate fuel vehicles to market, as well as increasingly clean ways to power them. In 2005, Sexton joined the X PRIZE Foundation and led the creation of a prize effort, which to deal with both energy and automobiles. As of 2006, she manages an alternative fuel division for the Santa Monica, California based start-up Zag.com and also serves as the Executive Director of Plug In America, a coalition of individuals and organizations that advocates for the preservation and manufacture of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles.

Chelsea is one of the key individuals interviewed in the 2006 documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car? Sexton is married to Bob Sexton, an EV1 service technician, and they have a son, Christopher (born July 11, 1998).