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Electrify America charges forward with EV emoji petition

The VW-funded charger network looks to electrify World Emoji Day.

Electrify America EV emoji proposal

Electrify America's proposed EV emoji looks a bit "old school" for the future of motoring.

Electrify America

Electrify America is looking to muscle its way onto your your phone in more ways than one. The electric vehicle charger network isn't just hoping to have its app land on your mobile device, it's petitioning to have an electric vehicle emoji created, too. The petition seeks to get the Unicode Consortium -- the governing authority for emoji creation -- to add an electric car with charger to the list of emojis on your phone.

The announcement comes just days after Electrify America was announced as the official charger network partner of the new Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle, and two days ahead of World Emoji Day on July 17. 

The EV emoji petition, released via Change.org, is also seeking to drum up support via the social media tag #EVmoji. It seeks a modest goal of 100 signatures, and already has 19 as of this writing.

At present, there's already quite a range of transportation-range emoji, including everything from numerous (ostensibly gas-powered) cars to scooters, bikes, planes, boats and trains. There's even a gas-pump emoji. 

Submitting an emoji proposal to the Unicode Consortium is actually a fairly involved process, with the judging process including selection factors such as "expected usage level" and "image distinctiveness."

Despite Electrify America's association with German automaker Volkswagen (it's funded by a $2 billion penalty stemming from Dieselgate), the charge network has submitted an emoji image proposal that looks nothing like any VW we've ever seen -- perhaps intentionally so. While most emojis have a rounded, friendly appearance, the blue automobile pictured in their proposal looks both surprisingly traditional and arguably dated.

What do you think, is an EV emoji a good idea? If so, should it look like what Electrify America is proposing? Drop us a line in the comments section.

Chris Paukert Former executive editor / Cars
Following stints in TV news production and as a record company publicist, Chris spent most of his career in automotive publishing. Mentored by Automobile Magazine founder David E. Davis Jr., Paukert succeeded Davis as editor-in-chief of Winding Road, a pioneering e-mag, before serving as Autoblog's executive editor from 2008 to 2015. Chris is a Webby and Telly award-winning video producer and has served on the jury of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. He joined the CNET team in 2015, bringing a small cache of odd, underappreciated cars with him.
Chris Paukert
Following stints in TV news production and as a record company publicist, Chris spent most of his career in automotive publishing. Mentored by Automobile Magazine founder David E. Davis Jr., Paukert succeeded Davis as editor-in-chief of Winding Road, a pioneering e-mag, before serving as Autoblog's executive editor from 2008 to 2015. Chris is a Webby and Telly award-winning video producer and has served on the jury of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. He joined the CNET team in 2015, bringing a small cache of odd, underappreciated cars with him.

Article updated on July 15, 2019 at 6:27 AM PDT

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Chris Paukert Former executive editor / Cars
Following stints in TV news production and as a record company publicist, Chris spent most of his career in automotive publishing. Mentored by Automobile Magazine founder David E. Davis Jr., Paukert succeeded Davis as editor-in-chief of Winding Road, a pioneering e-mag, before serving as Autoblog's executive editor from 2008 to 2015. Chris is a Webby and Telly award-winning video producer and has served on the jury of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. He joined the CNET team in 2015, bringing a small cache of odd, underappreciated cars with him.
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