Monthly Archives: March 2009

Shandong Baoya Vehicle Company Claims Impressive US Sales

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BaoYa Electric Vehicle From China

BaoYa Electric Vehicle From China

Shandong Baoya Vehicle Company of China recently reported impressive US sales for their BaoYa vehicle. The company claims 500 vehicles were sold in 2008 and that orders for 2009 have already reached 4,800. The vehicle has a top speed of 50 mph (limited to 25 mph as a low speed vehicle) and a range of 90 miles according to the company. The vehicle is priced in China at $4,500 to $5,000.

Comment: I am skeptical about these sales figures for both 2008 and 2009. The 2008 figures would mean they outsold more well known LSVs like ZENN and Tomberlin and the 2009 figure would put them on par with GEM sales, all while going largely unnoticed in the market. The performance characteristics at that price point also seem optimistic.


Axeon Dramatically Improves Battery Performance For Modec

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Axeon recently announced that they had nearly doubled the performance of their Lithium ion battery back in on road tests for Modec’s 3.5 ton electric urban delivery vehicles. While independent testing indicated only a 25% increase, prototype tests nearly doubled vehicle range from 76 to 150 miles. Axeon attributed the improvement to a new cell design that increased power density. Based on these results Modec is planning to offer the battery back in the second half of this year.

Pursu Mobility’s Urban Vehicle Concept

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This story from greencar.com reports on an interesting three-wheel hybrid vehicle concept targeting the urban commuter segment.  The concept includes technology of Dutch origin that allows the vehicle body to tilt during turns depending on vehicle speed.  As a three wheeler it would be classified as a motorcycle.  The company, Pursu Mobility, expects a launch in 2010.

Urban Use Spikes Electric Scooter Sales In Canada

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Greenwit Technologies reports increasing sales of their Motorino electric scooter.  While not the usual type of vehicles covered in this blog, scooters do rub up against some of the vehicles we cover in the urban use segment and I think it is important to track this tangential market.

Steve Miloshev, company president, estimates that a 1,000 units were sold in 2008.  He recently made his first shipment to the US for East coast distribution and plans further expansion into Florida and California.  He attributes fuel prices, environmental concerns and the practicality of the vehicles.  In the article he remarks that some buyers are replacing second vehicles with the scooters and about 15% use it as their main means of transportation.  The scooters, which reach speeds of 60km/h and can travel up to 60 kilometres on a single charge, retail between $3,700 and $5,000. Learn more

Private Equity Firm Acquires Controlling Interest In Tomcar

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In February Markstone Capital Partners of Los Angeles acquired a controlling interest in Tomcar, which makes offroad vehicles for military and industrial applications.  Terms of the agreement were not released.

Last year Tomcar had received an investment from Markstone and had opened up a 85,000 square foot contract manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, MI in partnership with German-based EDAG.  At full production the facility can produce just over 10,000 vehicles per year but initial production targets were for 2,000 vehicles in 2008 and 5,000 in 2009.  According to reports, the first vehicles rolling of the line were for a custom order and vehicles for the general market start this month.

The vehicles, which retail starting between $14,000 and $15,000, come in two-seater, four-seater or mini-truck versions.  They have applications in military, mining, security patrol, farm and ranch, recreation and tourism uses.

Total investment in the plant was estimated to be $9.5 million. Tomcar also has facilities in Israel and Phoenix, AZ.  Learn more