Category Archives: electric vehicles

Hoboken LSV Purchase Revisited

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Earlier in a What’s Cooking On The STOV post I had covered the city of Hoboken’s purchase of LSV utility vehicles for their parking department. The city manager behind the purchase has recently blogged about the process and the reasoning behind it. Some of the key factors influencing the decision to switch from pick-up trucks to LSVs included:

  • Limited use criteria: restricted operating area in terms of miles driven, flat terrain, low payload requirements, no emergency response requirements
  • High mileage pick-ups with increasing maintenance costs
  • High fuel costs for pick-ups driven by idling
  • Narrow LSVs don’t block traffic
  • LSVs have significantly lower fuel and maintenance costs

As an added bonus the vehicles attracted press coverage which highlighted the department’s cost effective and forward thinking purchase. Learn more: Ian Sac’s blog

Golf Car Manufacturers Targeting LSV Market

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A local newspaper story in Georgia, home state of the leading golf car manufacturers, recently ran a story about their move into the LSV market.?? The story focuses mainly on the leaders in the golf car market, Club Car and E-Z-Go. Club Car introduced their passenger version of the Villager 2+2 late last year and E-Z-Go will be introducing their LSV later this year.

Club Car was able to take advantage of market demand driven by federal tax credits, especially in Oklahoma.?? E-Z-Go chose not to rush the development schedule of their LSV to take advantage of the tax credit.?? Instead, they are looking to enter the market with a vehicle with distinctive features.?? One feature we have learned about for the vehicle is four wheel hydraulic brakes.
Not mentioned in the story is entry of smaller golf car manufacturers into LSV market such as Fairplay.

The move into the LSV market is driven by a number of factors:

  • Golf cars are already being sold into the gated community market where LSVs are also sold
  • There is growing market opportunity as an increasing number of LSVs are sold outside of gated communities
  • The decline in the golf course driven segment of the market is forcing golf car companies to look for new areas of growth

Learn more:?? Augusta Chronicle

Boulder Electric Vehicle To Begin Production

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Boulder Electric Vehicle's Electric Truck

The aerodynamic electric truck from Boulder Electric Vehicle

With 25 orders of intent in hand Boulder Electric Vehicles is setting up a 60,000 square foot facility to produce their electric truck.?? The all electric truck is targeted for the delivery market and can travel 120 miles before requiring an 8 hour recharge.?? The vehicle currently costs $100,000.?? Learn more:?? Detnews.com

Dealer News

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Arnell Auto Group A New GEM Dealer – Arnell Auto Group in Burns Harbor, IN recently became the only dealer for Global Electric Motorcars in Indiana.?? The GEM line includes six vehicle models that operate on a chargeable 72-volt battery and can seat between two and six passengers.?? David Arnell is the president of the Arnell Auto Group, which sells new and used vehicles, also sells Chevrolet, Chevrolet Commercial, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram brands. Learn more:?? NWItimes.com

North Shore Auto Group Provides Solar Charged Vehicles – North Shore Auto Group of Highland Park, IL has partnered with The Solar Electric Vehicle Company (SEVC) to provide solar-charged Cruise Car NEVs. The vehicles travel up to 60 miles on a single charge using a solar panel system that provides constant supplemental charging throughout the day.?? The line-up of vehicles includes 4 and 6 passenger NEVs and multi-passenger shuttles, security and utility NEVs as well as solar-canopied golf carts.?? Learn more:?? EVworld.com

5 Star Mini Trucks To Market Chinese Brand – 5 Star Mini Trucks of Yukon, OK recently announced an exclusive contract with Shandong Liangzi Power Co. Ltd. of China to market their trucks and set up dealerships around the U.S.?? The vehicles are street legal in Oklahoma except on highways and can travel 40 miles on a gallon of gasoline. Owner Rick Opitz said “...the partnership could also lead to an Oklahoma assembly plant or parts warehouse for the mini trucks.“?? Learn more:?? OKNews.com

Battery News

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Worldwide Battery Joins Trojan Battery Network – WorldWide Battery Company recently joined its superior network of master distributors to oversee distribution of Trojan Battery products in the states of Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. WorldWide Battery. WorldWide Battery currently owns and operates six distribution centers spanning a total of over 75,000 square feet of space.?? Learn more:?? Trojanbattery.com

Fairplay To Use Fullriver AGM Batteries – Fairplay Electric Cars will offer its new EVE LSV Deluxe Limited model exclusively with AGM batteries manufactured by Fullriver Batteries.?? The vehicle features an AC motor.?? The Fullriver AGM batteries will also be offered as an upgrade in all models of Fairplay cars, including the HOSS for commercial industrial use, the Legacy Golf products and the popular EVE low speed vehicles for street use.?? Learn more:?? Fullriverdcbattery.com

Smith Electric Vehicles US Wins $22M Grant

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It was recently announced that Smith Electric Vehicles US Corp won a $22 million grant from the US Department of Energy.?? The grant will be used to produce more than 500 of the Smith Newton all-electric commercial trucks as part of a demonstration program.?? Earlier the company was awarded a $10 million grant.?? Learn more:?? Reuters.com

Garia To Reveal Limited Edition Golf Car In Monaco

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Garia Soleil de Minuit

Garia Limited Edition Soleil de Minuit Luxury Golf Car

Emphasizing their positioning as a luxurious and high quality golf car manufacturer, Garia is revealing their Limited Edition Soleil de Minuit at?? the luxury show Top Marques Monaco in April.?? Billed as the “…most expensive and luxurious golf car ever made”, the Soleil de Minuit costs $52,000 and features…

…carbon roof, one-of custom paint tailored to enhance all design features on The Garia, two-colored hand-stitched luxury seats, alcantara roof lining and numerous hand-made details to create a truly unique luxury golf car.

The base price for a Garia starts at $17,499 / ???13,999 (excl. delivery and taxes). Luxury upgrades includes a built-in refrigerator and an exclusive personalization program where you can choose to have The Garia painted in your favorite color or matched to your other cars.

Built to the highest standards of the automotive industry The Garia features a double wishbone front suspension similar to those found in sports cars and inspired by Formula 1 cars. The drive train is built by an Italian company that also produces Ducati gearboxes, and the aluminum profiles in the frame are made by the same company that supplies aluminum profiles to Aston Martin, Jaguar and Volvo.

Learn more:?? www.garia.dk/limited-edition

News Briefs

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Strong UTV Sales In Australian Farming Segment – An Australian farming magazine reports about the increasing demand for UTVs and the entry of new manufacturers like Honda, Case IH and New Holland into the market.?? Learn more:?? FW.farmonline.com.au

Platinum Group Acquires Tiziani Golf Car of Minnesota – The Platinum Group, a private equity fund that focuses on underperforming companies or those in need of turnaround expertise, recently purchased the assets of Tiziani Golf Car of Minnesota.?? The company will be renamed Superior Golf Cars and will continue to be the exclusive distributor of Club Car vehicles in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.?? Learn more:?? peHub.com

Phillips Develops Crosswalk System For Silent Vehicles – Phillips is developing an LED based crosswalk lighting system to warn pedestrians of approaching but silent vehicles such as electric buses, autos and scooters.???? The embedded LEDs react to approaching vehicles the same way traffic lights do by changing color from green to amber to red.
Learn more:?? Worldcarnews.com

Phillips Develops LED Crosswalk System

Phillips Develops LED Crosswalk System

Sedona, AZ May Replace Trolleys With NEVs

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A Citizen Review Committee in Sedona, AZ recently presented a plan to the city council to replace the existing trolley system with a fleet of NEVs. Faced with high operating costs and declining ridership the city is looking for ways to improve the transit system. The NEV proposal includes the purchase of eight to ten NEVs that would travel the same routes as the current trolley system, and also offer door-to-door service along the route. The city spent over a million dollars on trolleys for the system while the fleet of NEVs is expected to cost less than $200,000. While many residents and officials are optimistic about the proposal, there is a range of issues besides the capital costs that the city council is concerned about regarding the implementation and operations of an NEV fleet. The proposal will continue to be discussed in the coming months. Learn more: Sedona.biz

What’s Cooking On The STOV

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Highlighting some of the many applications for small, task-oriented vehicles

Specialized Agriculture Applications – Oregon based manufacturer Barefoot Motors is selling electric utility vehicles for use in orchards.

Karen Lewis with Washington State University Extension in Ephrata, Wash., said many orchard owners are shifting to a two-dimensional and three-dimensional row setup, enabling human or robotic hands to access the fruit by any type of technology. They are looking for smaller, electric utility vehicles to harvest or apply pesticides, she said.

The electric UTVs are also well suited for the frequent stop and start nature of the work. Learn more: Capitalpress.com

Advertising Based Transportation Service – A pair of Florida State University graduates have launched Green Operated Transit Carrying Humanity Around, or GOTCHA, a free, environmentally friendly transportation service. The company has a fleet of five GEMs to service the FSU campus and plan for similar fleets for the University of Florida and the University of Georgia. The company generates revenue by placing advertisers logos on the vehicles. Learn more: Tallahassee.com

GEMs for the Hoboken Parking Utillity

New GEMs for the Hoboken Parking Utillity

City Parking Department Application – Hoboken, NJ has taken delivery of two GEMs for use by the Hoboken Parking Utility. The vehicles will be used to put up signs, place bags over meters and install and remove boots. They replace pickup trucks which frequently needed maintenance. and their compact size are a good fit for the city’s tight streets. Learn more: NJ.com/hobokennow

Mobile Marketing Campaign – L’Oreal Paris is using two GEM vehicles as part of a mobile marketing campaign that will visit ten college campuses this spring. The promotion will…

…provide students with a range of brand engagements creating a motivating product trial platform while generating buzz. Utilizing a branded Airstream trailer and two battery-operated GEM cars, (Global Electric Motorcars) trained product specialists will invite students to use mobile face washing stations featuring Go 360 Clean, enjoy two-minute upper back massages and a professional makeup application.

L'Oreal Paris Promo Vehicle

L'Oreal Paris GEM promo vehicle

Learn more: Drugstorenews.com