Mahindra & Mahindra Buys Majority Stake In Reva

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Marc Cesare

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), India’s leading producer of SUVs, recently purchased a 55% stake in electric vehicle producer Reva. Maini Group will have a 31% and AEV LLC of California, the joint venture partner, will have 11% stake. The deal included a $10 million cash infusion for Reva, which has produced 3,500 electric vehicles to date. According to reports, 400 vehicles were sold last year mainly in Britain, Germany and Spain.

M&M expects the Indian market for electric vehicles to grow substantially and by 2020 expect to be producing 50,000 electric vehicles annually. Some of the new funds for Reva will be used to increase their current production capacity from 6,000 to 30,000 vehicles per year. A consequence of this deal is that Reva’s work with GM to develop the electric mini Spark has been called off. Learn more: Vamban.com

Delta Q Technologies Raises $17 Million

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Marc Cesare

Growth capital firm Tandem Expansion has invested in $17 million in fellow Canadian firm Delta Q Technologies. Delta-Q makes power conversion and power management systems for electric vehicles. Key end markets include golf cars, aerial work platforms, industrial floor-cleaning machines, and low-speed neighborhood vehicles. Learn more: Xconomy.com

CT&T Eyes Hawaii For Assembly Plant

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Marc Cesare

CT&T is working with the governor of Hawaii to build an electric vehicle assembly plant. According to reports, Oahu is the general location mentioned in the memorandum of understanding signed with the governor. CT&T reports looking at four potential sites in the area for a facility that will produce up to 10,000 low speed vehicles annually. The company hopes to have the plant operating in two years.

Hawaii is considered favorable market for LSVs by some people for a number of reasons. The government is pro-green and pro electric vehicle, travel distances are short and the large tourist market would be ideal for rental fleets. Learn more: Hawaiinewsnow.com

Comment: Hawaii now joins Pennsylvania and North Carolina as potential locations for assembly plants. To date none of these plans have come to fruition beyond the early planning stages. The company was talking about Pennsylvania locations back in September 2009. A plant with the capacity to produce 10,000 vehicles seems very high for the Hawaiian market and shipping them from Hawaii, at first glance, would appear to be an expensive way to supply other markets. It remains to be seen if plans for any of these potential plant locations moves to the next stage.

Smith Electric Vehicles US Wins $22M Grant

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Marc Cesare

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

News Briefs

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Marc Cesare

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

Smith Electric Vehicles US Developments

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Marc Cesare

SEV-US recently announced that it made an offer to buy the Smith Electric Vehicles business from the UK based Tanfield Group. The company has a four month exclusive window to come to agreement on the offer which is reported to be $55 million.

In other developments the company is looking to establish a 50,000 square foot production and sales facility on the East Coast. They are considering locations in New York, Atlanta and Washington D.C. as well as other areas. The new facility is part of an overall plan to eventually open up to ten facilities in large urban markets starting with the East Coast. Cities in other parts of the country being considered include San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago.

Management reports that their Kansas City facility is producing two vehicles per week and ramping up to four per week in the coming months. They also expect the price of their Newton model to drop from $149,000 currently to $90,000 by 2011 as production increases. – Marc Cesare

Learn more: Autobloggreen

Learn more: Washington.bizjournals.com

ZENN To Stop LSV Production; ZAP Phasing Out Xebra?

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Marc Cesare

ZENN announced that it will be stopping production of their LSV in April 2010. As had been reported earlier the company is shifting it’s focus to the development of electric drivetrains based on EEStor technology. The company reports selling about 500 of their LSVs in three years.

Learn more: Reuters.com

In another story about phasing out a vehicle, a careful examination of ZAP’s most recent quarterly findings, seem to indicate that they will be phasing out their three-wheeled Xebra model. From their 10-Q for the quarter ending September 30, 2009:

The decrease of $1.5 million (in revenue) is primarily due to the phase out of our three wheeled Xebra vehicle with reduced selling prices.

In addition the company appears to be putting less emphasis on development of the Alias model.

Research and development expenses decreased by $57,000 from $138,000 in 2008 to $81,000 for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. The decrease was due to less work on the development of the Alias prototype vehicle

Learn more: thetruthaboutcars.com

Aptera Facing Difficulties

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Marc Cesare

Recent reports indicate that three-wheeled, electric vehicle maker Aptera is having development and financial difficulties. The founders have reportedly been pushed out and staff has been cut. Changes to the vehicle design to widen the vehicle’s appeal has delayed the launch date significantly and created more capital demands in the middle of a poor investment climate. Loans from the US government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program is potentially a source for cash infusion. Learn more: Autogloggreen

Bannon Automotive To Manufacture Reva EV In Upstate New York

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Marc Cesare

Reva NXR EV To Be Produced In Upstate New York

Bannon Automotive of Freeport, NY has announced plans to manufacture the Reva Electric Car Company’s NXR electric vehicle in Onondaga County in upstate New York. The Governor of New York reported that assembly of the vehicles would take place in Clay in an existing 150,000 square foot building. Targeted for metropolitan markets as a city car, the two-seat Reva NXR will have a top speed of 50-55 mph, a range of 50 miles and be priced at $17,000. A four passenger hatchback version will sell for between $20,000 and $25,000. The plan is to have the vehicle on the market in the third quarter of 2010.

To start, the company will import the vehicle parts from India and assemble them in the US. Eventually, management expects to identify US suppliers and source 80 to 90 percent of the vehicle. The state is providing $3 million grant and $3.76 million in wage and tax credits, and federal loans and guarantees of $52 million are expected as well. Initially the plant will employ 100 people and up to 250 if maximum annual plant production of 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles is reached. Learn more: Syracuse.com

South Korean Government Targeting EV Market

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Marc Cesare

Last week the South Korean government announced plans to accelerate the development of the electric vehicle industry in their country. Revised plans now call for full-scale production of electric vehicles in 2011 instead of the previous target date of 2013. The government views the competition to develop the next generation of automobiles and grab market share as important to South Korea’s long term economic health.

A range of automobiles including hybrid, plug-in and fuel cell powered will be supported. The target goal is for South Korea to account for a 10% share of the global EV production by 2015. Ironically, the country does not currently allow EVs to be operated on any roads. However, as part of this initiative, the parliament is passing legislation to allow EVs including NEVs to be driven on the country’s roads. Learn more: yonhapnews.co.kr

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