Category Archives: utility vehicles

Vehicle Reviews

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Here are a couple of electric vehicle reviews covering both ends of the STOV spectrum.

Tazzari Zero
Tazzari Zero

The first is a review of the Tazzari Zero, a high end, sporty commuter vehicle.?? Priced at $31,000, the vehicle is capable of highway speeds but has not completed DOT crash testing, and therefore is a high priced low speed vehicle.?? Learn more:?? Foxnews.com

The second review is of the Polaris Ranger EV, a recent entry into the electric utility vehicle segment.?? The Ranger EV is based on the chassis of the gas powered Ranger 400.?? It features a 11.5kw battery pack of Trojan batteries, a 30hp motor and a range of 25 to 50 miles depending on the driving mode selected.?? Learn more:?? Hortweek.com

Stealth Manufacturing Moving To Georgia

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Electric utility vehicle manufacturer Stealth Manufacturing is moving their plant from Louisiana to Georgia.?? Stealth currently has about 50 employees at its 82,000-square-foot facility at the Ouachita Industrial Park.?? The move is planned for June of this year.?? Stealth produces the Apache, Patriot, and Predator electric UTVs.?? Current owner, Greg Block, purchased the company in January from Louisiana based Bill Krutzer and Bill Robinson in January.?? Learn more:?? 13WMAZ.com

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

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

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

Wisconsin Launches UTV Trail Program

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Wisconsin recently enacted a two year pilot program for use of utility vehicles on ATV trails that will run through June 30, 2012.?? The legislation requires counties to pass resolutions to opt into the program so many trails are probably not open to utility vehicles as of yet.?? Towns within counties may opt out of the program.?? Key differences compared to the previous pilot program which ended in 2009 include:

  • Different vehicle specifications, including requirements for factory equipped seatbelts and a roll bar, type device.
  • ATV trails on state and national forest lands may not be participating.
  • UTVs participating in the program will require Public Use – ATV registration, including for non-residents.
  • All ATV laws will apply, except that operators age 16 and born on or after Jan. 1, 1988 must complete a DNR ATV Safety Education Course. Operators under age 16 are not allowed to operate a UTV.
  • Driver’s licenses are not required

The program is being administered by the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Learn more:?? DNR.wi.gov

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

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

GatorMoto Fills Large International Order

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GoatorMoto Utility Vehicles reports selling 50 Electro Transport Buddy 15 Passenger LE???s to the Al-Azzouni Group in Saudi Arabia.?? The electric powered shuttle vehicles were used in the recent Mecca Festival.

Learn more:?? Gatormotoutilityvehicles.com