Chinese-made electric car attracts interest
It's been described as a "golf cart on steroids." On Tuesday, the owners of Union Park auto dealerships in Wilmington kicked the tires on the Miles OR70, an electric car that's charged up by an ordinary household electrical outlet.
The Malibu, Calif.-based Miles Automotive Group manufactures the car in China, which company officials say can finally help bring the technology down to an affordable range. Union Park is considering stocking and servicing the cars.
"We are always looking for a great business opportunity," said Jim Ursomarso, the manager of the dealerships. "We think electric cars are the future, or least part of the future."
Environmentalists love electric cars because they do not directly emit pollutants and eliminate the need for gasoline.
But with an upper limit of 25-35 mph, the car has limited use. It's mainly for city driving, or in confined areas like gated communities or corporate campuses, company officials said. And with its limited battery capability, it doesn't have air conditioning.
Miles is trying to fill a niche that most observers believe is there, said Bill Moore, publisher of evworld.com, a Web site covering the electric car industry. But people need to come to grips with the limitations of electric cars, he said.
"It's just a matter of us being willing to live with the understanding these cars don't have the same functionality of a gasoline car," Moore said. "If I'm going to bake a turkey, I'm not going to do it in my microwave. But how often do I make a turkey, and how often do I use my microwave? The electric car's kind of that same way."
Miles is working on a more powerful model for highway use, said Michael Hayes, vice president of dealer sales and relations for the automotive group.
The battery charges in five to seven hours, and provides 60-70 miles of driving per charge.
The basic model sells for $14,800 to $16,900, much less than models now on the market, Hayes said. He added that the company wants to produce a highway-use model that sells for less than $30,000.
Ursomarso said if he stocked the Miles, it would be a ZX40 model that goes up to 25 miles per hour, in keeping with federal standards. The state of Delaware would need to approve the car's use on the road; for now, it can only be used on private property, he said.
Dawn Rittenhouse, director of sustainable development at the DuPont Co., visited the dealership Tuesday to take the car for a test drive. She said DuPont is considering the cars for plants in New Jersey and Texas.
Miles is just one of several companies manufacturing low-speed electric cars. They run from small companies, like Zap, based in northern California, to DaimlerChrysler, which manufactures the Gem.
Doug Nelson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, said Miles is developing a lithium ion battery, which may have longer range than older, lead-acid electric car batteries.
But, like most electric cars, the Miles has its limitations, Nelson said. "Does a vehicle that goes 30 miles per hour meet your needs? It can, but under limited requirements. If you need something to go out on the highway, you're going to need a bigger, faster vehicle. That's hard to do with a pure battery electric vehicle."
Nelson noted that although the car doesn't burn gasoline, it is only as "clean" as the source of energy used to create grid electricity. But most consumers would save money by not having to buy gasoline, he said.
"Cost has been an issue, a reluctance on the part of car makers, who have been generally convinced from their research there's just no market for them. The people who have driven them would vociferously disagree with that," Nelson said.
Faster electric cars would require meeting high-speed federal safety standards, including airbags and crash tests, Hayes said. There are high-performance, highway-capable electric cars, like the European-made Tesla, but they tend to be on the expensive side and have not been approved for use in most places, including the United States, Hayes said.
Tags: chery geely nanjing hafei zhonghua SAIC lifan
The Malibu, Calif.-based Miles Automotive Group manufactures the car in China, which company officials say can finally help bring the technology down to an affordable range. Union Park is considering stocking and servicing the cars.
"We are always looking for a great business opportunity," said Jim Ursomarso, the manager of the dealerships. "We think electric cars are the future, or least part of the future."
Environmentalists love electric cars because they do not directly emit pollutants and eliminate the need for gasoline.
But with an upper limit of 25-35 mph, the car has limited use. It's mainly for city driving, or in confined areas like gated communities or corporate campuses, company officials said. And with its limited battery capability, it doesn't have air conditioning.
Miles is trying to fill a niche that most observers believe is there, said Bill Moore, publisher of evworld.com, a Web site covering the electric car industry. But people need to come to grips with the limitations of electric cars, he said.
"It's just a matter of us being willing to live with the understanding these cars don't have the same functionality of a gasoline car," Moore said. "If I'm going to bake a turkey, I'm not going to do it in my microwave. But how often do I make a turkey, and how often do I use my microwave? The electric car's kind of that same way."
Miles is working on a more powerful model for highway use, said Michael Hayes, vice president of dealer sales and relations for the automotive group.
The battery charges in five to seven hours, and provides 60-70 miles of driving per charge.
The basic model sells for $14,800 to $16,900, much less than models now on the market, Hayes said. He added that the company wants to produce a highway-use model that sells for less than $30,000.
Ursomarso said if he stocked the Miles, it would be a ZX40 model that goes up to 25 miles per hour, in keeping with federal standards. The state of Delaware would need to approve the car's use on the road; for now, it can only be used on private property, he said.
Dawn Rittenhouse, director of sustainable development at the DuPont Co., visited the dealership Tuesday to take the car for a test drive. She said DuPont is considering the cars for plants in New Jersey and Texas.
Miles is just one of several companies manufacturing low-speed electric cars. They run from small companies, like Zap, based in northern California, to DaimlerChrysler, which manufactures the Gem.
Doug Nelson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, said Miles is developing a lithium ion battery, which may have longer range than older, lead-acid electric car batteries.
But, like most electric cars, the Miles has its limitations, Nelson said. "Does a vehicle that goes 30 miles per hour meet your needs? It can, but under limited requirements. If you need something to go out on the highway, you're going to need a bigger, faster vehicle. That's hard to do with a pure battery electric vehicle."
Nelson noted that although the car doesn't burn gasoline, it is only as "clean" as the source of energy used to create grid electricity. But most consumers would save money by not having to buy gasoline, he said.
"Cost has been an issue, a reluctance on the part of car makers, who have been generally convinced from their research there's just no market for them. The people who have driven them would vociferously disagree with that," Nelson said.
Faster electric cars would require meeting high-speed federal safety standards, including airbags and crash tests, Hayes said. There are high-performance, highway-capable electric cars, like the European-made Tesla, but they tend to be on the expensive side and have not been approved for use in most places, including the United States, Hayes said.
Tags: chery geely nanjing hafei zhonghua SAIC lifan
posted by Smartcar Owner at 5:31 PM
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