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UQM Drives All-Electric SUV, Pickup Forward
Companies to Develop Products for Advanced Transportation and Other High Potential Markets
FREDERICK - Within the next two years, consumers might have access to an all-electric vehicle that is currently demonstrating a top speed of 95 miles per hour and a recharge time of 10 minutes.
Driving that project forward is Frederick-based UQM Technologies Inc. The developer of electric motors recently landed a contract to supply Ontario, Calif.-based Phoenix Motorcars with electric drive systems for an electric four-door pickup truck.
UQM will deliver on a $9.25 million order for the electric drive system and onboard DC-to-DC converters to power the vehicles' instrumentation. The order is scheduled for delivery throughout the year.
UQM has been working with a consortium of companies to develop mid-sized electric vehicles. At the end of September the group debuted an all-electric sport utility vehicle at the California Air Resources Board Zero Emissions Vehicle Technology Symposium in San Francisco.
The vehicle is built by Phoenix Motorcars and Boshart Engineering, also based in Ontario, in conjunction with UQM and Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. of Reno, Nev., which is providing the lithium titanate battery that powers the vehicle.
The SUV model will be available to the public in late 2007, the pickup truck by second quarter. Phoenix intends to build 16 pilot vehicles of the truck model by February, some of which will be used to gain the Federal Motor Vehicle Certification required to make the vehicle street-legal. According to Bryon Bliss, vice president of sales for Phoenix, Boshart Engineering is helping to get the vehicle certified in the near future.
California Fleets First
The first target is the fleet market in California, with a sales potential of 225,000 vehicles. California also offers incentives to companies producing electric vehicles, as well as to consumers and companies that buy them. The incentives, also being offered in a few other states, will allow Phoenix keep the cost of the vehicle low.
The electric truck is available for around $45,000 plus tax and additional charges for extra options. Bliss said that the company hopes to have production running at higher levels by 2009 when the national incentives program will expire. Higher production levels, he explained, will translate into lower costs.
To date, Phoenix already has 75 letters of intent, and Bliss said that the company expects sell about 500 fleet trucks this year. He couldn't divulge any of the specific customers, but did say that he is targeting municipalities, ports, airports and utilities.
"We expect to get a lot more orders, but will only have around 500 built and delivered by the end of the year," he said, adding that the target for 2008 will be 6,000 vehicles.
Because of the Altair Nanotechnologies battery, the Phoenix vehicle is breaking many of the boundaries of previous all-electric vehicles. Using a supercharger, the battery can be fully charged in 10 minutes. Bliss said that these chargers are already developed, but are still rather expensive.
However, the vehicles can also be fully charged from empty in five to six hours using a 220-volt converter similar to the ones made for electric clothes dryers. The trucks can drive as fast as 95 to 100 miles per hour and have a range of 130 miles on a full charge.
Except for a few select vehicles, consumers will not have access to one of Phoenix's vehicles until 2008 or 2009.
"We're primarily staying with our fleet focus this year," Bliss said, adding that they are forming a waiting list for consumers.
Whether for consumer or fleet use, the same UQM motor will be quietly turning the wheels in Phoenix's vehicles. UQM wasn't the only company that could have provided the electric motors. In fact, Phoenix was looking at several different providers before it settled on UQM.
"UQM has been around for a long time," Bliss said. "They've proven their technology."
R&D Investment Payoff
UQM was founded in 1967 and for many years focused largely on building motors for electric wheelchairs. However, the company invested in research and development to branch out into other applications. Today, the company provides electric motors for things as small as auxiliary vehicle applications to as large as powering the wheels in ground support vehicles for the U.S. Air Force.
For UQM, landing the contract to power Phoenix's all-electric vehicle is success on several levels.
There is the obvious benefit of revenue. The $9.25 million order will more than double UQM's current product production to $14 million for the year. In its 2006 fiscal year, which ended on March 31, UQM reported revenues of only $4.3 million.
Deeper than the revenue gains is the underlying message of the project.
"This is what we've been working toward for a long time," said UQM CEO Bill Rankin. "It's a major milestone."
He explained that this is really the first victory for UQM's technology in the higher-power vehicle market in a relatively high volume. UQM has been known in the industry for its high quality and development ability, not for being the cheapest solution. Many of the orders it receives are for highly specialized applications, so the order numbers are low. The Phoenix order will allow the company to introduce certain efficiencies specific to higher volume orders.
Rankin doesn't expect that this first order will create a need for major changes to UQM's facilities or staff level of nearly 50.
"It's going to require some internal reorganization to dedicate people solely to this project," Rankin said.
The company will ramp up production, with the initial 16 produced next month and growing numbers each month after that. If the project becomes a higher volume endeavor, as expected, UQM will look into adding an automated system for manufacturing the motors.
If this occurs, Rankin feels that it will help put UQM on the radar for companies searching for higher volume production.
"This will be a challenge for us to pull off," Rankin said. "But we've been waiting for this, and we really want it."
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