Toyota’s Big Electric Car Blunder
Fast Company By Chris Dannen July 21, 2009 Bill Reinert hates the plug-in electric car. He hates ethanol too. And what Bill Reinert hates matters to every car-buying American: he’s Toyota’s national sales manager and in-house energy sage, and he knows his stuff. But is he too smart for Toyota’s good? At a future-car panel in Southern California last week, he was quoted as calling ethanol “the dumbest kid in school” and... [Read More...]
Plugging in, taking off: Eight electric vehicle startups to watch
Mother Nature Network By Jim Motavalli July 6, 2009 These are the companies with the right mix of the right stuff — business acumen, a great plug-in product and a marketing plan. Don’t be surprised if at least one of these companies becomes as big as (or bigger than) General Motors. We’re in Silicon Valley, and the setting is a nondescript industrial park. The office looks like all the rest, though it invariably has a garage attached... [Read More...]
One Small Electric Car and Its Big Fight for Buyers
Fast Company By Chris Dannen July 6, 2009 In the race to build the first affordable electric car, one company is taking an unusual approach: they’re not treating it as a race at all. “We don’t want to be the first, or the biggest. We just want to be the best,” says Mike McQuary, CEO of Wheego electric vehicles . The Atlanta-based startup will begin selling its first electric vehicle, a small, functional buggy called the Whip,... [Read More...]
Roundup: Wheego to launch EV, Twitter battles porn, and more
Venture Beat By Camille Ricketts July 2, 2009 Here Wheego! — Electric vehicle startup Wheego announced it will launch its two-seat, low-speed car on August 1 in hopes that its release will help raise an additional round of capital. The car is called the Whip, and its development has been supported by money from founder Mike McQuary, his private equity firm Ellis, McQuary & Stanley, Brash Music and MindSpring. The Whip differs from cars in the... [Read More...]
Review: 2009 WheeGo Whip NEV & HSV
AutomobileMag.com By REX ROY July 01, 2009 In photos, you can’t tell the size of the 2009 WheeGo Whip. They look tiny — perhaps the size of a Smart ForTwo. In person, all that changes. Regardless of which powertrain is fitted under the Whip’s hood, this car is bigger than you expect. WheeGo will have its Whip NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) on sale by the end of the summer, and expects the Whip HSV (Highway-Speed Vehicle) to... [Read More...]