Wheego Electric Cars Inc. has raised $1.2 million as it readies itstwo-seater electric car to hit the streets next month.

The Atlanta-based startup, spun out from Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles(RTEV) in 2009, will initially sell the Whip as a low-speed or medium-speed vehicle.

As a low-speed/medium-speed vehicle, the Whip will be permitted to drive on streets with a maximum speed of 35 mph. Its sealed lead acid battery has enough juice to keep it moving about 40 miles on a single charge.

Once the Whip passes federal crash-testing requirements, it will be marketed as a full-speed vehicle – capable of zipping around at up to 65 mph. The full-speed version will have an lithium-ion battery – capable of reaching about 90 miles on a single charge – and a more powerful motor.

Electric cars play well with urbanites, who often have to maneuver in tight parking spaces. The fuel-free vehicles, once a niche marketed toenvironmentalists, is gaining broader appeal in the midst of a globalrecession and volatile gas prices.

The low-speed Whip is expected to retail for about $18,500, while thefull-speed version will go for about $28,500. Federal tax credits, however, will significantly reduce the sticker price.

Wheego, which raised the $1.2 million from existing investors, hopes toraise an additional $3 million to $5 million over the next two years to help pay for the Whip’s crash-testing process and to develop new vehicles, CEO Mike McQuary said.

“Crash testing is the big wild card,” he said. “You’re not sure how many iterations you have to do.”

Wheego has also applied for a roughly $10 million federal loan, said McQuary, a serial entrepreneur best know for helping launch Internet service provider MindSpring Enterprises Inc. In 1999, MindSpring merged with EarthLink Inc.

The full-speed version of the Whip is expected to hit the market by the middle of next year.

McQuary expects to sell about a 1,000 units of the low-speed version of the Whip in the first year and about 5,000 units of the full-speed version in the first year.

The Whip is being assembled at a plant in Ontario, Calif. Wheego plans to open additional assembly plants on the East Coast and the Midwest in the next two years, McQuary said.

The body panels and chassis are made in China, the guts of the car – including engine and drivetrain – is U.S.-made, while the battery is manufactured in Canada.

In addition to traditional auto dealerships, the Whip will sell via electriccar dealerships that have sprung up in about a dozen cities in the United States and carry models of electric cars not affiliated with major manufacturers.

Wheego expects to have an up to 50 dealer nationwide network by the time the full-speed Whip hits the road.

Developing a dealer network won’t be too expensive or time-consuming McQuary said.

“A lot of car dealers, given the duress that the auto industry has been under, have been looking for new opportunities,” he said. “Dealers have been very open.”

“The strategic needs of the two companies are very different. RTEV has an industry-best established product line and a great regional distribution network. But with the downturn in the economy and the pressure that power sport dealers are feeling with floor plan financing being nearly non-existent, RTEV needs to focus on cost reduction and selling deeper into its established territory markets, instead of expanding into new markets. RTEV has a cash flow optimization strategy,” McQuary explained. “Wheego Electric Cars is a high growth potential venture that will have large capital needs as it launches its first electric car, the Wheego Whip LSV, in late July. It is pursuing a national dealer distribution strategy and is building out its infrastructure. Wheego has a sales growth strategy.”

Jeff Boyd, who has worked in the automotive industry for over 25 years in a variety of roles on both the dealer and distribution sides of the business,
will be the president of Wheego Electric Cars.

“In most of the U.S., the knee-jerk response to a need to get somewhere is to jump in the car,” said McQuary. “However, that is not the case in a lot of major cities. For example, in New York City a lot of people’s primary means of transport includes walking and the subway. I think the addition of electric cars, including Low Speed Vehicles, to the personal transportation choice set fills an important void. It is a matter of having the right tool available for the right job.

“You wouldn’t drive a nail into your wall to hang a picture using a sledgehammer, and you shouldn’t run errands around town in your gas-guzzling, carbon-spewing internal combustion car,” he continued. “The world doesn’t really need another internal combustion car; that tool is already in the personal transportation toolkit. I also believe that if given an easy and convenient way to take an environmentally positive action, almost everyone on the planet will do it. It’s part of a collective good consciousness of society that exists. In 1990 my job was to set up plastic recycling centers on the East Coast. What I found with recycling was that everyone says it is a good thing and they want to do it. However as the inconvenience factor involved in recycling scales up, the willingness of people to participate falls off dramatically. If you don’t have to sort out recyclable materials and someone will pick them up at your house, there is big enthusiasm and participation. But if you have to sort it yourself and drive to a local recycling center, the participation fall off is almost 90 percent. People want to do the right thing, but are not always ready to sacrifice much to do it. So we want to put a car on the market that changes the way people see EVs. It should be stylish, affordable and comfortable. There does not need to be any sacrifice in style or comfort or cool to drive an electric car. The Wheego Whip is the right tool for the right job.”

Meet Wheego, a product of former Mindspring founder Mike McQuary

When it comes to selling mainstream American consumers on an electric car, Mike McQuary, the CEO of Atlanta-based Wheego Electric Cars, reveals he has infused his creation with a clever special feature. “It’s a real car,” he says with a smile.

As McQuary, the founder and former CEO of the blockbuster Internet pioneer Mindspring, insists that was the response he got in mid-December when he invited a dozen consultants and prospective dealers to see and test drive the vehicle. A stubby, two-seat subcompact doubtless in perpetual danger of being labeled “cute,” the Wheego Whip nonetheless impressed a tough audience in that debut, he says. “These people probably sold 75 percent of all the electric cars sold in the U.S. of the past two years. It almost became comedy repetition. Every single one of them when they got out of the car, they got out and said ‘it’s a real car!’”

RTEV plans to start sales of the Wheego Whip in May for a sticker price just under $19,000, minus a 10 percent federal and (in some states sizeable) tax incentives. Claiming a range of 50 miles on a battery charge, the car is – in its current incarnation – classified as a Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV), restricted by law to speeds of 25 or 35 MPH (The limit varies from state to state) and restricted to streets with speed limits below 35. Over the next year, the company is plotting its truly revolutionary step, upgrading the car to highway ready model, for sale some time in 2010.

RTEV president Jeff Boyd says he already sees interest. “Not only is the market out there for the LSV we’re launching in May,” he says, “but the number for the full highway speed capable plug-in electric is enormous. In California alone, it would have a market of about 275,000 units.”

In late February, the company began soliciting applications for Wheego dealerships, but also heard from people who wanted to buy, not sell, the new all-electric car.

“It was a nice by-product of putting up the announcement of our dealers’ network launch,” Boyd recalls. “So we decided to go ahead and put up a reservations system. To our pleasant surprise, we’ve had about 30 inquiries a week.”

“In my general opinion that’s the best electric car that I’ve seen ever,” says veteran car dealer John Esche, one of the dealers at the Wheego unveiling. After running more than a dozen car franchises over his career, Esche now sells electric vehicles and says he’s eager to get his hands on the Whip. “I’ve already got cars sold. I’ve got 10 of the cars spoken for already and I’ll be lucky to get five cars in the initial allocation.”

The green movement

With environmental consciousness achieving a growing priority in the auto industry (and a new administration in Washington putting a premium on green initiatives) literally dozens of car makers, large and small, are working to get either full blown all-electric vehicles or new gas/electric hybrids onto the market.

“It’s anybody’s game right now,” says Constantine Samaras, research fellow at the department of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. “The right vehicle will have to be a mix of something average consumers can see themselves driving and can be afforded. If a company big or small can come up with an aptly-sized plug in hybrid or electric vehicle at the right price, they’re poised for success.”

McQuary brought his entrepreneurial background to bear on the challenge when he bought a stake in Wheego Electric Cars which, up to now, has made golf carts and electric recreational vehicles.

He reports the company has raised a modest $2 million over the past two years and is now into a private placement memorandum to raise another $6 million to pay for the engineering and rigorous crash testing necessary for the Whip to be approved for full speed highway use. “It’s really a group of investors,” McQuary says, “mostly out of Atlanta, who, I would say, for the most part came from a media or technology background. They understand the possibilities of the car and they got excited. It really is sort of a ‘who’s who’ of what I would consider the best and the brightest folks in Atlanta.”

The Wheego Whip takes its body shape from the gas powered Chinese-made Noble, made by Shuanghuan. Wheego imports the raw Noble chassis and, at its California manufacturing facility, outfits the body with an electric motor, dashboard, wiring harness, batteries and interior. Its current AGM “dry cell” lead acid batteries lag the state of the art lithium ion cells, to which McQuary hopes to offer an upgrade in the future.

“I refer to it jokingly around the office as a bit of the United Nations car,” he says, with a laugh. “The dashboard is out of Ohio, the engine is out of Wisconsin. The batteries are actually from a Canadian company. The controller is actually manufactured Puerto Rico. It’s componentry from all over.”

It is to that “fit and finish” that McQuary repeatedly refers, when comparing the Wheego Whip to its electric competitors, and to its more modest cousin, the golf cart. “The slam of the door, the acceleration, the amenities that you expect in a real car. This really is the first car that gives you all of that.”

During a exclusive March 2009 test drive, the Wheego Whip offered a sensation much more like riding a very small automobile than a country club toy. It handled city streets so much like a conventional car that it was easy to forget that stepping on the gas doesn’t involve any actual gas. Of course, the prototype does feature a few distracting quirks.

The seat belt was unusually difficult to reach and, instead of a conventional lever, the gearshift was just a small switch on the floor that flipped between “forward” and “reverse.” McQuary says those and other issues have already been addressed for the Whip’s production models.

“We hear this so often,” Esche underscores, “a comparison between these units and a golf cart. This is all steel-enclosed, roll-up windows, air conditioning, power windows incidentally, power mirrors … This is a real, honest to goodness, automobile.”

Road ready?

Is an all-electric automobile just one year away from graduating to full-speed highway-ready car?

“There is an awful lot of overpromising and under delivering happening,” cautions a skeptical Daniel Davids, Northwest Regional Director with the non-profit electric vehicle advocacy organization Plug-In America. Himself the owner of a Toyota Prius hybrid and a battery powered Toyota Rav 4, Davids says prospective electric vehicle buyers and dealers alike have been repeatedly burned by promises of a breakthrough electric car almost, but somehow never quite, ready for market. “There are a lot of charlatans out there.”

Davids wonders if RTEV’s determined plans for introducing a low speed vehicle in 2009 and stepping up to a highway ready car in 2010 might be too ambitious. “People arrive and say they’ve got something which is, today an NEV with lead acid batteries in it. And somehow, within a year, they’ll have it licensed and on the road as a full performance vehicle? It’s just not doable. Unless someone is throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the problem, I just don’t see something like that happening.”

Samaras wonders too. “Anything is possible,” he says. “It sounds very aggressive. I’d be cautiously optimistic. In a business where technology is changing quickly you want to get out and kick the tires, in this case literally.”

“We’ve been pretty quiet so far. They don’t know us yet,” McQuary responds. “We’ve already got the engineering done. If you take the equivalent of a governor off of the car right now it would run 55 MPH. We’re testing lithium ion batteries now. We’ve got the motor, the drive train and the power pack. It’s just a matter of getting over the hurdle of crash testing.”

The Wheego Whip does approach a market full of promise from a wide array of competitor vehicles, most of them billed as “just around the corner.” “I think we are probably 18 months to two years ahead of who we think are real competition is going to be,” says McQuary.

Competition

To name one of the top headline-makers, General Motors Chevy Volt remains Detroit’s marquee electric vehicle project. Projected to reach the market in late 2010, the Volt is actually a plug-in hybrid with a promised range of 40 miles on a charge before its onboard gasoline engine kicks in to extend its range. Yet its anticipated price hovers in the daunting range of $40,000. An increasingly high profile centerpiece in GM’s struggle for survival, the Volt took a painful hit from a new study by Carnegie Mellon which concluded that the expensive and heavy batteries it uses to achieve its range keep the car from being cost effective.

Still the Volt has fans even at RTEV, watching to see if GM can pull it off. “Maybe it can’t,” admits Boyd. “Maybe the larger the company, the slower the change and that’s the benefit of small entrepreneurial companies like us. We applaud their efforts. It’s great. They’ve raised the level of awareness with their public relations and the millions of dollars of press they’ve put out.”

For stunning looks, a stunning price and a vehicle that’s already available, Silicon Valley startup Tesla has become a darling of the electric vehicle set. After production and financing complications, its stylish all-electric roadster is in production and hundreds have been ordered already, although its fluctuating MSRP, just increased to over $100,000, certainly keeps it from becoming a high efficiency zero emissions alternative for more than a tiny niche of the market. The company has repeatedly announced plans for an all-electric sedan with a prototype now scheduled for unveiling in a matter of weeks. No date on when motorists can actually buy one of those and it’s expected to cost upwards of $50,000 to $60,000.

“The roadster is already there,” says Davids. “Phenomenal car. It is done. That’s an indication of what has changed. It’s a harbinger of things to come.”

Here too, McQuary is impressed, but not concerned. “I think Tesla has done a wonderful job of raising awareness. They’re making great-looking, really expensive, high-end sports cars. But as far as an electric car for the rest of us, I think we are leading the charge on that.”

The 2010 Fisker Karma, too, is a sleek, carnivorous-looking sports sedan, but still a plug-in hybrid with a gasoline burning engine to juice up the batteries for its two electric motors. It’s also expected to sell for close to $90,000. Not exactly a vehicle aimed at the economy-minded.

Farther outside the “box,” the Aptera 2e is expected on the market this October. Looking more like a small plane than a car, it certainly doesn’t resemble the standard sedan, or even subcompact, most buyers would find familiar. Running on only three wheels, it is legally considered a motorcycle which exempts it from a long list of safety standards but also disqualifies it from federal aid for car makers (unless executives can convince Washington otherwise). Its top speed of 90 MPH and range of 100 miles on a charge offer substantial reassurance for those unsure about the capabilities of an electric. The price, still loosely projected up to $40,000 could still become an obstacle. There’s also the small matter that, in its initial release, it’ll only be sold in California.

Among those closer in configuration to the Wheego is the two-seat Th!nk City subcompact from Norwegian car maker Think Global. Formerly owned by Ford, the company is now in talks to develop a U.S. factory. The Th!nk City is capable of speeds up to 70 miles an hour and a range of 112 miles on a charge. Actual U.S. Sales are forecast to start in mid 2010. The target MSRP is somewhere below $20,000, with the caveat that such a price already factors in federal incentives and doesn’t include the lithium-ion batteries, which would have to be leased.

BMW has one option on the road already in the iconic subcompact Cooper Mini, now available as an electric. With a top speed of 80 MPH and a range of 100 miles between charges, the car makes a tempting offer, until you get to the price. Now available only for lease, the Mini EV will set you back $850 a month, comparable to the rent for a high-end luxury car instead of a subcompact.

Last year’s miniature phenomenon, Daimler’s gas powered Smart car is also headed to market in an electric incarnation. Bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Wheego Whip (or vice versa) the Smart ED promises a top speed of 70 mph and a range of 70 miles is already being road tested in Europe. It too is expected in the U.S. next year.

But the makers of the Wheego Whip are keeping an especially close eye on a lower profile competitor, Miles Electric Vehicles out of California, Jeff Boyd’s automotive alma mater (He used to be its CEO).

Miles may be the first to break through with a new generation highway ready conventional (or at least conventional looking) electric passenger sedan onto the market. The company is still promising its Miles Highway Speed will be available early next year. Looking much like an Accord or a Camry, the Miles Highway Speed will be manufactured in China for delivery to the U.S. and McQuary salutes it.

“We are not necessarily trying to the first,” he says. “We’re not necessarily trying, as a company, to be the biggest. We are trying to be the best. If we are, we’ll find plenty of customers who like our cars and create a community, almost a cult of drivers. If we can do that, we’ll be very successful as a vehicle.”

Samaras says small, entrepreneurial companies like RTEV can survive and thrive in the new automotive paradigm, but suspects some accommodation with the automotive titans will ultimately have to come.

“I think the little guys are going to be really good at innovations and the big guys are going to be good at selling cars, selling lots and lots of cars,” he says. “There’s got to be a sweet spot in between where they can come together.”

“I take the tack that a rising tide lifts all boats,” says McQuary. “So if there is increasing awareness of electric cars and a neighbor sees another neighbor with an electric car, any brand of electric car, I think it’s going to increase the overall acceptance of them as a viable means of transportation. That just helps everybody.”

ATLANTA (March 4, 2009) – WHEEGO ELECTRIC CARS, one of the first companies to deliver a full line of recreational and street electric LSVs (Low Speed Vehicles), today announced that it is taking reservations for its first car, the Wheego Whip, which will begin shipping in May.

“Last week we announced that we are taking applications for Wheego dealerships, and we were pleasantly surprised at how many inquiries we received directly from customers who are ready to buy the car”, said Jeff Boyd, President of Wheego.  “As consumers make more green-conscious car buying decisions, the Wheego Whip has emerged at the forefront as an affordable all electric solution to the transportation needs of many consumers. The word has spread quickly on the Internet about the first customer-focused test drives of the Wheego Whip conducted in Ontario, CA in December, where there was unanimous praise for the car, and there are lots of people who want to be among the first to make a bold statement. The ensuing demand compelled us to use our website to take customer reservations for the car.”

Joe Young from Palo Alto, CA was among the first to make an inquiry to buy a Wheego Whip, and exemplifies the passion that Wheego hopes to elicit from customers. Young explains, “I am a first grade teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District, and I have always been interested in vehicles that are compact and good for the environment.  Conservation and reducing our waste have always been efforts that I value and practice myself.  As a first grade teacher I am always looking for ways to impress upon both my students, as well as my colleagues, these values, and by driving a Wheego Whip, I will do exactly that.”

The Wheego Whip is a fully loaded two-passenger automobile with fit, finish and features that compete with any other subcompact car on the market. Remote keyless entry, air conditioning and an mp3 stereo system are standard equipment on the Whip. It retails for under $19,000, and it only costs about 3 cents per mile to operate. There is also a 10% Federal Tax credit on the purchase price of the car as a Low Speed Vehicle in 2009. When the Whip is eventually certified and sold as a full speed car, the Federal Tax credit will be $7,500.

“Wheego has employed a ‘creep out’ versus a ‘leap out’ launch strategy because I think the electric car industry has been somewhat tainted by credibility issues. Every week I see companies making outrageous claims regarding cars that are simply vaporware, or touting performance capabilities that are beyond the current realm of known physics. Because of this, we have been fairly quiet about our work on the Wheego the last two years, but it’s time to share our success, albeit in a realistic fashion. The Whip is being launched as a Low Speed Vehicle with published performance specifications that comprehend real world driving expectations. Just because we can get single charge ranges of 60 miles on a dynamometer in optimal driving conditions doesn’t mean that we should publish that as an expected performance parameter. It just sets up customers for a disappointing ownership experience. One of the core values of our company is to make commitments with care, and then live up to them. This philosophy extends to product claims. The Wheego Whip is our first electric car entry into the market, and as an LSV or MSV it has certain limitations. But for the properly educated consumer, it can be a wonderful solution to their driving needs. We are looking for customers who are not afraid of leading edge of technology, and in exchange for their pioneering spirit, we are going to offer some unique upgrade opportunities as technology evolves. It’s time to pound the drum that not only do we have the best affordable electric car in the world, but we’re setting a new standard in creating a relationship with our customers,” said Wheego CEO Mike McQuary.

“Part of our desire is to create a community of customers that has a stake in the success of electric cars,” continued McQuary, “buying the car is just the beginning of a relationship and a personal dialogue that we will have with our customers, where together we believe that we can make a significant contribution to the betterment of our lives.”

Consumers can reserve their car at www.wheego.net

About Wheego Electric Cars

Wheego Electric Cars is an innovation-driven and environmentally-conscious manufacturer of Electric Vehicles (EVs).  Under the leadership of Mike McQuary, former president of MindSpring and EarthLink ISPs, Wheego has become a leader in the integration of advanced technology components that distinguishes the brand from other EVs and is the first EV company to deliver affordable LSVs to the marketplace through a national dealer network.

Georgia-based company starts out with a low-speed, lead-acid two-seater, but it’s planning to deliver a lithium-ion battery electric next year.

These electrics have an international supply chain. The chassis is made in China, and the cars are shipped to California for installation of the U.S.-made components. The first Whips will be on the road in May.

As told to Amy Barrett for Business Week

I always want to be part of something i think can have a major impact on society. My friend Charles Brewer founded [Internet service provider] MindSpring Enterprises in 1994. We wrote the business plan together and I came on board the next year. I was president for seven years.

By early 2007 I was a partner at a merchant bank when Bo Huff, founder of Ruff & Tuff Products, came to us for money to expand as a golf cart company. We weren’t very interested in that business, but Bo had a lot of great technology. We invested and I became CEO.

The green element is what really drew me to car design, and now I have an appreciation for the old classic cars. I caught the fever late in life. When I was growing up, my dad, who had been a mechanic, was a Ford loyalist. My mom used to say the only competition she had for his affection was a 1955 Ford Mainline. Now I find myself online studying hybrid cars and comparing them. I have a driveway full of electric cars—the Wheego Whip, two rejected prototypes we developed, and a Lexus hybrid. We still have a Honda minivan for the kids.

The Whip is the best electric vehicle in the world. I think the acceleration is going to surprise people. It’s a very peppy car. Although I’m the most conservative driver around. Whenever we go on a trip, I volunteer to drive, and my friends say, “No way. Don’t let Miss Daisy drive.”

By Dave Kaufmann, EnVironmental Motors Electric Car Specialist

Wheego has an AC-31 Brushless Motor (10 to 35hp) with a Curtis Controller, Regen braking and 96V (9/8V) AGM Batteries.  This Two Seater, Low Speed Vehicle is Front wheel drive with a fixed gear ratio transaxle.

The performance for this LSV is exceptional in every way; there is great acceleration, handling, stopping and range.

The Wheego I drove last week ran around at 35mph and had a range of about 40 miles and would charge over night. The Batteries have around 14KW and only use 10KW before it asks you to charge the batteries. I think the reason for this is to have a true 40 miles without sacrificing performance. In my opinion all electric cars should perform like the Wheego in regards to its batteries range estimate.

The interior is “GREAT”, sport like seats, loads of leg, head and shoulder room. There are three gauges that appeal to everyone’s needs. These gauges include, state of charge, speed and a small gauge that has mileage, trip, fault code indicator. This gauge is a nice addition that I haven’t seen yet. It has an “Eco meter” that lets you know by LED’s from green to red which will help you to extend your battery range buy monitoring your heavy foot, so you know when to ease up.

This Wheego has great lines for a small car, wide low profile wheels & tires and the nicest fit & finish I have seen yet in a production Electric Car.

My driving experience was, I could not drive it enough, and it is just like driving a conventional car except for the speed limitation.

The Wheego that I drove was 100% ready for the customer and I feel if they get the price right we finally have the right vehicle for the LSV market.

Available in May 2009- But we are taking deposits now. Be one of the first to own of these stylish, efficient cars!

Target Retail Price: $19,995

Wheego Website

“We are very excited at the opportunity to be able to accelerate our production of electric cars that will provide an economic transportation opportunity to the volatility of gasoline prices, reduce carbon emissions, and ultimately help strengthen U.S. energy security,” said Wheego CEO Mike McQuary. “During this time of economic uncertainty, this special federal lending program is perfectly designed to keep the development of the electric automobile industry on track.”

Wheego applied for the funds under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVMIP), which was established under Section 136 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is intended to spur development of fuel-efficient vehicles and components. The Department of Energy reported 34 applications were filed as of December 31, which was the first deadline for applications. The money is not related to the government bailout of the auto industry.

“While $15 million may seem insignificant versus the hundreds of millions that were applied for by other electric car manufacturers, it is testament to the fact that we are already significantly far along in our development. We will launch Wheego, our electric LSV in May of this year, and expect that we will have a full speed car on the road before the end of 2010. We also have a created a corporate culture that demands a frugal approach to development and manufacturing, and we think that this is crucial to being able to stay competitive versus other manufacturers,” said McQuary.

The Wheego Whip, which will be available through a network of dealers in the spring, is a two-seater that is targeted toward ecologically conscious consumers, and urban commuters who travel 30 miles or less on their daily commute.

“We had the unveiling of our Wheego Whip in early December, and have already received applications from all of the dealers who were in attendance, and
want to sell the car in their markets,” said Jeff Boyd, president of the Wheego division. “In my 25 years in the automobile industry, it was as excited as I have ever seen car dealers with any product premiere that I have been involved with. In these tough economic times, dealers have been looking for some good news, and this car looks like it could be it.”

Congressional Dems, Obama consider using stimulus bill to finance advanced car research.

Congressional Democrats and President-elect Barack Obama are considering allocating money for new advanced vehicles and advanced battery research from an $800 billion stimulus bill expected to pass Congress by next month.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said lawmakers are making a big push for battery research and production in the United States.

“I’d be very surprised if there is not serious money for batteries in the stimulus bill,” Carper said. “If we’re going to put all this money into battery development, it’s important to me and I think my colleagues that we build those batteries right here in America.”

Michigan’s congressional delegation led by the House’s senior member, Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, met Monday and agreed to push for at least $1 billion in additional battery research funds.

Congress is weighing a number of different options, including allocating a specific amount of money for battery research, creating a broad-based manufacturing support program or doubling the $25 billion loan program that was funded by Congress in September to help pay for retooling factories to build more fuel-efficient vehicles. The stimulus bill is expected to contain about $300 billion in tax cuts, including a $500 individual tax cut and $100 billion in business tax cuts. Another $77 billion is planned to extend unemployment benefits and help people who have lost jobs obtain health care.

Other funds would go to public works projects like road building and other unspecified alternative energy programs.

The Energy Department has received more than 70 applications for funds from the retooling program, also known as the Advanced Vehicle Technology program, but hasn’t said when it might begin issuing loans.

Detroit’s Big Three automakers have applied for about $22 billion in loans from the program. Other companies seeking money include Troy-based auto supplier Delphi Corp. and electric car startup Tesla Motors, which applied for $400 million. On Monday, South Carolina-based electric vehicle maker RTEV Inc. said it applied, seeking $15 million.

A consortium of 14 U.S. technology companies have applied for about $1 billion to build a plant to produce advanced batteries, including Johnson Controls Inc. and 3M.

General Motors Corp. had sought about $8 billion for use in its plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt program and its Chevrolet Cruze program. Ford Motor Co. has sought $5 billion. Chrysler LLC has sought $8.5 billion from the retooling program.

Members of Congress have been pushing for weeks to convince the incoming administration and congressional leaders of the need to push battery research. The money would help with projects like GM’s Volt, a plug-in vehicle that will be able to get up to 40 miles on one electric charge that is supposed to go into production in the fall of 2010.

Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Carl Levin, D-Detroit, along with 11 other senators wrote congressional leaders urging them to add into the stimulus bill “$1 billion in grants to support advanced battery manufacturing research in the U.S.”

They also called for $295 million to support research and development of energy storage systems to support development of electric vehicles, $90 million for grants to support state and local governments’ use of electric vehicles, and $245 million in grants to add electric recharging ports at truck stops.

Obama in August called for $50 billion in retooling funds, saying it was “critical.”

Nick Shapiro, an Obama spokesman, said it was too early to say what specific programs would be funded in a stimulus package.

Levin said he’d like to see grants aimed at production rather than loans. He said he hoped the Obama administration will make manufacturing a key issue.

“Did our TV (manufacturing) industry leave because of the TV executives? Did our radio industry leave because of our radio executives?” Levin said. “No, because of certain aspects where other countries are just focusing on the value of manufacturing.”

Levin said it was critical the Energy Department move “soon” to allocate the first $25 billion in advanced technology loans.

Energy Department spokeswoman Healy Baumgardner said the applications “are currently under rigorous and thorough review.”

“We are moving with all deliberate speed in reviewing the applications,” Baumgardner said.