Posts Tagged ‘prototype’
Tiny Wheego Gets Big Jump on the Electric-Car Competition
by Jim Motavalli for BNET, March 3, 2010
Can an electric vehicle startup with just five employees find success in the cash-intensive, cutthroat automotive world? Maybe, if the five people have deep business experience, a savvy marketing sense and a compelling product.
And that just might be the case with Atlanta-based Wheego, which will get a highway-capable electric car on the road as early as June, ahead of Fisker, Coda, Think, GM and Nissan. If the two-seat lithium-ion battery car passes crash tests, it will be on sale for approximately $32,000 at (the company hopes) 50 dealerships across the country.
I was the first journalist to drive the car, known as the Wheego Whip Life, on the snowy streets of Atlanta. I enjoyed the quiet, squeak-free operation, the ultra-tight turning radius, and the nicely appointed (but not luxurious) interior. Like most EVs, the car features very quick acceleration, but this one also exhibited good regenerative braking response and generally good ergonomics. I experienced some wheelspin, a factor both of the wet roads and the light front end; the company plans to address this by moving the heavy battery pack forward.
The Life is a variation on a Chinese-made gasoline car (with a strong styling parallel to the Smart fortwo) called the Noble, which has not been a big success. For that reason, when Wheego CEO Mike McQuary came calling at the Shuanghuan factory two hours outside of Beijing, the management was ready to make a deal to convert the Noble to battery power.
The cars are assembled in Ontario, California at Hi Performance, and the 28-kilowatt-hour lithium battery packs are made by Flux Power in Escondido, California. The electric motors (60 peak horsepower) are supplied by Leeson, a division of Regal Beloit in Wisconsin.
The Life will has a range of 80 to 90 miles , and a top speed of about 67. It’s a logical extension of the low-speed vehicle (LSV) version of the Whip, which looks much the same but is speed-governed to 35 mph and is not allowed on interstates. Despite these restrictions, Wheego has managed to sell almost 300 LSV Whips—many in the state of Oklahoma, where a combination of generous state and federal tax credits meant that, until January 1, consumers could buy them for an astonishing $2,500.
“Our ambition has never been to be the biggest and sell the most,” McQuary said. “We’re trying to create an affordable, best-in-class electric car, form a community and have a dialogue with our drivers [who already get regular newsletters].” He said the company would be satisfied if it sells 2,000 Wheego Whip Lifes in the first year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtSfqnEUs5M&feature=player_embedded
McQuary is anything but an auto industry lifer. He has an interesting back story. He joined Mindspring in 1995 and stuck with it through a merger with EarthLink in 1999. The combined entity became the second-largest national ISP behind AOL, with McQuary as president. As he tells it, he left EarthLink after failing to convince the company to start an online music store to service what became Apple’s iPod. McQuary founded Brash Music, an independent label, in 2002.
McQuary brought two of his Mindspring/EarthLink colleagues over to Wheego, a spinoff of Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles (which makes plug-in ATVs in the $7,000 to $13,000 range). McQuary also brought in Jeff Boyd as president. Boyd is an experienced auto executive; he is a veteran of Roger Penske’s company and Miles Electric Vehicles, which is launching the Coda battery sedan later this year.
“We are running a very lean operation that allows us to put most of our money into R&D and technology instead of overhead,” Boyd said. “An advantage of our size is that we can be extremely nimble, but the car will have to stand or fall on its own.”
According to Boyd, Wheego will follow the Life with a small four-door crossover SUV in 2011, a utility truck for commercial use and fleets in 2012, and a sports roadster in 2013. The goal, he said, is to keep the price below $30,000 (before tax incentives) for all the models.
Photos: Jim Motavalli
Jim Motavalli is the author of Forward Drive: The Race to Build Clean Cars for the Future, among other books. He has been covering the environmental side of the auto industry for more than a decade, and writes regularly on those topics for the New York Times.
DC 2010: Wheego unveils high-speed Whip, looks a lot like the LSV
by Sebastian Blanco for AutoBlog Green, January 26, 2010
The one vehicle unveiled at the Washington Auto Show today was the Wheego Whip LiFe, an upgraded version of the company’s neighborhood electric car that we took for a quick spin last fall. The high-speed LiFe – a clever name based on the car’s 28 kWh lithium (Li) iron (Fe) phosphate battery pack – will come to market later this year at a very affordable price of under $35,000, and that’s before any tax incentives, according to Wheego’s vice president of marketing, Les Seagraves. Wheego has a 30-dealer network in the U.S., and the Wheego LiFe will be available there sometime this summer. The car has a top speed of 65 mph and a range of 100 miles. You can see the Whip’s full spec sheet here.
Wheego is currently undergoing crash testing the lithium model, a project that required fundraising in the realm of $2.5 million (the money was also used for other thing). Virtual testing has been underway since October and has led to a few changes in the battery pack shape andvehicle structure. Two Whip LiFes will be built to be sent into the crash chamber, and two others will be made for the company to show off (the first was the vehicle displayed today).Speaking of this particular body style, regular readers will remember that the Whip is a modified Shuanghuan Noble. Seagraves said that the Wheego team in Atlanta has made “over 100″ changes to the body and chassis and therefore “it’s ours now.”
Wheego’s low-speed vehicle (LSV) Whip went on sale in October, and Seagraves said that around 200 units have been sold thus far. That car costs around $19,000, and you can learn more about it here. Further down the line, Wheego is looking at a full-speed four-seater, possibly some time in 2011.
Wheego Electric Cars Previews Full-Speed Model
Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) January 26, 2010 — Wheego Electric Cars, manufacturer of all-electric cars, today announced it will unveil a prototype of its full-speed version at the Washington Auto Show January 26, 2010.
“This car will shake up the landscape of the American auto industry,” predicts Wheego CEO Mike McQuary. “At a target price of $32,000, plus a $7,500 Federal Tax Credit which brings it down to $24,500, it is the first affordable all-electric car. This summer, it will be fully crash-tested and highway-ready. Americans are eager to step up to the plate and take charge of our energy independence and address environmental issues; all we have lacked is the right car for the job. In mid-2010, Wheego will answer that call.”
The Full-Speed Wheego Whip LiFe runs on Lithium Ion batteries, and is expected to go 100 miles on a charge.
A prototype of the Wheego Whip LiFe will be introduced to the public at the Washington Auto Show. Wheego will be joined at the show by their Washington, D.C.-area dealers Ted Britt Automotive from Fairfax, Virginia, and Apple Wheego of Columbia, Maryland.
The initial Wheego offering is the Whip LSV, which is available now. The Whip LSV is an all-electric Low Speed Vehicle which can drive on roads with posted speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less. The Wheego Whip LSV is a fully-loaded two-seat compact car with fit, finish and features that compete with any other subcompact car on the market. Features include remote keyless entry, air conditioning, and an MP3 stereo system. The all-electric Wheego Whip LSV runs on sealed lead-acid batteries and can be charged from a standard household outlet. The Low-Speed version of the Wheego Whip will be available for test drives at the Washington Auto Show in the ride-and-drive area.
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, CEO and former MindSpring entrepreneur, Wheego Electric Cars has become a leader in the integration of advanced technology components. Wheego Electric Cars is one of the first EV companies to deliver affordable fully capable, street legal all-electric cars for everyday consumer use.
For more information about Wheego, visit the company website at wheego.net.
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RTEV Applies for $15 Million in Federal Loan Funds
Winnsboro, SC – Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Wheego Electric Cars, has applied for $15 million in low-interest loans under a new federal program to spur development of the next generation of U.S. fuel-efficient vehicles.
“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.”
