Two to plug electric-car firm into LR
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008
With gasoline at $ 3 a gallon and not expected to go down much anytime soon, 2 cents per mile sounds pretty good, compared with, say, 15 cents for many standard cars.
At least that’s what David Bevans and John Akins are banking on. They’re opening Electric Transportation of Arkansas, a new electric and solar-powered vehicle dealership at 323 S. Cross St. next to the Diamond Bear Brewery in downtown Little Rock.
“It’s 2 cents a mile versus gas,” Bevans said, standing in the showroom with a few display models last week. “It’s clean on the environment. It’s not going to start any wars.”
They acknowledge it’s a niche market, but are convinced the concept will take off.
The different vehicles in the showroom — all battery-powered and legal on public roads — can go about 22 to 25 miles per hour. They are not legal on roads where the speed limit is above 35 miles per hour.
A fully-loaded four-seat Kudo, which has a roof and windshield but is not enclosed, sells for $ 8, 000 and weighs about 1, 500 pounds. Plugged into 110-volt house current, the battery uses about 9 to 10 kilowatt hours, good for 60 miles. Typical residential customers use 1, 000 kilowatts per month, or about 33 kilowatts per day. The Kudo can also be powered by the solar panels on the roof.
Akins demonstrated one of the benefits of the vehicles, starting up an off-road Kudo in the showroom. The only sound came from the radio. The off-road version of the vehicle is great for outdoorsmen, Akins said. “As far as hunters are concerned, there are no emissions, there are no sounds,” he said. “The deer won’t even hear you coming.”
Although the dealership will be selling more than just the initial showcase of small vehicles, nothing is over $ 20, 000, including fully-electric sport utility vehicles. That will change this summer when the dealership starts selling the Spark EV Comet for $ 32, 000, which can go faster than 90 miles per hour with a 200-mile range.
The friends, both from Little Rock, decided they wanted to do something “unique,” when they started a business. Before their joint business venture, Akins worked at Euronet Worldwide and Bevans was the human resources manager for his father’s dental clinic. After thinking about opening a restaurant and a number of other possibilities, Bevans said they both realized they have a childhood fascination with cars and an interest in the environment.
“Most guys love cars,” Bevans said. “We do as well.”
The electric cars are envisioned to provide those who live near downtown a cheap commute. Both Cantrell and Markham are 35 miles per hour near downtown, Bevans said. To be street legal, the vehicles just need a glass windshield with blades, blinkers, a vehicle identification number and seat belts, he said.
According to the Arkansas Office of Motor Vehicles, all that’s needed to register the electric vehicles for a license plate are the manufacturer’s statement of origin, as well as normal requirements such as proof of insurance, title and registration.
“Basically, if they meet the requirements otherwise, we’re not concerned with minimum speed or top speed, that would be up to that person, whether they’re on a road that has a minimum requirement or not,” said Mike Munns, assistant commissioner of revenue for the Department of Finance and Administration.
Bevans said it’s no problem to get the vehicles insured. There’s little maintenance involved — no oil changes — only adding some water to the batteries.
They are also selling a line of golf carts seating two to eight passengers, Bevans said. There are also small orange utility trucks available with a 20-foot lift.
Some highway-safe electric cars and vans also will be available. The dealership will sell electric minitrucks and other electric utility vehicles by DYMAC International Inc. The dealership also plans to expand its electric vehicle offerings this summer with a fourdoor sedan that can go up to 75 miles per hour.
The dealership is already selling solar conversion kits for golf carts, which cost $ 1, 800. The government, however, offers a $ 900 tax credit, and the partners provide the tax credit instructions on their Web site, etarkansas. com.
The store will open Feb. 4 after receiving its dealership license, for which it’s already been approved, the two said.
The dealership is one of about 40 sprinkled across the country supplied by Sarasota, Fla.-based Cruise Car Inc., said Ken Chester, president of the company and inventor of the solar-powered cars.
As an executive in the pharmaceutical industry, Chester said he was playing golf one day and his car ran out of juice, forcing his foursome to walk back to the clubhouse. And so came his idea for a solar top to the battery-powered carts. The Little Rock location is Arkansas’ first. “They are the pioneers,” Chester said.
However, “this is not an Arkansas phenomenon, this is a global phenomenon,” Chester said.
He said the vehicles have been successful outside sunny Florida and California. “Do you have sun in Arkansas ?” he asked.
The business concept does sound viable, said Jeff Collins, a partner with Street Smart Data Services in Springdale.
“There are people that are sort of early adapters of technology,” he said. “No matter what the technology is, they want to have the newest and best. And then there are other people who will be motivated by their environmental concerns.”
However, the dealership will face a limitation. “Those kinds of vehicles are really only desirable in urban settings,” he said. “Little Rock would be one of them. With only a couple of urban areas in a fairly rural state.”
“I would guess it’s a small market,” he added.
The process so far in Little Rock hasn’t been without hiccups.
“We really had to work to bring this into Arkansas,” Akins said. The partners faced quite a few challenges in setting up the dealership, they said. First off, insurance companies didn’t know anything about how to cover an electric-car dealership.
But the partners have big plans for their little dealership.
“Eventually, we’d like to build up enough capital to start bringing in inventory so [customers ] can walk out with them,” Bevans said.
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