Global Green Cars Announces Launch Of Electric Truck & New Facility

Global Green Cars G-3 Electric Truck

Global Green Cars Inc announced that their G-3 electric truck will be available in Spring or Summer of 2010 and cost approximately $25,000.  The truck features a 1,000 lb payload capacity, a top speed of 85 mph and a range of 100 miles.  The plug-in electric truck is powered by nickel-based batteries.  Learn more:  Trucktrend.com

In conjunction with the vehicle announcement, Global Green Cars also announced that they are moving ahead with building a production facility in Kentucky.  The state is providing a $15.5 million financial incentive package.  According to management,

Global Green Cars is planning to produce first stage vehicles in 2010 in a temporary facility and to scale up to mass production in 2011 in a new facility built to meet anticipated demand for its electric vehicles.

Upon completion of the building, assembly lines and logistical peripheral structures, the new facility in Williamsburg will be capable of producing up to 30,000 electric cars and trucks per year.

Learn more:  Earthtimes.org

Yamaha Rhino Federal Lawsuits Consolidated

Yamaha Rhino lawsuits filed in federal districts around the United States will be consolidated for pretrial litigation in the Western District of Kentucky.  There are currently  55 different product liability lawsuits related to the Rhino filed in 33 different U.S. District Courts.  The common allegation in the lawsuits is that the side by side vehicle has defects that give it a propensity to tip over.

Most of the lawsuits in federal courts have been filed in the last year and more are expected.  If filings in state courts are included, those following the story estimate over 200 lawsuits in total are pending across the country.  Last month consumer advocates and victims of rollover incidents released a report(pdf) that covers all utility terrain vehicles (UTV) but extensively discusses the Yamaha Rhino. Learn more about the consolidation

Kentucky Venture Gets ZAPped

According to a number of reports(Lexington Herald-Leader, earth2tech, autobloggreen), the plans to build ZAP vehicles in Kentucky through a joint venture with Integrity Manufacturing have come to a halt. The company’s CEO Randy Waldman points to the loss of potential investor GE Capital as the primary reason. Apparently GE Capital was to provide $125 million in funding through a sale of bonds (although the Earth2tech story disputes this) but has pulled out of the deal. Integrity Manufacturing is now trying to find money in a $200 billion Department of Energy fund targeting energy projects. An alternative being mentioned by management is to convince another state to provide funding or a manufacturing facility.

Kentucky Moves Quickly To Lure Electric Vehicle Production

According to various news reports, ZAP and their partner Integrity Automotive announced that initial construction has started on a facility in Franklin, Kentucky for the production of electric vehicles. ZAP is a minority stakeholder in the venture. Randall Waldman, Integrity’s CEO expects production at the one million square foot facility to start in approximately one year with a work force of 1,250. While plans are still in the development stage, Integrity management states that the plant will make electric buses in addition to ZAP’s product line. A possible scenario is to have the facility replace all of the production from ZAP’s China facility. Management cited the logistics expense of shipping vehicles from China to California to the East Coast as a factor in building the facility. ZAP had previously made vehicles in the US but lower labor costs in China made manufacturing overseas more cost effective. Government incentives are making US based manufacturing more feasible.

Integrity Automotive is reportedly investing $125 million in the facility and quickly garnered government assistance which came from all levels including:

• $84 million of tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds for construction of the plant from city an county governments
• $48 million in tax incentives from the state based on the company’s commitment to create 4,000 full-time jobs within the first four years
• An executive order from Kentucky’s governor permitting the use of low-speed vehicles on Kentucky highways with a posted speed limit of 45 miles-per-hour or less.

While the production will serve the global market, in some respects, the shifting of production from China to the US is a reversal of the globalization trend I have been seeing in the market in general. I followed up the story with a call to ZAP to understand more about the situation. According to ZAP, the venture came together very quickly and the details of what vehicles will be produced and how many are still being worked out. Like some other electric vehicle manufacturers ZAP is reporting strong sales increases. In the quarter ending September 30th, 240 vehicles were sold including 121 in September compared to just 80 vehicles in the 3rd quarter last year. Most of the vehicles are sold in the US to consumers as well as some municipalities and are primarily the Xebra truck model. The company has increased their headcount by 30% this year and recently opened up a $10 million line of credit to fund expansion. The company is also planning on adding an NEV to their product line.