Wrightspeed's X1 prototype car(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)
- DAVIS, Calif.--Ian Wright, founder of electric sports-car maker Wrightspeed, wants to get into pickup trucks too.
- The company is looking at making an electric drivetrain for trucks that the company would then sell to established manufacturers, he said during a hallway meeting at the GoingGreen conference taking place here. The top-three selling vehicles in the United States in 2006 were the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Dodge Ram, he said. "No. 4 was the Camry."
- Converting trucks from gas to electric could have a big impact on carbon monoxide emissions, he added. Trucks emit a lot of fumes and don't get great mileage.
- It won't be easy. A new crop of electric cars is just coming to market, and a big issue is battery life. The high-end Tesla Roadster, coming out later this year, only goes 200 miles on a battery charge. It costs $98,000 and a big part of the cost is the battery. How far will a truck priced in the $40,000 range go with a load of lumber? Wrightspeed would face competition from clean diesel trucks too.
- The company also is still in the prototyping stage. Wrightspeed has built a fast electric car, but it's a demonstration vehicle and won't resemble a final product. (It doesn't have doors, for one thing, sort of a tough feature for selling a car in the United States.) Wrightspeed is not manufacturing cars yet.
- But who knows. A number of companies are tinkering with electric car ideas.
Read more ...
Michael Kanellos : Crave
No comments:
Post a Comment