'The only people who don’t want to drive an electric vehicle are the ones who haven’t tried one yet'
% “Isn’t it adorable?” - this is the same thing the public said about the Sparrow back in the 1990's and what Corbin also banked on % http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/High+hopes+made+electric/11167323/story.html High hopes for made-in-B.C. electric car The compact Sparrow is just big enough for a driver and a few groceries By BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU June 25, 2015 [images / Gerry Kahrmann, The Province http://cfvod.kaltura.com/p/1698541/sp/169854100/thumbnail/entry_id/0_thd2lpe0/version/100002/acv/222/width/1024 ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corporation chief executive officer Jerry Kroll shows off a prototype "Sparrow" electric car that he hopes to start selling next year. It's a single-user, three-wheeled vehicle http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cms/binary/11167324.jpg Kroll moves his prototype “Sparrow” electric car from a small arming spot, Vancouver, June 25 2015 http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cms/binary/11167325.jpg Kroll, left, shows off his prototype Sparrow electric car http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cms/binary/11167327.jpg A woman checks out a prototype Sparrow electric car from ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp. watched by chief executive officer Jerry Kroll http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cms/binary/11167328.jpg Kroll with his prototype Sparrow electric car http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/cms/binary/11167329.jpg video flash ] You’d think a $2-million race-red Ferrari LaFerrari had just descended on Vancouver’s Olympic Village plaza. Excited onlookers gathered quickly Thursday to take selfies standing next to the unique vehicle and to sit in the driver’s seat to embrace the cockpit-like ambience. “Isn’t it adorable?” said one fancier. “Where do you put the groceries?” asked another.But the object of their affection wasn’t a hyper-expensive European luxury car. It was the Sparrow, a $20,000, made-in-B.C., single-user electric vehicle with two front wheels, one rear wheel and a sort of covered-motorcycle appearance. The Sparrow is just 2.7 metres long, 1.2 metres wide and weighs 578 kilograms. It has room for one person and comes with a small trunk that can carry about four bags of groceries. There’s just one prototype vehicle on display now but ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp. founder Jerry Kroll said 14 more will be built at the company’s New Westminster plant this year, 120 next year and as many as 1,200 in 2017, when he plans to operate a new 200,000-square-foot assembly-line plant somewhere in Metro Vancouver. “Eighty-three per cent of people drive by themselves in a four-person car, which is ridiculous,” he said. “Why do you think traffic and parking sucks? This will be perfect for the mission of commuting back and forth to work.” Kroll said the vehicle is approved for highway use and has a maximum speed of 130 km/h. He said it can travel up to 140 kilometres on a single charge and it takes about four hours to fully charge the lithium ion battery when it is fully depleted. Kroll, a 54-year-old Vancouver entrepreneur who races Formula Enterprise cars, has joined forces with Intermeccanica owner Henry Reisner to produce and market the Sparrow in a crowded electric-vehicle market. Intermeccanica makes about 18 classic roadsters a year at its New Westminster facility. Kroll and Reisner are raising about $2.25 million in private funding that will get ElectraMeccanica to the point where it will start building cars in a new facility. The pair then hope to raise $40 million to $50 million through an initial public offering that could happen sometime in 2017. Kroll said Abbotsford has shown a lot of interest in locating the car manufacturing plant within a 400-hectare high-tech industrial park in the city. He said the Sparrow will sell for $19,888 and expects it will soon qualify for the B.C. government’s $5,000 Clean Energy Vehicle grant, which would bring the buyer’s cost down to $14,888. Huge car manufacturers such as Tesla and BMW have invested heavily in the electric-car market and even Apple and Google are testing the waters of fossil-fuel-free vehicles. So how can a small B.C. company compete with those giants? Kroll said it’s all about finding a niche, claiming that if ElecraMeccanica can sell vehicles to just one-tenth of one per cent of the Canadian target market, that would work out to 14,000 car sales a year. “That leaves 99.9 per cent of the market for anybody else,” he said. Canadian auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said the entire B.C. market buys just 300 electric vehicles a year, excluding hybrids. “They’ll be going up against the giants of the world, so good luck to them,” he said. “Tesla hasn’t figured out how to be successful in British Columbia yet. ”DesRosiers said there’s still an “unquenching demand” in the market for more horsepower and when electric vehicles deliver that horsepower, it usually cuts down on the range that can be travelled on a single charge. “I admire companies that are forging this territory but in my opinion, we’re probably a trillion dollars of research and development away from the (electric-car) technology being able to match the technology you get in an internal combustion engine,” he said. False Creek Automotive founder Vern Bethel said the proposed 200,000-square-foot assembly-line facility proposed by Kroll would be the first car plant of its kind to ever operate in B.C. Kroll was adamant that conventional vehicles are on their way out. “If you do not see that the fossil-fuelled car is nearing its end, you’re not really paying attention,” he said. “Everybody knows that gasoline is bad. The only people who don’t want to drive an electric vehicle are the ones who haven’t tried one yet.” [© 2015 Postmedia Network] ... http://electrameccanica.com/ ElectraMeccanica Vehicles $19,888, it delivers the most fun, prestige and convenience imaginable. It has an 140 km top speed, with a 140 k range, and takes only 1 hour for a 25% charge For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://www.cnbc.com/id/102789954 Russian ultra-compact EV startup flocked to Singapore for foothold ... http://www.cnbc.com/id/102146444 Russia's Startup City Skolkovo Comes to Silicon-Valley-CA to Recruit http://abcnewspapers.com/2015/06/18/electric-vehicle-charging-station-in-ramsey/ Ramsey now part of 200+ public EVSE in MN + EVLN: ALEX eroadster EV to be made in Ireland {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Sparrow-reborn-in-BC-ca-just-add-40M-tp4676588.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
