Hi all, Unfortunately, I was the original source for incorrect information that has now gotten out and proliferated around Florida, especially among our Florida EAA membership, on this particular subject, and senior management at A123 has made a request for me to please correct the erroneous information and set the record straight.
By way of background, in trying to be helpful, I had unwittingly given false information to Fran Sullivan-Fahs in Tallahassee based on some seemingly logical (at the time) but ultimately incorrect assumptions I made, by directing Fran to a A123/Hymotion commercial fleet installer. This caused some issues for A123, as it does not correspond to their standard ordering procedure. Fran's situation ultimately rose up to the highest levels at A123, whereupon senior management made a decision to make a one-time exception for Fran and Fran alone, which will not be made again nor allowed to happen again in the future, and they would like that to be known. Senior management at A123 would like everyone in Florida to know that there is one, and only one, way and official procedure for individual retail customers to place an order for their A123/Hymotion plug-in conversion kit for the Prius and arrange for it to be installed by one of A123's certified retail installers, and that is to sign up on A123/Hymotion's secure order reservation webform at: https://www.a123systems.com/hymotion/products/reserve_yours, with the payment of $1,000 refundable deposit. Doing this will put you in the official order queue for a conversion kit and schedule for installation at A123's nearest certified retail installer, which at the present time for us here in Florida is Fitzgerald Toyota in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A123's national list of certified retail installers can be seen here: http://www.a123systems.com/hymotion/get_charged/where_can_i_get_one. A123 is increasingly signing up local Toyota dealers around the country as their certified retail installers. At some point, there may well be some Toyota dealers here in Florida that become A123 certified retail installers, but the only way that can happen is if A123 knows where the retail demand for their kit is coming from and that there is substantial demand here in Florida; and the only way they will know that is if people sign up on their official order reservation webform on A123/Hymotion's website, and not by trying to contact one of their certified installers. A123 has no idea where the end demand is coming from and can't get a handle on that if people go through their certified installers rather than through A123 itself. So that is the rationale for their policy, which makes perfect sense. To reiterate the policy, because this is important -- anyone who tries to order their plug-in hybrid conversion kit through one of A123's certified installers and not through A123 itself will *not*, I repeat, will *NOT*, get in A123's system in their official order queue and will *NOT* get a conversion kit. You *must* use A123's order reservation form on their website. The one-time exception that was made for Fran Sullivan-Fahs will *not* be made again for anyone else. The price for the conversion kit, including installation, is $10k, plus a $400 destination charge, and comes with a 3-year warranty. Right now there is a 6-month order backlog, from order to delivery and installation. Anyone who signs up on the order reservation webform today will be scheduled for delivery and installation of their conversion kit in December 2008. A123/Hymotion has the only US Government (DOT, EPA, and NHTSA) certified, crash-tested, and approved plug-in hybrid conversion kit on the market for the Prius. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused by the situation surrounding Fran's conversion and the incorrect information that has gotten around because of that, which was solely my own fault. Hope this helps to clarify matters. Best regards, Charles Whalen Delray Beach, FL [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
