Filed under: EV/Plug-in, NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), USA
BG Automotive Group has ambitious goal
Thanks to tips sent by some of our readers, we learned of a new electric car company today named BG Automotive Group. We dug out our deerstalker and magnifying glass and soon found a set of footsteps in the form of comments with links back to a simple one page website promoting an ambitious-sounding program. According to the site, BG (Be Green) is planning to begin its electric-car career with neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) this October and are now accepting $250 deposits for the airbag-equipped $15,995 cars. But that's just the beginning. "High Speed" vehicles are planned for mid-2009 and eventually the line up is meant to include minivans, trucks, buses, maintenance/utility vehicles and touring vans. We were starting to wonder if this wasn't just another Spark EV type scheme until we hit on a freshly printed article on the project.
The Philadelphia Inquirer talked with the steel wholesaling man behind the ambition, Barry D. Bernsten, on Monday and revealed the true scope of the aspirations of BG Automotive Group. They are shopping now for a 200,000 sq.ft. facility in which to begin converting the first 4,000 vehicles planned for import this year. Mr Bernsten feels that with the help of Asian auto suppliers and "improved U.S. battery technology", they should be able to bypass the large auto makers who should have been mass producing all-electrics by now. As we have seen, starting a new electric car company is not easy. We wish him luck. As for those of you considering making a purchase from BG, caveat emptor! Thanks to everyone for the tip!
[Source: Philadelphia Inquirer]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BlackbirdHighway 8:14PM (7/17/2008)
This is starting to look and feel like the early stages of the Internet bubble of the late 90's.
I wish them all luck, but realistically, not all of these companies are going to make it.
It will be interesting to see which ones will survive, thrive, and become the new Googles and Amazons, and which ones will just fizzle out, and of course a few will probably end up being the new Enrons and Worldcoms.
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wave54 8:36PM (7/17/2008)
It does look a lot like the "dot com" feeding frenzy, with new announcements every day. Only a small percentage will survive -- even well-funded Tesla is a question mark for the long-term. Delorean and Bricklin put actual cars on the road, too.
A couple of good lines from the source article:
"Auto specialists see plenty of obstacles. "You need to show this is more than a golf cart," said Dennis Virag, head of Detroit-based Automotive Consulting Group Inc., which has worked for groups that oppose public subsidies for electric cars.
"You need a dealer network, which is very, very expensive to put together. You need a warranty program from the original equipment manufacturer, which isn't easy to get once you start doing work on their drive train. And we are a litigious society. One little mishap can cost you everything," Virag said."
Chris M 9:21PM (7/17/2008)
They will find that the NEV market is saturated, with GEM and ZAP dominating the sales. They will also find that it is a lot more difficult to get a freeway capable EV designed, tested, and built, so unless they started 2 years ago they won't get their "high speed" car to market in 2009.
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BlackbirdHighway 9:31PM (7/17/2008)
Yes, right now Chrysler and even GM are question marks in terms of ultimately surviving the coming upheaval, so certainly Tesla has no guarantee of success. They are doing ok for now, but that could change fairly quickly.
I don't really understand the NEV market, I would think that it is very limited, but I don't have any facts to back that up. It's just a gut feeling. Anybody know how many NEVs were sold last year, by all the makers combined?
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Mark 6:18PM (7/21/2008)
As a certified mechanic with a special interest in hybrids vehicles http://www.auto-facts.org/hybridcar.html I agree with your statement "starting a new electric car company is not easy." This is why I never understood why Cushman or one of the other older golf cart company's never made a play for some market share in the ev marketplace. Some retooling and research and development a few years ago would be paying off big right about now. I guess hind site really is 20/20.
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BGauto 12:43PM (7/24/2008)
America needs to stay FOCUSED, AWARE and EDUCATED.
History reminds us that every time oil prices peak and the North American market/consumers start to discuss alternative energy sources, the oil exporting countries start to trim down their prices. History also tells us that the oil exporting nations have been very successful in the past and in fact, we have lost our enthusiasm and dropped many of our alternative energy initiatives after oil prices are reduced.
WE need to stay focused this time.
1) Al Gore and his energy initiative is on course.
2) T. Boone Pickens and his wind power initiative is on course.
3) BG Automotive Group’s mass production electric vehicle program is on
course.
4) The Gas Reduction Act of 2008 might not be the most environmentally sound
solution, but yet it shows that Congress has finally realized that we have an
energy crisis (again), and a real threat to our national security.
The continued dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our long term democratic values. We must become an energy independent nation, and with this, some sacrifices will have to be made by the American consumer.
Be aware!!
We are exporting approximately USD $700 Billion dollars per year of U.S. currency. The majority of this money is being transferred to the Trillion dollar “sovereign wealth funds”. This is USD $700 Billion not being spent on America’s educational system, health care and security.
The “sovereign wealth funds” are directly buying major interests (large blocks of stock) in U.S. companies, including most of the major banks. Also, billions of dollars of “sovereign wealth fund” money is being invested in our hedge funds, private equity firms, and the investment banking industry. A few of these firms are directly and indirectly investing large sums of money into our “gas combustion” automobile industry. Do we want our auto industry in the direct or indirect control of the firms that are supplying us oil? This is an interesting topic for an investigative reporter.
There are automotive consulting companies in Michigan (heart of our auto industry), lobbying States and our Federal Government, NOT to subsidize the Electric Vehicle industry. The latter seems to be contradictory to what the American public would like to see from our automobile industry. After the billions (excess of $20 billion) the automotive companies have lost in the past 6 months producing gas combustion vehicles, you would think they too would change course. Changing course is not adding 2-4 miles per gallon w/Hybrids. Drastic measures in our auto industry must take place and NOW!
Do not let the temporary reduction in oil prices push us of course….AGAIN.
Read, Read, Read- Stay on top of the issues. Let’s not be fooled again.
STAY FOCUSED, AWARE and EDUCATED!
Reply
BeGreen 1:25PM (7/25/2008)
America needs to stay FOCUSED, AWARE and EDUCATED.
History reminds us that every time oil prices peak and the North American market/consumers start to discuss alternative energy sources, the oil exporting countries start to trim down their prices. History also tells us that the oil exporting nations have been very successful in the past and in fact, we have lost our enthusiasm and dropped many of our alternative energy initiatives after oil prices are reduced.
WE need to stay focused this time.
1) Al Gore and his energy initiative is on course.
2) T. Boone Pickens and his wind power initiative is on course.
3) The BG Automotive Group electric vehicle mass production program is on
course along with their solar charging stations.
4) Richard Branson from the UK is on course.
5) The Gas Reduction Act of 2008 might not be the most environmentally sound
solution, but yet it shows that Congress has finally realized that we have an
energy crisis (again), and a real threat to our national security.
The continued dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our long term democratic values. We must become an energy independent nation, and with this, some sacrifices will have to be made by the American consumer.
Be aware!!
We are exporting approximately USD $700 Billion dollars per year of U.S. currency. The majority of this money is being transferred to the Trillion dollar “sovereign wealth funds”. This is USD $700 Billion not being spent on America’s educational system, health care and security.
The “sovereign wealth funds” are directly buying major interests (large blocks of stock) in U.S. companies, including most of the major banks. Also, billions of dollars of “sovereign wealth fund” money is being invested in our hedge funds, private equity firms, and the investment banking industry. A few of these firms are directly and indirectly investing large sums of money into our “gas combustion” automobile industry. Do we want our auto industry in the direct or indirect control of the firms that are supplying us oil? This is an interesting topic for an investigative reporter.
There are automotive consulting companies in Michigan (heart of our auto industry), lobbying States and our Federal Government, NOT to subsidize the Electric Vehicle industry. The latter seems to be contradictory to what the American public would like to see from our automobile industry. After the billions (excess of $20 billion) the automotive companies have lost in the past 6 months producing gas combustion vehicles, you would think they too would change course. Changing course is not adding 2-4 miles per gallon w/Hybrids. Drastic measures in our auto industry must take place and NOW!
Do not let the temporary reduction in oil prices push us off course….AGAIN.
Read, Read, Read- Stay on top of the issues. Let’s not be fooled again.
STAY FOCUSED, AWARE and EDUCATED!
Reply
BG Auto 9:41PM (8/04/2008)
Please read-Americans need to know!!!!!!!!
NHTSA Hearings 8/4/08
I just returned from the NHTSA hearings held today (August 4, 2008) in Washington D.C., regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for NEW Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (CAFÉ) for years 2011-2015.
IMPORTANT FACTS: You will not believe what you are reading.
1) The 414 pages DEIS analysis was based on an average gasoline price of USD $2.16/gallon for 2011-2020. A calculation approved by the NHTSA administrators/managers. Would you believe it???????????
2) The new CAFÉ rules were also established, negotiated and pre-approved by the NHTSA’s management along with the influence of domestic automotive companies and their lobbyists. We have now established fuel standards for 2011-2020 that are presently met throughout the rest of the Western world (see elow)
As one guest speaker said today “are they on another planet?”
NHTSA “NEW Fuel Standards” (2011-2015) decision:
Automobiles are to achieve 31.2 mpg by 2011 and 35.7 mpg by 2015. Light trucks are to achieve 25 mpg by 2011, and 28.6 mpg by 2015.
The NTHSA is also setting a goal of 35 mpg on average for 2020.
America needs to know:
The European Union is currently establishing standards, with a goal of reaching 48.9 miles per gallon for new passenger vehicles as early as 2012. The current EU standard already requires more than 40 miles per gallon about 15% higher than the U.S. goal set for 12 years from now.
Japan currently has a standard of about 40 miles per gallon. Japan aims to further improve fuel efficiency by 17% by 2015, reaching 46.9 miles per gallon.
China has a current average of slightly under 35 miles per gallon. Chinese fuel standards are on target to reach the government’s goal of 35.8 miles per gallon by 2009. China will not only meet, but exceed, the goal just established by the United States for 2020 — more than a full decade earlier.
Australia is targeting 34.4 miles per gallon by 2010.
Canada is targeting 34.1 miles per gallon by 2010.
Under the current administration, purchasing an electric vehicle is becoming more of a necessity rather than an alternative.
BG Automotive Group, Ltd.
(http://www.bgelectriccars.com/)
Reply