It appears that along with re-engineering the powertrain of their upcoming electric vehicles Phoenix Motor Cars has decided to hedge their battery bet. Phoenix was the first company to commit to using Altairnano's lithium titanate batteries in an automotive applications. However Canadian battery supplier Electrovaya announced the other day that they would be supplying battery packs to Phoenix. The obvious question is what becomes of Altairnano? According to Phoenix Marketing VP Bryon Bliss, the company will be offering packs from multiple suppliers. Both Altairnano and Electrovaya batteries will be sold for the upcoming SUV and sport utility truck. The Altairnano batteries have the advantage of being able to withstand 10 minute rapid charges. Unfortunately they only have about half the energy density of other lithium battery technologies and so far they are also much more expensive. We're still trying to get more clarification on timing and cost differences for the different battery packs and we'll keep you updated.
In an interesting twist to the saga that is the development of the Phoenix Motorcars electric SUT & SUV program comes news that they are now partnering with a Canadian battery maker. In a press release from that company, Electrovaya says that they are now negotiating an arrangement with Phoenix and have already begun the work of integrating their proprietary Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery along with its intelligent battery management system ("iBMS").
Phoenix Motorcars President and CEO, Daniel J. Elliot is quoted by the release as saying, "We are pleased to have Electrovaya join forces with us, and we are excited to be working with their team and their advanced technologies. Electrovaya's innovative Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery technology stands apart from its peers as a platform, chemistry agnostic technology. Electrovaya's systems expertise and design experience provide what we need in terms of battery performance." Hmm. That strikes us as possibly being in conflict with a statement made by the CEO a couple months ago in a different press release which can still be found on the Phoenix Motorcars website. And we quote, "We wholeheartedly support Altairnano's technology and believe they provide the greatest product available on the market today." Altairnano being the company that has been trumpeted as the supplier of their battery of choice for some time now, we wonder if a similar fate has befallen them as has their original motor supplier, UQM. Or perhaps Phoenix plans on utilizing the power packs from both companies. We shall try to get the straight dope and let your enquiring minds know but in the mean time go ahead and read the available details in the press release after the break.
After making a pretty big splash in 2006 around the same time that Tesla launched, Phoenix Motorcars has not made all that much noise about their four-door electric pickup, based on a SsangYong design. We enjoyed our drive in the electric SUT last year, and sincerely hope that the company is able to make good use of the Altairnano lithium titanate batteries that seem so promising.
The Los Angeles Times has an article taking a look at the the four most prominent California-based electric vehicle start-ups and the difficulties they face. The article touches on Phoenix Motorcars, Zap, Fisker and, of course, Tesla. A lot of what the article covers has already been discussed around these parts on numerous occasions but for those playing catchup, it's a decent primer on the difficulties of creating a new car company. Building any new car that meets modern customer expectations, regulatory requirements and is reliable and durable is an extremely daunting task. All of that needs to happen before you even think about actually making money on the whole deal, which few car companies seem to be able to do. The technical issues of integrating all the powertrain electronics, safety, body and entertainment systems is extremely costly and time consuming but must be done if you expect people to actually big bucks for an electrically-driven car. If you don't accomplish all of that, you may sell a few cars to rich early adopters and enthusiasts, but you won't have a sustainable business. One correction to the article: the author states that Tesla plans to build 1,000 cars this year, that number is closer to 600 and even that may prove to be a stretch.
After losing a CEO and then more money than expected in FY07, there's finally a bit of potential good news from Altairnano. The battery company that should be powering the Phoenix SUVs by now has announced (release after the break) an expansion to Altairnano's facility in Anderson, Indiana from 30,000 square feet to 70,000. The reason is "a growing base of potential long-term clients including Phoenix Motorcars and the AES Corporation, among others." Potential? We're ready for some detailed vehicle testing reports, already. While we wait for those, anyone want to speculate about which companies Altairnano's Director of Operations, Dave Lynch, was talking about when he said, "We do have several other automotive companies that we're working with on some ideas for both hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all electric vehicles"?
Several factors hurt Altair Nanotechnologies' fiscal results in FY07: warranty replacement costs and higher research and development expenses have made the company report a wider loss despite higher revenues. $6.78m worth of warranty expenses and inventory impairment were related to the first-generation battery packs that were sold to Phoenix Motor Cars. As for R&D, costs rose to $15.4m compared to $10.1m in 2006.
Altair has lost $31.5 million, which is more than the $17.2 million reported in 2006. On a per share basis, the loss was $0.45, compared to a loss of $0.29 last year.
Phoenix Motorcars, the company behind the much-anticipated electric SUT with the SsangYong body and Altairnano battery has given their website a fresh look in anticipation of increased traffic. Set to finally begin building their vehicles for fleet customers and take a few retail orders, the company from Ontario, California has rolled out the welcome map with a fresh set of pixels and features.
The feature I was just having fun with was the savings calculator. You tell them the cost of the vehicle you're thinking of buying, it's gas mileage, and a few other variables and POW!, they give you a graph that shows you how long it will take to get some serious return on your investment. If you like the results you can sign up to reserve one of these for yourself.
Bonus video: For a short video of their plant and a bit of a test drive, hit the jump.
According to a press release on Altairnano's web site, Dr. Alan Gotcher has agreed to resign "as an officer of the company." Dr. Gotcher was appointed CEO back in August 2004 and President in March 2005. No reason was given in the release but the language makes it sound like it wasn't his decision. Dr. Terry Copeland, formerly of Millennium Cell, Inc., who was hired on as vice-president in November of last year, will step in as interim president.
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past of couple years, Altairnano is a company which exploits nanotechnology to create disruptive products and is best known for their fast charging, umpteen-cycle-enduring lithium titanate battery.
Altairnano stock dropped sharply on this news but now appears to be rebounding nicely. Hopefully the company can put this transition behind them quickly and get on with the business of getting their product out of their doors and into our cars, Navy ships, and dragsters. Read the press release for yourself at the jump.
One company we haven't been hearing too much from of late is Phoenix Motorcars. They made a pretty big splash in 2006 around the same time that Tesla launched and they've turned up at all the usual conferences and events with prototypes of their electric pickup truck. They grabbed a lot of attention for their plans to use Altairnano's lithium titanate batteries with their potential for 10-minute quick charges.
Subsequently, some doubts began to surface about the viability of the company's business plan due to the high cost of producing their vehicles and the reliance on selling clean air credits to fund operations. When the company launched they said that they would start off by supplying their trucks to fleet customers such as PG&E. We got word from a reader last week that he had received an e-mail from Phoenix indicating they were ready to start taking some orders from retail customers for their sport utility truck and SUV. We decided to call up Phoenix and get the full scoop which you can find after the jump.
There's some interesting financial activity going these days in the electric vehicle realm and it wouldn't be surprising to see some consolidation happen soon. In the past year Phoenix Motorcars and Zap have trailed only the Tesla Roadster and Chevy Volt in attention for battery-propelled vehicles. Unfortunately for both companies (and Tesla) revenues have not been in proportion to press coverage and as we all know building a complete vehicle is not a trivial challenge.
Phoenix has just topped up their bank account with $40 million courtesy of Dubai investor Al Yousuf. Only days earlier, Al Yousuf invested a similar quantity in Altairnano Technologies, the battery supplier to Phoenix and prior to that injected $5 million in Zap. We'll be watching the action here, but it's interesting to see a Middle Eastern Investor buying up chunks of electric vehicle and battery startups.
Update: I misread the original source. The amount invested by Al Yousuf in Phoenix has not been disclosed yet. The investment is in the form of convertible debt .
[Source: Green Car Congress, thanks to Domenick for the tip]
An online Mexican newspaper has announced that Phoenix MotorCars is building a manufacturing plant in the state of Puebla in México. The plant, which is made jointly with Pristine International, will create 1,500 jobs in the area. The plant will be built in a new industrial development area near Huejotzingo's airport. The companies are investing an initial $90 million, but a total of $250 million will be invested in the near future.
Ricardo Lorden, Phoenix's director for México and Latin America said that the plant would produce a car "able to run up to 200 km/h (130 mph), which can be recharged in 10 minutes." Mr. Lorden also envisioned a future network of fast recharging stations powered from different sources of energy, which could make gasoline redundant. We'll see if this plant can help us decipher at all the recent changes in Phoenix's motor of choice for their all-electric SUT.
We heard yesterday that Phoenix MotorCars had canceled their order for motors from UQM Technologies. Now Phoenix has issued their own press release revealing that they are adopting new motor technology. The new motors are apparently lighter and more compact than the UQM units although Phoenix is not saying where they are coming from. The motors now have a peak power output of 200 kW and should be less expensive to manufacture. Phoenix is sticking with the Altairnano battery although the pack size has been made smaller and lighter as well.
Interestingly the press release only quotes a range of over 100 miles as opposed to the 130 miles previously claimed. All of this points to the likelihood that Phoenix, like Tesla before them, has struggled to meet their cost and range targets with the original design. So they are probably now scrambling to cut weight and manufacturing cost. ABG will continue to try and get a more definitive response from Phoenix.
[Source: Phoenix Motor Cars, thanks to Domenick and Jacob for the tip]
A friend who spends more time than I do perusing the financial statements of various companies alerted me to the latest release from UQM Technologies. UQM you might recall makes electric motors that have appeared in a variety of prototype and production intent electric vehicles. Perhaps most notable on their list to readers of this site is Phoenix Motorcars. Phoenix is the purveyor of a battery powered version of a Korean Sssangyong pickup truck.
Buried in UQM's latest quarterly financial report was the following statement :
"Separately, we have been notified by Phoenix Motorcars, Inc. of their intention to cancel the Purchase and Supply Agreement with us and an associated purchase order to buy $9.25 million of our products, due to significant issues at Phoenix Motorcars, Inc. unrelated to our performance."
Based on this, things don't look good for Phoenix. We have made inquiries with Phoenix but haven't heard anything back yet. As soon as we hear something back we'll let you know what is happening.
[Source: UQM Technologies, thanks to Darryl for the tip]
C-NET's Michael Kanellos did a little thinking out loud this week when he tried to list all of the electric car start-up companies (not major automakers working on EVs). He counted 16 small companies. The names on this list will be familiar to just about anyone who reads AutoblogGreen, but I thought it was interesting to see them all gathered in one place:
Tesla Motors (sports cars), Wrightspeed (sports cars and plug-in drivetrains for trucks), Fisker Automotive (electric sedans), Zap (low-speed and sports cars), Miles Automotive (low speed), Zenn Motors (low speed), AC Propulsion (retrofitting Scions for electric), Phoenix Motorcars (SUVs), Aptera (three-wheelers), Porteon (low speed electrics), Lightning (sports cars in England), Reva (economy cars), Ultramotor (electric trishaws), Myers Motors (freakish three-wheelers featured in Goldmember), Think (electric economy cars) and Venture Vehicles (three-wheeled electric cars.).
I'd say the only "major" player that Kanellos missed is GEM, which has been making glorified golf carts for ages. Other contenders not on his list include Universal Electric Vehicle, American Electric Vehicle, G-Wiz and Hybrid Technologies. I'm sure there's at least a couple more we're missing, but we're already got over 20 small EV companies. Pretty soon, he figures, this list will be much easier to calculate: "History shows that most of these companies will be wiped out." So it goes, as my favorite author would write.
The Boshart Tersus may look like the Phoenix SUT, but it certainly doesn't quack like a Phoenix SUT. Both of these unusual electric trucks are built from the same Ssanyong body, but are totally different under the hood. Well, not completely. Boshart Engineering actually did some engineering work for Phoenix, and decided that there was room in the market for another, um, can't-miss-the-styling electric truck. The difference? This one is an NEV.
The Tersus is not just any low-speed electric vehicle. This one is designed for off-road use, and exclusively on closed campus, privately-owned land (that's how the brochure phrases it). The battery and range specifications for the Tersus are pretty similar to the numbers for a Zenn or Miles NEV. To wit, a maximum speed of 25 mph, full charge in six hours (or two, with a quick charger). The big difference is the price: these trucks cost almost $30,000. With a 72-volt battery system, a 28 kW AC induction drive motor and 220 Ah (C/5) battery capacity, you're paying for a payload capacity of 1,000 pounds and the ability to seat four comfortably. I don't think Boshart has made a mistake in developing this truck, but we're certainly seeing green vehicles being developed for some incredibly specific groups of consumers these days.
Several factors hurt Altair Nanotechnologies' fiscal results in FY07: warranty replacement costs and higher research and development expenses have made the company report a wider loss despite 
_thumbnail.jpg "Beijing 2008: BYD e6")
