Miles Automotive has selected thirty dealers to begin selling their electric cars, including the new full-speed EV that's coming in 2008 called the Javlon. Their current lineup includes a range of low-speed, full-bodied neighborhood electric vehicles. The company hopes to have 190 dealers by the time the high-speed EV goes on sale later in 2008. The target price for the new car is $30,000 and the company hopes to build 18,000 units for the 2009 model year. The top speed of the car will be about 80mph with a 120 mile range.

Related:

• Miles Automotive on the $30,000 Javlon XS500 all-electric sedan
• Tell me, is the Miles Javlon $30,000 all-electric sedan for real?

[Source: Miles Automotive]

College campuses are one of those ideal locations to use all-electric low-speed vehicles. You don't usually have to go very far, you can't go 70 mph, and there are often a lot of environmentally-aware student groups. So it makes a lot of sense for Miles Automotive to announce today a new partnership with college student groups.

Called "No Gas Required," Miles is offering its NEVs to bona fide student "green" organizations that promote all-electric cars to display at expos and, for each Miles vehicle a college buys, the company will give $500 to the partnering student organization to use to promote green lifestyle and products. So, basically, you promote our cars (and EVs in general), we'll loan one to you for a day or so and if you buy one, you get a $500 discount.

So far, Miles' NEVs can be seen at Yale, Stanford, the University of California and Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo. The PR from Miles is after the jump.

Related:

• AFVI Show: Tell me, is the Miles Javlon $30,000 all-electric sedan for real?

[Source: Miles Automotive]

We brought you the audio version of this interview yesterday, but if you didn't have time to listen to Miles Automotive's Chris Buehrer talk about the upcoming Javlon XS500, here's our talk written down (with the "ums" and all that edited out). Enjoy

ABG: You know we usually keep up with what Miles is up to, but somehow notice of a Javlon, either I just have forgotten about it or it missed me. What is more likely?

CB: It, it may have missed you. We're not really marketing heavily. Right now we're not, you know, we're not promoting the vehicle too much, but we want to have set up as a dealership network when the car is here.

ABG: Okay.

CB: So at the NADA, National Auto Dealer's Association, in Las Vegas in February, we brought this chassis over to show dealers and say, hey, this is what-this is what we're putting the other few guys. We want to show them that it's a good-looking car. It's not a small little boxy egg crate or something so we wanted to show them the, the styling of the vehicle and we wanted to advertise so that the numbers that we're shooting for, uh, uh, for performance values and then, uh, start signing on some dealership-a dealership network that believed in the car and believed in our mission and, uh, and, and that's the reason that you see the chasse here. We've really only, uh, had it at the NADA show and now here.

ABG: Okay. But, it's okay to put pictures up online of it, right?

CB: Yeah. Sure.



read it all after the jump

Remember the presentation that Miles Rubin gave at the EDTA last November on the semi-secretive car his company, Miles Automotive, would bring to the 2007 LA Auto Show? (If not, read about it here). It's time to update the story.

I certainly didn't expect to find any new alternative fueled vehicles while roaming through the AFVI Expo hall today. This isn't the type of show where new cars are announced. And, technically, the all-new Javlon XS500 I discovered at the Miles booth isn't exactly being announced. It's clear that Miles Automotive is doing a soft roll-out of their WhiteStar challenger: an all-electric, five-seat sedan with an 85 mph top speed and a 150+ mile range. Oh, and the base model starts at $29,500.

I cornered Chris Buehrer of Miles Automotive on the showroom floor. He was forthcoming on some points, less so on others (like who's making the XS500's 320 V, 25 kWh, 80 Ah lithium-ion batteries that take six hours to charge). You can probably tell from the interview that I was much more impressed to see the chassis in the metal - it's an original design by Pininfarina - than I was of Rubin's talk last November. For now, please give Chris a listen for many, many details on the Javlon (MP3). We'll have a transcript of this up shortly. (UPDATE: Here it is).



Related:

• EDTA Conference: Miles Automotive chairman previews 2007 LA Auto Show
• Want to become a Miles Automotive Dealer? You'll need to buy a 45-day supply of EVs