Montana mountains, big sky and 18 all-electric Miles vehicles. That's the promise of The Resort at Paws, an "upscale wilderness retreat" (the contradiction of that phrase makes my head hurt) in Greenough, Montana that recently purchased 18 Miles electric vehicles. The EVs - 12 ZX40S Advanced Design cars and six OR70 off-road vehicles - will be used by guests and staff at the resort. Miles says these are the first NEVs from Miles to be used at a resort in the U.S. In a statement released by Miles (available after the jump), MILES Sales Representative Ron Gompertz said that NEVs are really ideal for closed-campus resorts, what with their low-speed lifestyle and zero engine noise.


[Source: Miles EV]

Sometimes a tiny nugget of information with sizable implications can slip by in the truckloads of news we sift through everyday. Just yesterday, for instance, there was a small mention in the China Real News of an "high-speed Hafei Saibao electric car" passing an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test. Big deal, right? Well, yes and no. A little digging helped us uncover that the test wasn't actually conducted by the IIHS but rather by the China National Quality Control & Inspection Center for Automobiles and was meant to replicate the IIHS 40 percent frontal offset impact. Still no biggie until you realize that this car also very likely goes by the name of XS500 and that Miles Electric Vehicles is planning on selling it in the U.S. sometime next year. One of the worries about importing cars from China has been their past crash test performance (or lack thereof) and this test offers some insight into how well the XS500 may do when it comes time for its testing over here.

So, how did it fare? After a little more digging we found out it did quite well. After hitting the barrier at 40 mph, the injuries to the crash dummy were "lower than standard limited values" (We're pretty sure that's good). All the expensive stuff, including the lithium ion batteries, motor and controller survived intact and were still operable as well. There was no mention made of any side impact or other tests which vehicles must pass to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and although Miles declined to comment on the progress of their testing, this small tidbit does offer up some hope that their XS500 may indeed make it to the American market.

[Source: EV World / China Real News]

click to enlarge

This week, at the AFVI Expo, I moderated a panel on the roll-out of electric vehicle products from Miles EV, Phoenix Motorcars and GEM. The representatives were Bryon Bliss, vice president of sales and marketing for Phoenix, Jeff Boyd, COO of Miles, and Richard Kaspar, GEM's president and COO. Oh, and our friend Ed Begley, Jr. was there as well, continuing his relationship with Phoenix.

The purpose of the panel was for each company to present their case not only for EVs but for their particular products. Since these companies all offer vehicles with quite different capabilities and styles, they're not really competitors, and it was a congenial event. Since I expect our readers to be pretty familiar with the vehicle line-ups of these three companies, I won't go into details about them. There were a few things said during the 90 minutes that caught my ear, though, that I think you'll want to hear about.

• The Miles EV offices are in Santa Monica, CA. To commute to work, Boyd drives a prototype of the XS500, Miles' upcoming highway-speed battery-powered sedan. The price target is still $35,000 and deliveries should start in the third quarter of 2009. The sedan will be followed by an electric SUV. I told Boyd that the next time I'm in town, I'll be knocking on the office door, begging for a ride. I mean, it worked for the Roadster.
• Phoenix expects deliveries of its all-electric SUT to start at the end of June (yes, in six weeks). Certification should be finished June 1, Bliss said and the company has orders for 600 vehicles to fill as of today.
• GEM's big news is the addition of new options to the back cargo space of its work trucks. Since GEM vehicles have been selling for over a decade, GEM has had plenty of time to listen to customers and find out what they want/need. New covers and door types are now available, and you can see a list of GEM vehicle options here.

Greentech media was also in the room, and wrote up this account of what happened. Both Miles and GEM had vehicles on the show floor, and I've included galleries of their displays below. The Phoenix photos are from the 2007 AFVI Expo. For those of you keeping score, Zap and Dynasty were nowhere to be found at the Expo this year (unlike last year).

Miles Electric Vehicles has a new CEO. Formerly a senior executive at
companies like Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Bertelsmann AG, Kevin Czinger took over the President and CEO position last Thursday. Tech Confidential says that former CEO Jeff Boyd will take over the COO spot, "where he will focus on day-to-day operations and leave business development and funding to Czinger." Miles EV founder Miles Rubin said in a statement that he was "delighted" to have Czinger on his team. We'd be delighted with some more updates about the status of the all-electric XS500 sedan, but we'll take this as an apparent bit of good news, as Tech Confidential wonders if "Czinger's arrival may indicate upcoming funding for Miles."

[Source: Tech Confidential]

It's been a month since we last wrote about Miles Automotive. Most of our recent coverage of the electric car company has revolved around the sounds-too-good-too-be-true XS500, a highway speed all-electric sedan that is - supposedly - about a year away. Now we have something new from Miles to write about. The 2008 Production Model MILES ZX40ST Work Truck, which was introduced today at the Green California Summit in Sacramento.

The ZX40ST (boy, that rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is a low speed electric vehicle (25 mph top speed) that uses six lead acid batteries (rated for 25,000 miles) and a brushless AC motor to go 50-60 miles per charge. It takes 4-6 hours to charge from 50 percent to full from a standard home outlet (so, I'll assume it takes about double that to charge from near empty?). Watch out, pedestrians, as this little guy can scoot from 0-20 mph in five seconds. These may not be spectacular numbers, but for what a vehicle like this is supposed to do, I'd say they're quite sufficient. Miles has announced that it is making 200 ZX40STs a month and is sold out through June. The truck costs $18,400.
The truck will be on display at the Sacramento Convention Center through tomorrow. See more after the break.

In an interview by Industry Standard, Miles Automotive CEO Jeff Boyd said the all-electric X500 is "a little over a year" from release. Industry Standard asked what Boyd thought about competition from plug-in hybrids and he replied that he was not aware of any plug-in close to production. Boyd then added that, "We're a little over a year away, so we think we're maybe two or three years ahead of most plug-in hybrid vehicles." Someone should tell Boyd about the Saturn PHEV is scheduled for a release in 2010 late 2009. Miles Automotive has a variety of models in mind like a XS500-based crossover. Electric cars are no longer a fad, Boyd said, but a revolution.


[Source: Industry Standard]

The team at Miles Automotive has just taken a big step toward making their XS500 electric sedan a reality thanks to $15 million in new funding. Los Angeles-based Angeleno Group led the latest funding round for Miles. The XS500 is a highway-speed-capable battery electric sedan that Miles is developing for production in China and sales in the U.S. and Europe. Recently, Miles has been doing a lot of re-engineeriffng of the XS500 which has led to some questions as to whether they can actually deliver a car with the specifications that they have quoted at a $30,000-35,000 price point. Considering that no one else has yet managed to build a car like this, the XS500 could be quite an achievement.

[Source: GreenCarAdvisor]

I was browsing through the website for AllGreenVehicles, Miles Electric's new EU distributer and I found a new picture of Javlon, a highly-anticipated electric car. From the text on the building in the background, it appears to be in China, the last location I caught up with this slippery electric car. The URL in the lower right, tom.com, is also a popular Chinese web portal. I don't speak Chinese, so I don't know how I would find the source of that image at tom.com. Even more frustrating, the image was at the AllGreenVehicles's news page is in another language I don't understand.

The Miles Javlon, along with a hand-full of other vehicles, may be the first normal, looking, electric car available in the U.S. If you can translate AllGreenVehicles or navigate tom.com to find the source of the alluring image, please post anything you can find in comments or tell us directly. We would really appreciate it because news about the Javlon is hard to find.

[Source: Tom.com via AllGreenVehicles]

The video above shows New York mayor Bloomberg speaking in China and saying he will test drive Miles Automotive's Javlon electric car. Recently, we told you early versions of the car had rolled off the production line and the company was checking them out in China.

Below is a video about another highly-anticipated electric car, the Aptera, which Popular Mecahanics test drove recently. Recently, we told you about the video of the PM drive, which includes a good look at the inside of the car and a tour of the outside with a description of many interesting aspects to the Aptera. Now you can watch it for yourself.

Which electric car are you looking forward to most, the Aptera or the Javlon?

Related:

• Video interview: Miles Automotive on Javlon
• Aptera series hybrid will have 1,000-mile range
• Videos: Aptera launch, Nissan concepts, Smart hybrid

[Source: YouTube via Meta Efficient]

According to CNET, the first prototypes of Miles Automotive's Javlon have come off the production line in China and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got a chance to test drive one of them. CNET also reports the prototypes will come to the states in a few months, the Javlon will cost $35,000 and come out early 2009. Here is Bloomberg talking about Javlon before taking the test drive:

After my remarks, I look forward to going outside and seeing some of the latest-model battery-powered all-electric cars that an American company-Miles Automotive Group-is developing in partnership with the Chinese Automotive Technical and Research Center or 'CAT-ARC,' the Chinese Electronic Technology Group Corporation, Lishen Battery Company, and the city of Tianjin.

I will be joined by the chair of Miles Automotive Group, Miles Rubin, and its chief operating officer, Kevin Kiley. As well as by their Chinese partners: Zhao Hang, director of CATARC; Wang Xi Wen, vice-superintendent of Chinese Electronic Technology Group Corporation; Qin Xing Cai, general manager of Lishen Battery; Liang Rui, deputy general manager at Lishen Battery; and Wu Zhi Qin, general manager of Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Company.

Assembled here in China, the cars they are making can be marketed to drivers in both our nations, and in South America and the European Union, too. The result is a marriage of U.S. and Chinese technology that is taking us forward-toward 100 percent electric-powered vehicles that drastically reduce air pollutants, cut carbon emissions, and are less expensive to operate.

Mayors have all the fun.

Related:

• AutoblogGreen videos: Tesla Motors and Miles Automotive at Green the Capitol Office Expo
• Video interview: Miles Automotive on Javlon
• Miles Automotive plugs in an all-new web site
• AFVI Show: Tell me, is the Miles Javlon $30,000 all-electric sedan for real?
• Miles Rubin, eternal optimist, interviewed on NPR
• Miles Automotive appoints initial dealer network

[Source: CNET]

Back in October, we wrote about Miles Automotive's new partnership with the environmental web site No Gas Required that would take the form of a video competition for college and university students. Entrants were asked to make a video on the "no gas required" theme to try and win a Miles electric car for their school to use. As of this writing, there are eleven videos up on the Miles Revolution YouTube page, and the five videos from this batch (or others, if more are forthcoming) that are viewed the most times will win a $1,000 scholarship and the cars.

I'll admit that I haven't watched all of these videos (yet). I selected the video to add to this post based on length, so don't take this as any sort of endorsement. The video above is simply the longest one. If you do check all the videos out and have a fave, let us know.

[Source: YouTube, h/t to Domenick]

Miles Automotive announced that they are teaming up with the environmental web site No Gas Required on a video competition for college and university students. Based on the description on the website it appears that entrants should create a video to promote electric vehicles and how they can help the environment. Students can submit their videos to the No Gas Required site and they will put them on YouTube. The top five most-viewed videos will earn their creators $1,000 cash scholarships and a Miles electric car for their campus.

[Source: Miles Automotive]

NPR's Elizabeth Shogren spent a morning with Miles Rubin recently, and has a report on the man and his electric machines. The result is a 5:30 minute piece that succinctly captures the current electric vehicle market and Miles Electric Vehicles' place in it. We also hear from David Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, on the extreme difficulty inherent in getting an EV to market. Still, Rubin is positive his company can make a difference.

"I think everybody has to do something. We can't just depend on governments. Yes it will take government action to make a change, but we can't sit back and wait for Congress," Rubin told NPR.

One human touch: The story of how Rubin's wife jokes that her husband doesn't know anything the major automakers don't, so what does that say about his chances? Miles agrees it's tough, but still told Shogren that Miles Electric Vehicles is still planning on a highway speed car in 2009 for $30,000. That's the Javlon xs500. Just two more years until we see how Miles implements this plan.

You can listen to or read the report here.

[Source: NPR, thanks to Beth @ Miles EVs]