California Firm to Build Electric-Powered Van : Autos: Solar Electric Engineering of Santa Rosa thinks utilities will be key customers. The vehicle will meet new pollution laws.
Solar Electric Engineering Inc., the tiny Santa Rosa, Calif., company that produces more electric cars than any other U.S. manufacturer, has formed a joint venture with a Florida specialty auto maker to produce an electric-powered utility van.
The first electric van commercially available in the United States, it will be designed to meet demand spurred by tax incentives favoring electric vehicles in the National Energy Policy Act of 1992.
Consulier Automotive of Riviera Beach, Fla., will build the shell, and Solar Electric will install the motors and drive train. They plan to produce 100 units in 1993.
Though the vans will be available to the general public, Gary Starr, chairman of Solar Electric, expects most of his first customers to be utility companies and other fleet users.
Chrysler Corp. and Ford Motor Co. also plan to produce electric vans next year, but they will not be available to the general public.
Chrysler’s TEVan is a conversion of a gasoline-driven minivan. The 1993 output of 50 vans has already been sold to fleet users, and the company does not expect to produce an electric vehicle for individual buyers until the late 1990s.
Next year, Ford Motor Co. will produce 87 electric utility vans, modified from European Ford Escort vans. They will all be leased, primarily to U.S utilities, including Southern California Edison Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in California. Ford does not expect to market electric vans to individuals before the end of the decade.
The Chrysler TEVans will cost about $120,000 each. Ford will lease its vans for $100,000 over 30 months. “Our vans will cost probably half what they (Ford and Chrysler vans) will,” Solar Electric’s Starr said.
Solar Electric has converted 140 vehicles--mostly Ford Escort cars and Chevy S-10 trucks--to electric motors since it opened in 1976. Its new van will be specifically designed for electric power.
Consulier has built about 100 sports cars called Consulier GTPs. It specializes in the use of lightweight, composite materials such as those used in Stealth aircraft or in graphite fishing poles and tennis rackets.
