Posted on 07/29/2006 7:18:12 PM PDT by Maelstorm
art car, part motorcycle, Myers Motors' new NmG (No more Gas) vehicle certainly is one thing: energy-efficient.
Manufactured entirely in a South Avenue facility in Tallmadge, the NmG is the nation's only all-electric, highway-legal vehicle that can hit 70 mph and costs less than $25,000, said Dana Myers, founder and president of Myers Motors.
The road to that achievement has had plenty of twists and turns.
Myers came up with the idea to produce electric cars after reading a book called The Innovator's Dilemma. He thought it would be a good change for his family business, S.D. Myers, which services and repairs large electric transformers.
In 2004, Myers bought California-based Corbin Motors, which, at the time, made the three-wheeled electric Sparrow vehicle.
Myers planned to redesign the Sparrow and release his creation with a new name before the end of that year.
It took longer than expected.
``We were 18 months late,'' said Myers, who sold the first NmG in May. ``I've never been in the business, and there is always a learning curve. There is no highway-legal electric car like this, so sometimes we had to manufacture our own parts. It takes time.''
Myers also had to move manufacturing from California
to Tallmadge.
The process was completed in mid-2005. ``It took a little while. I should have just brought it all here to begin with.''
Now that his vehicles are on the road, Myers can take a breath. A little one.
Myers Motors isn't in the clear yet, said Bob Oldham, editor of the newsletter for the Electric Auto Association and a special-effects designer at the Science Museum of Virginia. He also owns a hybrid car.
A number of producers have tried and failed in ventures to maintain electric car lines. Sebring/Vanguard's CitiCar of the 1970s failed after the oil crisis ended, and GM's EV-1 cars, featured in Sony Pictures' Who Killed the Electric Car? documentary, were recalled and crushed.
Oldham said Corbin Sparrows didn't sell well.
``The public perception of electric cars is that they will do everything, and they don't. They are niche cars, and they need to be sold as niche cars,'' he said.
``Corbin didn't really push the issue that the Sparrow was a niche car. The NmG is exactly the same, but with suspension improvements and brake improvements. It does what it does extremely well, but if they don't sell it differently, they aren't going to make it very long.''
Myers' view
Myers said shrinking oil supplies and high gas prices, along with public concerns about global warming, will contribute to his eye-catching car's success.
``Corbin sold vehicles for half of what it cost to make them, and they relied on their investors too much. They paved the way when they started from scratch. We started from there and improved the design.''
Myers said he has sold 10 or 11 NmGs to customers in Columbus and Cleveland, Wisconsin, Florida, California and New York.
Because of limited production capacity, Myers Motors sells the cars directly, online, Myers said.
He is still trying to add features such as air conditioning to the NmG. The miniature, fully enclosed vehicle costs $24,900, comes in a variety of colors, and includes a heater, an audio system and power windows.
Satisfied NmG owner
Al Strauss, 63, of Westlake, bought an NmG last fall and got it from the factory this spring. After a test drive, he said, he was hooked.
What he enjoys most about the vehicle is the attention it draws. ``The attention is enormous. I have the name of my company on the side with the phone number. We will get three to five calls when I drive to downtown Cleveland from home, and the same on the way back. Of course, the calls are about the car and not my business,'' he said.
``Everyone that is under 30 will give you a wave or a thumbs-up sign. The younger they are, the more in tune they seem to be with the environment.''
The NmG battery runs for 30 miles before it needs to be plugged in and recharged using a normal plug. Charging takes four to six hours. Each mile of electricity costs about 2 cents.
``People are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on battery development for things like iPods and Game Boys,'' Strauss said. ``I decided to get in the market and get started with what is out there, and better capabilities will eventually come along.''
Commuter vehicle
Most people drive fewer than 12 miles to work, so the NmG can be useful for commuters, he said. It also can be driven in a high-occupancy-vehicle lane.
Strauss uses his NmG three or four days a week to run errands and go to and from work. ``They are perfect cars if you are commuting and you know you are only going 30 miles. They are good for second, third, fourth cars in the household,'' he said. ``I bet it saves me 50 bucks a week in gas.''
Myers Motors is developing a new model of electric vehicle to be released next spring. Myers wouldn't disclose the details but said he hopes to sell between 400 and 600.
Myers Motors has eight employees. It plans to hire 15 to 20 employees for the project, Myers said.
He said he is also trying to drop the price of his vehicles below $20,000.
Click the singularity to find the solution to all US oil problems discovered by WND.
Show me how to get 3 kids and a dog in it and I will buy.
In how many minutes?
Ack!! To me it is butt ugly! LOL!
OPEC will keep oil prices just low enough to keep innovations like this from catching on.
Yeah it is purely a single person vehicle. I have 3 kids with one on the way so I'm not in the market to buy one but I commute to DC and see how something like this, if I were able to take a train and then rent one very cheaply, could be useful.
LOL! Scam city!
It definently isn't cool which is something the they should remedy. They should offer a cool model but for some reason all so called "green" cars have to look like that were designed by guys who design trail mix labels.
Hahahahahaha You have that right!
Looks like a perfect death trap.
a three wheel,
one seater,
won't doit for most people
What I like about this is simple. This guy is just doing it. Not playing mind games like Toyoto and other companies that are taking advantage of stupid liberals and conservatives who aren't good at math. The way to get true electric cars to market is to be innovative and supply a niche market and expand in credible ways small solutions to small problems. If this guy could get these cars in rental centers right beside Metro stations around DC and other big cities and rent them for peanuts something like this would really take off provided they put AC in them.
Yep but most people would come later. What someone needs to do is design a simple modular battery system that can be swapped out easily, safely, and quickly at a "electric gas station".
This has promise and is not trying to build the perfect electric car in the first run but instead an electric car that some people will buy.
Could be a little "beach bomber" with a rag top. I use an 1980 MGB now and might consider switching.
Well yeah if you get run over that is true but so are motorcycles and other means of travel on the road. This is much more safe than any bike.
Exactly the idea. I think it is great. A little US company growing a technology the way tech should be grown one tested step at a time. The big car makers seem intent on designing electric cars that very few people desire to buy and cars that pretend to be environmentally friendly when they really aren't.
K that is cute but I don't know. When I see a moped I just want to laugh.
I have an electric car design rattling around inside my brain that would be "cool". Wrap around LCD polarized glass with heads-up displays, ducted fan propulsion, solar array skin, carbon fiber/glass polymer body with mag/titanium frame, radar avoidance, Nav, single joystick control, fly-by-wire (ultra lite fiber optics control systems) etc.
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