AP Photo/Paul Sakuma
A recent Scientific American article, San Jose's Electric Car Revolution, was disappointing because it only covered the work of Coulomb Technologies. While they're doing wonderful things, Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area has so much more electric vehicle activity happening than just Coulomb Technologies and Tesla Motors (the other local EV star).
This is Silicon Valley, home to many high technology developments in software and electronics. It's natural, then, for Silicon Valley to have a role in electrifying transportation. Silicon Valley doesn't have much history of building vehicles, other than the NUMI plant in Fremont. But the local expertise in electronics and software can, and is, translate into developing the innards of electric vehicles.
The following is a non-comprehensive list of local companies doing work related to electric vehicles. The companies are of all sizes from small conversion shops to a large defense contractor. I wish to credit the members of the local Electric Auto Association chapter for some assistance. It's worth noting, according to the former EAA historian, that the Silicon Valley Chapter was the founding Chapter of the EAA, although then it was known as the Santa Clara Chapter. The EAA has a long history of publicizing knowledge of electric vehicles, and many members have done their own electric vehicle conversions. The EAA co-founded Plug-in America, one of the principle organizations lobbying for plug-in hybrid vehicles. The other EAA has something to do with airplanes.
Some of these companies are startups being incubated at the Environmental Business Cluster in San Jose.
- EV CONVERSIONS
- eeVee Motors - EV conversion shop specializing in converting Honda Civic's.
- Green Rides - Electric vehicle dealer selling a range of NEV's as well as EV conversion of a Spyder replica.
- Electro-Automotive - Electric car conversion kits, parts, training, and books.
- ElectraDrive - Designers of an electric vehicle conversion kit meant for EV conversion shops.
- Green Gears - PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) conversions
- Luscious Garage - PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) conversions and service
- 3Prong Power, Inc. - PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) development and service
- Thunderstruck Motors - An R&D and manufacturing company selling electric vehicles, performing electric vehicle conversion, and selling electric vehicle parts.
- EV COMPONENTS
- Plug-In Supply Inc. - PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) conversion components
- OEMtek Inc. - PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) conversion kits for Toyota Prius and Ford Escape
- Atieva - Designing battery pack monitoring circuitry, and aiming to develop a range of basic components for EV's. (Tesla Alum Takes on Battery Tech at Startup Atieva)
- EV MOTORCYCLES AND SCOOTERS
- Mission Motors - Developers of the fastest production electric motorcycle in the world.
- Electric Motorsport - Long term experience in electric motorcycles, and recently launched the GPR-S production electric motorcycle.
- GreenEMotor - Electric scooters
- Lightning Motors - Pre-launch company developing a range of electric scooters and motorcycles.
- EV CARS
- Tesla Motors - Designer of a rather fast sports car based on the Lotus Elise.
- WrightSpeed - Designer of a rather fast sports car based on the Ariel Atom.
- SABA Motors - Progressive XPrize contestant developing green performance vehicles
- EV CAR-LIKE
- Green Vehicles (Triac etc) - EV developer, manufacturer and supplier. They're developing a range of three wheeled EV's.
- ZAP - Designer and seller of a range of electric vehicles from bicycles up to three wheel car-like vehicles.
- EV BICYCLES
- Ultra Motor (A2B) - Designer of a rugged high quality electric bicycle
- ElectroRide - Distributor of a wide range of electric bicycles, recumbents, conversion kits and batteries.
- OTHER EV's
- Kleenspeed - EV Race vehicle R&D based at Ames Field???
- Proterra - Developing drive systems and other components for electric powered transit bus's.
- BAE Systems - The world's third largest defense contractor - converts military vehicles to Hybrid
- EV INFRASTRUCTURE
- Project Better Place (Wikipedia) - Designer of a fast swap battery exchange system meant to facilitate electric vehicle infrastructure.
- Couloumb Technologies - Designers of electric vehicle charging stations.
- OTHER
- California Cars Initiative (CalCars) - Nonprofit organization focusing on public policy and technology development in promoting 100+MPG plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
- Electric Auto Association chapters - North Bay EAA - Central Coast EAA - East (SF) Bay EAA - San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association - San Jose EAA - Silicon Valley EAA - Konocti EAA
- RechargeIT.org - A Google.org initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use, and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.
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Comments
Thank you very much for posting this info. I drove a Think City for 2.5 years before Ford took it way. My family saw a new Think City yesterday (July 2) on El Camino in Palo Alto. Based on your info, we suspect it's associated with Atieva in Mountain View.
Conversions are never going to catch on for anyone other than hotrodders and classic car aficionados. Reliability and warranty issues are rivers too wide for a conversion to ford in a daily driver.
Small startups have a very spotty past in EVs, and the arguably most successful EV startup, Tesla, is now partnered with Daimler.
With estimates of 500K to 1 million miles for an EV motor, it's conceivable that some EVs will outlive their owners. As such, car makers building EVs might have to think in terms of upgrades rather than trade-ins.
When a better battery comes available, pay for an upgrade rather than buy a new vehicle. Interior starts to look really worn, buy a new one and get 14 way leather power seats.
I believe this kind of revolutionary thinking will be much more possible with a smaller company. While I believe that Ford and Nissan will blaze the initial trails with mass produced EVs for the masses, start ups might one day soon rule the car industry.
You left out the only other car in there with DOE funding: XP Vehicles at myxpcar.com
You also forgot to mention Curtis Instruments, located on the outskirts of Silicon Valley (in Livermore), a world leader in electric motor speed controls that has been in the business for over twenty years. If you are riding in an EV-conversion, golf car, wheelchair, or forklift, there is a good chance that a Curtis Instruments controller making it go.
Ken, I completely agree conversions aren't for the masses.. it takes someone 200 hrs to do a typical conversion, most don't have time for that. I think there's a case to be made for conversions as a form of recycling, but it would mean a different kind of business than existing conversion shops.
Noah, thank you for pointing out Curtis, it's indeed commonly used in conversions. I have a Curtis controller out in the garage awaiting being used, in fact.
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