Introducing Phil Oseas of Persu Mobility

[Derwin]

I just got off the phone with a member of the Persu team. His name is Phil Oseas, and he is the CFO / EVP Finance<o:p> of the company. We spoke briefly about the club contract, and other matters.

Many have been concerned about Persu being still active in the Progressive X-Prize contest, so I asked Phil about this. As you know, we have all been wondering about this since Persu released the new specs for the vehicle.

The deadline for filing an official application for the X-Prize contest is February 29, 2009. Well, Phil assured me that they are preparing the application, and fully intend on joining and submitting it before the deadline.

I asked Phil about the specs, and how they do not meet the prerequisite qualifications for this contest, but he reminded me that the mileage minimum is actually MPG-E. That's miles per gallon, plus the electric range off the grid. Somehow when those 2 elements are equated, they will meet the 100mpg-e prerequisite.

So, the contract is good to go, and the Persu team is indeed going to be officially in the Progressive X-Prize contest. Good news in my opinion!

Derwin
</o:p>

[Dutchy]

Indeed, surprisingly good !

It also means they have/are willing to comply to the X-prize timetable.

Does that tell us anything new about a possible release date for the alfa, beta and production models ?

Dutchy

[Derwin]

Does that tell us anything new about a possible release date for the alfa, beta and production models ?

Dutchy

I wish I could answer that!

As of now, they are not willing to divulge any information about these matters. But I'll keep asking them these questions so that the club members will be the first to know.

Derwin

[Miracleman89]

Good work big D! Keep on them! We may just hear something they weren't planning on divulging yet because they slipped up!

[Derwin]

Good work big D! Keep on them! We may just hear something they weren't planning on divulging yet because they slipped up!

Well, I have built up a "trust" with them and a certain level of confidence. I was told that they now feel comfortable about talking with me and sharing things with me "on" and "off" the record. Obviously, the things that they say "off" the record can't be repeated here. But don't worry, I'm always looking for every opportunity that I can get to post whatever information I obtain, with their permission, of course.

Derwin

[Miracleman89]

Of Course!!!!

[shinn497]

I'm lost.....

I thought that the Persu Hybrid would not be plug in?? Why should the electric range factor in? You are not getting any new power, your just recycling.

Maybe I need a better definition of off the grid electric range.

[AZEqualizer]

I don't know where you got the idea that the possibility of a plug in has been nixed. A parallel hybrid does not preclude this and in truth isn't any type of power to the road recycled power since there is no perpetual motion? And no matter where the original source if you can push your vehicle along with a contained electric power source why wouldn't you include this in the overall mileage? All power is stored in something. I don't quite understand where your dilemma is shinn.

[cobraphx]

"Off the grid range" In this context, pretty sure this is vehicle range provided by electricity that comes off of the grid as opposed to range (or electricity to provide range) provided by a fuel carried aboard the vehicle like gasoline, hydrogen, ethanol, BLP (Black Light Power's mysterious substance)...

To my knowledge we've never seen any instance where Persu (VV) has stated that the electric range of the PH will no longer be provided by plug-in. Plug-in is the entire reason they talk about electric only range. You never see the Prius mentioned that way. All the power in the small Prius battery pack, is provided by burning gasoline, it has no electric only range.

[shinn497]

Yeah your right!

Sorry I was mistaken about plug in capability. It specifically mentions it in the update.

I guess I thought such a thing was nixed after the conversion to a series hybrid, because I definately remember some people complaining about it. The fact that it is being included is a good surprise.

This suddenly gave me a lot of enthusiasm for this project.