AMP EV Almost Ready For Road Testing

[RAN]

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5509c4c7-eb2b-4f08-8c3c-ee84d11698ea

[cpaddock]

Great name. Unhelpful price. When we can buy a $5,000 used car and do a conversion for $5,000 then we might begin to change the world.

[MVRacing]

Yup,
Seems like a waste to take a $25K car, strip out the engine, trans, rearend. Then add all the electrics back in. Wonder what they do with the original parts?

[WarpedOne]

>> Wonder what they do with the original parts?

I'd guess they sell them to make a little profit. 25.000 USD is not much for 150mile range electric conversion. Batteries alone almost cost that much.

[RAN]

Great name. Unhelpful price. When we can buy a $5,000 used car and do a conversion for $5,000 then we might begin to change the world.

You can buy a $2,500 car and convert it for around $15,000, if you don't need a/c, power steering, and you can settle for more like a 50 mile range. You can do it for even less if you want to try doing all the work yourself.

It wasn't until Henry Ford started mass producing autos that even upper middle class people could afford to buy a car. It was a few more years before lower middle class people had used cars available at lower prices they could afford.

New batteries are the result of millions of dollars of R & D, and they are not yet in production in the quantities that will bring prices down to affordable levels. As WarpedOne says, the batteries alone cost most of what AMP is charging for the whole conversion. That is why early adopters with money are critical to any new product eventually being affordable to the masses. All that R & D money has to be recouped from somewhere, and making cars with the kind of performance people are willing to pay bigger bucks for is how the rest of us will eventually find them affordable.

Tesla has the right idea. Build the Expensive, High Performance, High Dollar Mother first. The White Star will then be affordable and suitable to a broader range of buyers, and the 3rd generation will be affordable to even more. Eventually, there will be $10,000 used EVs, but that's going to take some time.

[RAN]

From autobolggreen:AMP Hits Highway for Road Tests (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/02/video-amp-leaves-drawing-board-hits-highway/)

Glad to see this company coming along!