Advanced Mechanical Products Inc., or AMP "New Totally Electric Sports Car Plann

[dsacks6]

http://www.autospies.com/news/New-To...Of-Year-15478/

[doug]

Tried to find some more about these guys. Came up with nada.

[vfx]

A Saturn Sky. *Nice Choice.

If they're smart the EV conversion should work for the Solstice and the Opel GT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Sky

[DDB]

AMP had a press event yesterday which a friend of mine attended in Cincinnati.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnat...tml?from_rss=1

They had a Saturn Vue on display. His problem was that they strip a brand new Sky's motor. Plus he mentioned something like their price would have to be outrageous for it to make sense. We'll see. I was planning on contacting these myself.

[doug]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...5230337/-1/all

The converted cars are expected to go from zero to 60 in about six seconds and travel 150 miles before needing to be recharged, says Steve Burns, a software entrepreneur and co-founder of AMP.

He said the cars will be rechargeable almost anywhere by plugging into a standard 110-volt outlet.

Kuntz, formerly president and CEO of Intrieve Inc. in downtown Cincinnati, estimated the cars will sell for under $50,000.

If they can actually do it for under $50K, it might not be too bad. *Double the price of the gas powered car, though. *Some actual details would be nice.

[DDB]

Here's what the observer said about the event:


I questioned a few things the execs said today. First, they are purchasing a brand new Saturn Sky and then "strip the engine, transmission and all computer and drive train components." Ugh. They then replace with high end electric motors, the best battery technology they can buy and put in their proprietary software offering regeneration breaking and managed charging from home 110v outlets. I can add numbers in my head and have yet to figure out how they are going to sell an EV Sky that I could afford??? Not going to happen.

[doug]

No mention of what kind of motors, batteries, etc? Not really sure what these guys bring to the table. If all they've got is their "proprietary software," it feels pretty weak. This seems like something for which a company like AC Propulsion would be more suited. At least ACP has some in-house technology.

However, it would be nice to have an affordable alternative to the Tesla Roadster in the near term. Something like a $35K EV Miata would be great for the average Joe enthusiast.

[Iz]

It seems a company that offered only chassis's might find a lucrative business in the EV market. The idea of stripping out ICE components and replacing them with batteries, electric motors, etc. is a 3-step back, 1 step forward approach. ???

An EV built from the ground up would be better priced and perhaps less likely to encounter mechanical defects.

Selling a chassis only would probably open Pandora’s box of regulations and insurance issues.

[DDB]

Tad bit more, and a pic of the Sky--I think I misunderstood what was at the event. See

http://blog.myarchive.us/?p=816

[tonybelding]

It seems a company that offered only chassis's might find a lucrative business in the EV market.* The idea of stripping out ICE components and replacing them with batteries, electric motors, etc. is a 3-step back, 1 step forward approach.* ???

For whatever it's worth, I read somewhere the Phoenix SUV and SUT are based on Korean vehicles. However, they are shipped to Phoenix as "gliders" built without a power train. Somehow I doubt Saturn (GM) would be so willing to sell cars in that fashion.