Phoenix Motorcars

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Phoenix Motorcars
Type Startup
Founded 2001
Headquarters Ontario, California
Industry Automotive
Website http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com
Two Phoenix Motorcars parked near company offices in Ontario
Two Phoenix Motorcars parked near company offices in Ontario

Phoenix Motorcars is a California-based company that focuses on developing electric vehicles. At present, Phoenix partners with other corporations for development of key vehicle components, such as AltairNano's fast-charge lithium ion battery technology. The company also licenses electric motor technology from UQM Technologies. The car bodies are based on Korean SsangYong Actyon. In January 2007, Altairnano acquired a 16.6% stake in Phoenix Motorcars in exchange for a 3-year exclusive agreement to provide their batteries for use in 4-wheeled vehicles. Altairnano will provide up to 500 battery packs in 2007.[1] At that time, Phoenix announced that it had 75 firm orders and anticipated producing 16 vehicles in February, although some of those would be used for federal compliance testing.[2][3]

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[edit] Planned Vehicles

Phoenix has announced plans to introduce an all-electric sports utility truck (SUT) for limited sale in 2007,[4] and a similar sports utility vehicle to follow sometime in 2008.[5]

In November 2007 Phoenix Motorcars announced that it was on the road to producing over 500 Phoenix Sport Utility Trucks (SUTs) featuring more compact packaging of the Altairnano (NASDAQ: ALTI) NanosafeTM battery than originally projected.With a peak power output of 200 kW and low manufacturing cost process.

Phoenix Motorcars has taken orders for fleet-ready vehicles for delivery beginning in early 2008 to premier fleet companies.

The SUT is already available for limited sale as a fleet vehicle. The vehicles each feature a 30-cell, 35kWh NanoSafe battery pack, which is mounted in the front engine bay along with the electric motor. The SUT and SUV are currently anticipated to be priced at around $40,000.

Phoenix has also announced plans to produce a plug-in series hybrid based on its existing vehicle platforms.[6]

Phoenix Motorcars in November 2007 has signed a Letter of Intent to produce electric cars in Puebla, Mexico.

[edit] Controversy over business strategy

Phoenix pays a significant sum for the fast-charge AltairNano battery packs due to the limited volume with which the packs are currently manufactured (the packs are currently sold for as much as US$2.50 per watt-hour, versus US$1.00 for conventional lithium ion batteries).[7] In order to offset this cost, and to sell its vehicles at a reasonable price, Phoenix sells its own ZEV credits from the California Air Resources Board. This has garnered some criticism, most notably from fellow EV-manufacturer Tesla Motors. Tesla has also dismissed the relevance and usefulness of the Nanosafe cells, due to their cost and relatively low energy density. In response, Phoenix and AltairNano have acknowledged that this is not a sustainable business strategy,[8] but counter that the battery cost will decrease dramatically as production increases, thus eventually eliminating the need for selling ZEV credits.[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Green Car Congress: AltairNano Closes Additional Order with Phoenix Motorcars; Enters into Exclusivity Agreement and Takes 16.6% Ownership
  2. ^ Phoenix Motorcars Takes First Fleet Pre-sales Orders for its All-Electric, Sports Utility Truck
  3. ^ SEMA: Ed Begley Jr. says SEMA can help with electric vehicle's image problem - Autoblog
  4. ^ Revving up for the all-electric SUV | CNET News.com
  5. ^ Altairnano shows off SUV from Phoenix at shareholder meeting - AutoblogGreen
  6. ^ Phoenix to work on plug-in series hybrid - AutoblogGreen
  7. ^ AutoblogGreen Q&A: AltairNano CEO Alan Gotcher - AutoblogGreen
  8. ^ AVFI Show: ABG Video of the Phoenix SUT - AutoblogGreen
  9. ^ http://www.evworld.com/evworld_audio/arb_altair5testimony.mp3

[edit] External links

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