USA: Electric Car Production Underway In Blue Ash

CINCINNATI — Production is now underway in Blue Ash on a unique type of electric car, which could lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs and yield an alternatively fueled vehicle costing about the same as an SUV.

It’s the AMP Electric Vehicle. It’s not built from scratch. Instead, the internal combustion engine and drive train are removed from production cars like the Saturn Sky and Chevrolet Equinox. Batteries and electric motors take their place.

“I think the electric car is an inevitability,” said Jack Kuntz, one of the initial private investors in the project. “This conversion is the only one of its kind right now.”

The AMP concept was started in a small garage three years ago and now occupies space in the former Land Rover dealership on Blue Ash Road.

President/CEO Steve Burns says the cost of an AMP Electric Vehicle is about $50,00 – with $25,000 used for the conversion with tax incentives and around $25,000 used for the base vehicle, depending upon the options chosen.

However, the goal is to lower the price.

“In the new car game, it’s always volume,” Burns said. “As hybrids become more popular and we do more cars, the costs will be driven down more toward mainstream costs.”

AMP engineers don’t have to invent five-way adjustable seats or airbags, according to Kuntz. That lets them concentrate on just the batteries and drive train.

Remy International has been named to produce the electric motors, one of many modular components that should make maintenance extremely easy.

“The fact that it’s modular, it’s plug and play,” said AMP Engineering Director Don Wires. “It’s just a matter of unplugging something, plug it back in and you’re good to go.”

Maintenance costs over a seven-year period are equivalent to a $35,000 SUV, according to Burns. For example, brakes in AMP vehicles are designed to last 100,000 miles.

Right now, AMP Electric Vehicles has 25 employees, but Burns says that should be much higher once the concept takes off and more vehicles are sold.

“We hope to get about 1,000 people in service centers all across the country,” he stated.
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Source: kypost.com

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