U.S. Electricar Inc. announced Wednesday that EV America, a coalition of public utilities, has purchased an additional 38 sedans and pickup trucks.
To date, the various utilities forming EV America have purchased a total of 72 of Electricar's vehicles. The coalition said these purchases have been made to accelerate the introduction of electric vehicles into the marketplace.U.S. Electricar is one of two manufacturers whose vehicles were selected for purchase based on results of a series of tests conducted by EV America. Five of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers in the United States supplied sedans, compact pickups, and minivans to EV America for those tests, which included acceleration, braking, road handling and overall durability.
In the comptetition, U.S. Electricar's vehicles placed first in key areas including acceleration and driving range. Electricar's sedan also achieved a top speed of 81 mph.
"We're pleased to be supplying vehicles to EV America in such a worthwhile effort to commercialize electric vehicles," said Ted Morgan, U.S. Electricar president and chief executive officer.
The results were important because EV America intends to place as many as 5,000 electric vehicles into utility, commercial, government and transit fleets by the end of 1997 with an interim goal of 500 vehicles by the end of 1995.
An Electricar spokesman said the utilities purchasing vehicles were Arizona Public Service Co., Consolidated Edison Co., Long Island Lighting Co., New York Power Authority, Northern Indiana Public Service Co., Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Georgia Power Co., Alabama Power Co., Tennessee Valley Authority, Salt River Project, Duke Power Co., and Carolina Power & Light.