Bright IDEA plug-in hybrid delivery van, prototype

Startup Bright Automotive announced last week that, once the company completes its funding, its advanced plug-in hybrid Idea delivery van would be assembled under contract by AM General.

That's the outfit that built the Humvee and Hummer, and spawned the now-defunct HUMMER brand, including the HUMMER H1 and HUMMER H2--which AM General also assembled.

Bright wants to put its Idea van into production by 2014, for sale to commercial and government fleets, and its projected sales volumes make contract manufacturing feasible.

GM invested in Bright more than a year ago through its GM Ventures unit, and the company also has several other private investors.

But Bright still awaits a verdict from the Department of Energy on its application for low-interest loans under the DoE's advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program--which previously granted loans to Ford, Nissan, and Tesla, and then Fisker.

The Bright Idea delivery van is built to be exceptionally lightweight, and an electric motor powers the rear wheels--providing a very low load floor inside the van body.

It offers up to 40 miles of electric range from a 13-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, after which a front-mounted four-cylinder engine drives the front wheels through a conventional transmission--an arrangement known as a "through-the-road hybrid."

Running on the engine, the Bright Idea is projected to return 36 miles per gallon, and provide a total range of about 400 miles.

But over a blended daily route of 80 miles, the last 40 miles would use roughly 1.1 gallons of gasoline, making the effective overall gas mileage an impressive 70 mpg. A 60-mile route would boost that number above 100 mpg.

Bright IDEA plug-in hybrid delivery van, prototype

That's far higher fuel economy than any light-duty delivery vans today. The 2012 Ford Transit Connect small delivery van, which uses a 2.5-liter gasoline engine, is rated by the EPA Mat 22 mpg city, 25 mpg highway.

And running costs are the main interest of fleet managers, who make far more rational purchase decisions based on overall total cost of ownership than do retail car buyers.

Those fleet buyers will pay more up front if there's a payoff in lower running costs down the road. That's the promise of the Bright van, whose cost to recharge overnight for those first 40 miles of electric range is just a small fraction of the cost-per-mile of running on gasoline.

Granted, Bright Automotive has many miles to go before its Idea van will roll into distributors for commercial sale.

But we rather like the idea that the plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, that formerly saw HUMMER H1s rolling off the lines may one day build plug-in hybrids with fuel efficiency perhaps 10 times as good as those HUMMERs.

Source: Green Car Reports

General Motors to Invest in Ann Arbor Battery Manufacturer Start-Up, Sakti3

General Motor Co.'s $100 million venture capital arm made its second investment this week, taking a small equity stake in a Michigan battery company.

GM spokeswoman Sherri Childers-Arb confirmed that GM Ventures had invested $3.2 million on Wednesday in Ann Arbor-based Sakti3 Inc., a battery company working to develop advanced solid-state rechargeable technology for automobiles and portable electronics.

The Detroit automaker is getting an undisclosed equity stake in the company in exchange for its investment, Childers-Arb said.

Sakti3 is working to enable electric drivetrains that can get over 100 miles per gallon.

The Invest Michigan Fund -- a $300 million investment arm of Michigan's pension funds -- is backing the company. It said Sakti3's modeling, manufacturing process and initial production batteries have demonstrated on a small scale that it "has strong potential to produce batteries that radically change the performance and economics of electrified vehicles."

The fund helped Sakti3 raise $7 million in new capital earlier this year.

Founded in 2007, Sakti3 is a spin-out of the University of Michigan. In 2009, the company was designated by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation as a Michigan Center of Energy Excellence in partnership with the University of Michigan and received a $3 million award.

"We aggressively worked to keep Sakti3 here because this high-tech innovator is a key player in Michigan's growing advanced battery industry," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said earlier this year. "As a Michigan Center of Energy Excellence partnered with the University of Michigan, Sakti3 clearly demonstrates the great value that comes when private business, universities and government work together."

Last month, GM said its GM Ventures LLC arm invested $5 million Anderson, Ind.-based Bright Automotive. The move is aimed at speeding production of the IDEA, a plug-in hybrid commercial vehicle that Bright hopes to launch in 2013 or 2014.

GM is getting an undisclosed minority stake in Bright as part of the deal and will provide engines to the company.

Source: Detroit News

GM To Invest $5 Million in PHEV Start-up, Bright Automotive

Bright Automotive PHEV Delivery Truck

Bright Automotive, whose efforts to create a plug-in hybrid delivery truck were thwarted by funding problems, is back on track because of a $5 million infusion from General Motors‘ new venture capital division, G.M. Ventures.

Established in 2008 with considerable momentum as a spinoff of the Rocky Mountain Institute with backing from Duke Energy, Google, Johnson Controls and the Turner Foundation, Bright showed a prototype last year but ran into the effects of the recession as it sought to build the van. The company said the plug-in hybrid vehicle, named the Idea, was expected to achieve 38 miles of range in battery-only mode, then another 300 or more with the 4-cylinder gas engine (now certain to come from G.M.) running.

Bright is the first investment for G.M. Ventures. Jon Lauckner, president of G.M. Ventures, said General Motors would “benefit from working with an innovative start-up company.” He said he hoped the company’s $5 million “would act as a catalyst for other investors,” a process that could be compared to Toyota’s recent investment in Tesla Motors. Bright plans to have the Idea in production in 2013 or 2014, serving a North American commercial market that Reuben Munger, the Indiana-based Bright’s chairman and chief executive, estimates at 900,000 vehicles a year.

G.M.’s investment will give the company a minority stake in Bright when a formal agreement is complete later this year. Bright also expects to “begin ramping up” Idea production in the third quarter of 2010.

Mr. Munger denied that the Idea would serve the same market as Ford’s recently established battery-powered version of the Transit Connect. “It’s a unique value proposition,” he said. “It’s larger than the Transit Connect and closer to the utility of a full-sized van like the GMC Savana or Ford E-Series.”

The Savana, and the similar Chevrolet Express van, will be offered by G.M. with a compressed natural gas conversion this fall.

When it becomes a manufacturing company, Bright hopes to employ 1,000 people — possibly with a factory in its engineering headquarters of Anderson, Ind. — and produce 50,000 vehicles annually. But the Idea is far from production-ready, and the company has yet to choose a battery supplier. Mr. Munger said that as a plug-in hybrid on a lightweight platform, the Idea would require a relatively small pack.

Bright claims that its plug-in hybrid Idea will save fleet managers 18 cents per mile in operating costs, and companies like Frito-Lay took part in Bright’s unveiling in Washington last year. The company’s prospects will improve if it also receives a requested $450 million low-interest government loan through the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The G.M. funding may help in that effort. Mr. Munger described the company’s investment as “a validation of what we’re doing on the Idea.”

Source: NY Times Blog

General Motors and Bright Automotive Announce Strategic Relationship

Bright Automotive, the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA (earlier post), and General Motors Co. have agreed to pursue a strategic relationship.

GM has provided funding to the Indiana automaker, the first funding action by the newly formed General Motors Ventures LLC (earlier post). Funding through GM Ventures will allow Bright to begin ramping up the development of the production program for the IDEA in the third quarter of 2010. Bright continues to seek a low-interest loan through the Department of Energy’s ATVM program. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in July. GM Ventures provided funding to Bright this week, and the two companies intend to complete the formal agreements later this year. Upon completion of the agreements and other terms, General Motors Ventures would have a minority stake in Bright Automotive and Bright would have access to GM technologies, and advanced engine and transmission systems, for its vehicle.

Funding early-stage start-up companies is a new way of doing business at GM to accelerate the introduction of innovative technology to support our core automotive business and give us a competitive advantage. In this case, our funding of Bright Automotive will accelerate the introduction of advanced propulsion and light-weight technologies in the commercial vehicle market.

—Jon Lauckner, president of GM Ventures

This relationship is an important step forward for Bright, and a strong endorsement of our highly experienced automotive team and our incredible vehicle. With this deal, Bright gets financial support that puts us on the fast track toward mass production of the IDEA. And perhaps just as importantly, we gain a strategic partner that is a world leader in electrification.

—Reuben Munger, Bright Automotive Chairman and CEO

In developing the IDEA, Bright started with a clean sheet of paper, listened to customers, and took a novel approach to product development that focused on light-weighting, aerodynamics and a highly efficient drivetrain. The result is a multipurpose vehicle for business fleets—the first designed to be highly efficient and provide a clear economic benefit.

The IDEA operates in electric mode for 40 miles before switching to an estimated 36-mpg hybrid mode for 100+ mpg potential based on daily driving behavior.

General Motors Ventures, LLC, was funded with an initial investment of $100 million, and is currently exploring equity investments in a number of auto-related technologies and business models.

Bright Automotive launched from Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in January 2008.

Source: Green Car Congress

Bright Automotive Awarded Contract for Electric Postal Delivery Vehicle

The Ubiquitous USPS LLV







The USPS has been in the news lately due to a budgetary crisis and their reliance upon government loans that are nearing the maximum allowable amounts. One of the solutions being proposed is a five day work week, eschewing Saturdays. This scenario is obviously unpopular with the public. Our postal service needs to dig deeper and come up with a better answer for cutting costs.

We think the USPS is long overdue for an alternate energy fleet. Especially appealing is the utilization of electric delivery vans for urban use. The average long life vehicle (LLV) travels about 20 miles a day and gets 10 mpg. Atrocious. A small to medium sized battery pack can easily meet the needs of these LLV's. Let's replace this entire fleet with EV's and eliminate the need for gasoline, the need for costly ICE maintenance and eliminate the pollution. The perfect scenario for this trasformation is our letter carrier fleet. They use the LLV's during the day and then plug them in overnight. Throw in some solar roof panels at the Post Office and you have a great renewable, low cost solution.

What are the odds of this scenario being fulfilled?

From Green Car Congress:

Bright Automotive, the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA (earlier post), has been awarded one of five contracts by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to develop and test an electric postal delivery vehicle. Under the contract, Bright Automotive’s eSolutions team (earlier post) will retrofit a standard USPS Long Life Vehicle (LLV) with an integrated electric drive train, and place the vehicle in real-world service for one year in the Washington DC area.

Other awards have gone to ZAP (earlier post); Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. (earlier post); AC Propulsion and AutoPort (earlier post); and Germany-based international transportation engineering firm EDAG, with whom Bright eSolutions is also collaborating. Thus, Bright eSolutions is providing powertrain hardware and software support for two of the five contracts awarded under the program.

Some of the same enabling technology developed on the IDEA will be directly applied to the EV propulsion conversion of the LLV. As an example, Bright said, applying the rear electric drive of the IDEA PHEV powertrain to the LLV positions Bright Automotive’s conversion with proven production-intent technology.

The Bright eSolutions retrofit LLV is fully electric and is capable of covering a high percentage of existing postal service routes. After delivery to the USPS in July 2010, the vehicle will go into service in the metro Washington DC area for at least one year.

The USPS currently operates 142,000 LLVs, which average less than 20 miles of driving per day and have an average fuel economy of only 10 mpg.

The IDEA, Bright noted, is now scheduled for production in 2013. At the reveal of the IDEA in April 2009, Bright had said that high volume production of the IDEA would begin in the US by the end of 2012, with an annual run rate of 50,000 units beginning in 2013.

Bright Automotive's IDEA to be Unveiled Tuesday

Bright Automotive IDEA - coming soon




Bright Automotive will unveil its IDEA plug-in hybrid concept on Tuesday in Washington, DC. Bright will then take the IDEA will to Norway in May 2009 for the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS24). The IDEA is designed to operate in all-electric mode for the first 30 miles before switching to hybrid mode for a full range of 400 miles.

Bright Automotive launched in January 2008 from Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) with the goal of building on the work of a consortium of organizations, including Alcoa, Google.org, Johnson Controls and the Turner Foundation.

Bright says that its IDEA heavily utilizes platform efficiency—including lightweight materials, advanced aerodynamics and low-rolling resistance tires—combined with the PHEV drivetrain.

Bright Automotive has also created Bright Works engineering services, which is focused on supporting OEMs’ development of PHEVs and EVs in three specific areas: mass-production vehicle conversions; vehicle system controls; and battery pack systems.