Wheego ready with LiFe EV build plan, 100 due by end of 2012

The biggest problem that Wheego was having the last time we looked in on the company was getting the Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to sign off on temporary exemption to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Regulations (FMVSSR) for its two-seat, all-electric Wheego Whip LiFe car. NHTSA granted the small electric vehicle company a waiver for an Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system that is good until the end of the year. Wheego is in the process of developing an ESC for the little car. And with that, things are moving forward.

Wheego's Leslie Nolen told AutoblogGreen that around a dozen rolling chassis landed in Long Beach in the first shipment earlier this fall, and the plan was for Wheego to start building them into the LiFe EVs at its Ontario, CA location as soon as they made it through customs. This assembly process includes putting in the battery, battery management system and dash. The goal is to build 100 by the end of the year and Nolen said almost all of them are spoken for by dealers. Wheego has 30 dealers around the country.

There have been no major changes to the LiFe since the last time we took a look, but Nolen said the engineers have "tightened some stuff up" in the production process That includes things like having the appropriate wiring harness installed in China, where the chassis are built, rather than having the wrong one put in just so Wheego can take it out in the US.

Looking further down the road, Nolen said Wheego is working on R&D for a small, all-electric SUV. The plan is to show this off at the New York Auto Show in the spring of 2013 and have it available for sale by the end of that year.

Source: Autoblog Green

Wheego delivers its first highway-speed electric car

PRESS RELEASE

Coinciding with Earth Day, WHEEGO ELECTRIC CARS, a U.S. manufacturer of all-electric cars, today delivered the first Wheego LiFe, a highway-speed 100% electric car.

"We are very proud of this car and the American spirit that it represents," said Mike McQuary, CEO of Wheego Electric Cars. "The delivery of our first Wheego LiFe electric car culminates four years of research and development, and is perfectly timed to support President Obama's Energy Plan. President Obama will direct Federal agencies to buy 100 percent alternative fuel vehicles by 2015, and is asking for a major increase in fuel economy for 2017-2025 model year automobiles. The Wheego LiFe is ready to help meet that demand: it is affordable, all-electric, and available across the country now."

The first owners of a Wheego LiFe are Asma and Kevin Henry, residents of the Virginia Highland neighborhood in Atlanta . Jimmy Ellis, VP and COO of Jim Ellis Automotive Dealerships, the first dealer in Georgia to deliver a full-speed electric car, presented the Henrys with their car at the Jim Ellis dealership at 5855 Peachtree Industrial Blvd, at 10:30 a.m. on April 22nd.

Kevin says buying a Wheego LiFe was his wife's idea. Asma, a freelance consultant in international assistance programs, is committed to protecting the environment and reducing fossil fuel consumption. She walks and bikes to neighborhood shops, prefers fresh air to conditioned air, and dries laundry in the back garden. She has more than a casual interest in zero-emission vehicles and clean air because she helps manage the charity Speranta Terrei, which supports patients in Moldova with the air-borne disease tuberculosis. Asma said, "We as individuals have to do our part so we can all breathe easier."

"Asma Henry's commitment to helping the environment, and to her charity are inspiring to us, and we are excited that she is the owner of the first Wheego LiFe," said McQuary.

The Wheego LiFe travels approximately 100 miles on a single charge and retails for $32,995. It qualifies for a $7,500 Federal tax credit, as well as many state incentives such as tax credits (up to $5,000 in Georgia ) and HOV lane access. The Wheego LiFe comes fully-equipped with driver and passenger airbags, anti-lock brakes, power windows and locks, and optional air conditioning. The 115V lithium battery pack can be charged from a standard 120V outlet, a 240V outlet or any of the J1772 standard charging stations being installed in public locations throughout the United States . It is available in red, white, blue, black, silver, and green. The Wheego LiFe is a two-seat subcompact car with fit, finish and features designed for today's environmentally-conscious commuters. The Wheego line of electric vehicles are sold through a nationwide dealer network; for an up-to-date list, visit the Wheego dealer listing at http://wheego.net/more/dealer-list/.

About Jim Ellis Auto Dealerships
Jim Ellis Wheego is the Atlanta-area dealer for Wheego Electric Cars. Jim Ellis is a family-owned business with twelve sales and service locations and almost 40 years experience in the Atlanta area. Jim Ellis was honored in 2008 as a candidate for Time Magazine's Dealer of the Year, and has won the Consumer's Choice award for Business Excellence for the past six years. For more information about Jim Ellis Auto Dealerships, visit the company website at www.jimellis.com.

About Wheego Electric Cars
Wheego Electric Cars is an innovation-driven and environmentally-conscious manufacturer of Electric Vehicles (EVs). Under the leadership of Mike McQuary, CEO and former MindSpring entrepreneur, Wheego Electric Cars has become a leader in the integration of advanced technology components. Wheego Electric Cars is one of the first EV companies to deliver affordable fully capable, street legal all-electric cars for everyday consumer use. The Wheego line of electric vehicles is emission-free, making them an ideal choice for consumers, fleets and businesses who want to reduce their carbon footprint. Wheego is headquartered in Atlanta , Georgia . The cars are assembled in Ontario , California .

For more information about Wheego, visit the company website at www.wheego.net. To inquire about dealership opportunities, email sales@wheego.net.

About Speranta Terrei
For more information about Speranta Terrei, visit http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/community-support-150-tuberculosis-patients-in-moldova

Wheego Whip LiFe Will Be Available By the End Of March - Really

Wheego Whip LiFe













Back in November, Wheego rolled out its Whip LiFe at the LA Auto Show. A month later, the electric automaker announced that its highway-capable LiFe received certification from the EPA and was approaching launch-ready status. In mid-January, Wheego president Jeff Boyd declared that shipments of the LiFe would commence before the end of the month, pending approval from the Department of Transportation.

Well, it's now February and not even one LiFe has been delivered to a retail customer. Automotive News reports that production of the first 500 Whip LiFes is finally underway and Wheego expects to have the pint-sized electric ready for retail sales on March 30th. Boyd claims the LiFe's status is "ready to go" and added that production numbers will slowly ramp as retail orders come in.

Boyd claims that 24 dealers have shown interest in selling the LiFe and the automaker's two additional models – a battery-powered pickup truck and a four-door electric crossover – which Wheego's president insists will debut by the end of the year.



Source: Autobloggreen

Wheego Set to Unveil Full-Speed LiFe EV at LA Auto Show

Wheego Electric Cars will unveil the two-seat subcompact Wheego LiFe full-speed electric car to the public at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November.

The full-speed Wheego LiFe travels approximately 100 miles (161 miles) on a single charge of a 20 kWh Li-ion battery pack and retails for $32,995. It qualifies for a $7,500 Federal tax credit, as well as many state tax incentives, including $5,000 in California.

The Wheego LiFe comes fully-equipped with driver and passenger airbags, anti-lock brakes, air conditioning, and power windows and locks. The 115V lithium battery pack can be charged from a standard 120V outlet, a 240V outlet or any J1772 standard charging stations.

Waiting for a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt? What about the Wheego EV?

The Wheego Whip EV








The first battery electric car (besides the Tesla) on the U.S. market may not be the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt or Coda sedan — it could be the Wheego Whip Life. You’re forgiven if you haven’t heard of it, but Atlanta-based Wheego has been quietly turning its local-only Wheego Whip into a highway-capable car, and if crash testing (and fund raising) goes well, the Life could be on the market by August. Its main challenge will be finding buyers at a price point equal to more established brands entering the market slightly later.

According to its SEC filing, Wheego is seeking to sell equity and raise $5 million. That money, which the company hopes will be in new investment from clean tech funds, will cover the cost of producing the first batch of approximately 200 cars, CEO Mike McQuary told me in an interview. “We need investors to take us across the finish line,” he said. “We were a risky proposition three years ago, but now we’re on the home stretch.” McQuary talked to The Deal about the company’s finances last October:

Wheego is hardly an auto industry monolith: A 2009 spinoff of Ruff and Tuff Vehicles (which makes electric ATVs) it has just five full-time employees, and contracts out its major services, including the car’s body and chassis (which started life as the conventionally powered Shaunghuan Noble), the batteries (from California’s Flux Power) and assembly (Hi Power in Ontario, California). Operating from a small office building in Atlanta, it can’t be accused of loading on the overhead, and that’s one reason it’s looking for only $5 million (and not 10 times that much).

While the company is beating the bushes for tech funding, McQuary said, the two-seat car will be put through crucial crash tests in Wisconsin. “We’re going to put some metal against concrete and see what happens,” McQuary said. “We did well in computer simulation at the University of Maryland, but in the real world things happen that you couldn’t have foreseen, no matter how much simulation you do.”

McQuary is a car executive by way of the computer industry — he guided Internet provider Mindspring through its merger with EarthLink (which became the second-largest ISP) in 1999, then founded a record company (Brash Music, also in that Atlanta building). He has diverse interests, but seems determined to make the Whip Life an early contender in the EV sweepstakes.

Chinese manufacturers are great copyists, and Shuanghuan was accused of ripping off the Smart car for its design. But the Chinese company won that suit in a Greek court, which said that “an informed buyer” would not confuse the Noble and the Smart fortwo. “The geometry is similar,” McQuary said, “but there are dramatic differences — our car is a lot bigger.” The Whip Life has a 28-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, a 60-horsepower electric motor made in Wisconsin by Leeson, 80 to 90 miles of range, and a top speed of 67 mph.

The Life will sell for $33,500, which makes it slightly more expensive than the five-seat Nissan Leaf. Wheego will have to work hard to make its car a better proposition than the Leaf, which is already benefiting from television advertising. Being on the market first might help. Like the Leaf, the Life will be cheapest in California ($21,000) because a $5,000 cash rebate there joins a $7,500 federal income tax credit. “Those subsidies and the ability to drive alone in the HOV lane will drive sales for us in California,” McQuary said.

The company, which has sold 250 of the $19,000 low-speed version of the Whip (half in Oklahoma, which offers lucrative subsidies) hopes to sell 2,000 full-speed cars in 2011. McQuary says the company will be profitable if it can reach that goal.

Source: bnet.com: