The normal business model for electric cars have been to build a low end model and then improve it. The problem is that the brilliant engineers that developed the Gizmo, Sparrow, Zap Zippy, etc. sucked at being businessmen. Then a business savvy individual would come in and destroy the company by eating away at the quality in order to maximize profits. This hasn't worked. Pretty much every electric car manufacturer in the US has folded in under ten years.

Tesla motors had a different idea. They would market to the wealthy high end performance junkies. Electric motors have insane amounts of torque compared to ICEs (internal combustion engines), so this was easy. More efficient, cheaper to power, and beat damn near every car on the market in the quarter mile.

This gets their brand name out there as the newest best thing and it presents solid proof that electric cars are viable. As the profits start rolling in, they have IP (intellectual property- patented designs) under their belt, they expand their production facility, and then start designing affordable vehicles. If you check their mission statement- this is exactly their plan. They expect production of a sedan model in 2011 for less than $50k (Model S) and eventually produce a sub $30k model some time around 2012 (BlueStar).

So how does this help someone on Tribe looking to build an electric car?

You won't compete with Tesla. Get that into your head right off the bat. It was originally founded by the co-founder of PayPal, then additional partners came in from Google and eBay. They floated $187 million into the company and so far have delivered 187 cars. They are looking to get $250 million from the department of energy and I hope they get it. You need to have major capital to go head-to-head against the Big 3. Once you have the production facilities and start producing en masse, things can start getting cheaper.

So how to do it on a shoestring budget? You can open a conversion shop, there are plenty of places around for that- but you still aren't actually producing anything. Just taking used car shells and placing other people's equipment into it. You won't get good profit margins from that and if you ever start getting big enough- I can guarantee you problems will arise in the form of lawsuits from the Big 3. They can claim safety issues and breaking ODOT rules. They can claim patent infringement on attaching to their car shells or some such. Doesn't matter what they do as long as they throw lawyers at you. Its a common technique to bankrupt smaller companies that threaten their profit margin. Doesn't matter if the suit has merit, just keep the other company tied up in court with legal holds on their cars.

So what other way to do it? Look up the Corbin Sparrow, Gizmo, Zap, etc. Notice that they are three wheeled vehicles. This gets around the strict ODOT requirements as they are classified as motorcycles. Go for single or two person lightweight vehicles. Make them under $15k. Make sure to NEVER let some business guy come in and take control of the company. Drive quality and afford-ability. Once you start making some money, expand your line. One idea I have had for quite some time is to make a three wheeled vehicle that you can back a wheelchair into. The Gizmo top lifts up, so this is a perfect example. Once in- small electric winches pull the chair up and lock it in place. Then drive wherever you want.

As to forcing Big 3 into making them again, I wouldn't count on that. They killed more than the turbine and van. There were many viable solutions developed and run when California used legislation to force the car companies to develop electric. Then once their lawyers were able to ease up the restrictions, they immediately canned them.

Why? They make a huge profit from auto parts. I read somewhere that 30% of their revenue is from original equipment parts. I don't have a citation for that though I do know they get a sizable revenue. Electric cars will require far less parts, so its a losing business to make them. Add to that the various kick backs they get from oil companies. As long as they can shove ICEs down our throats, they will.

The heavy SUV like the Hummer or the Escalade or Navigator are ideal for electric car conversions. They already have heavy duty suspensions and you shouldn't need to do much to get them to handle the added weight of the batteries and there's lot of room for the batteries in a big SUV.

So too the heavy class of truck like the F350 because they come with heavy duty suspensions, steel rail frames, and plenty of room in the extended cab and under the bed. The extended cab if used for batteries will add the nice plus of placing the majority of weight amidships. The long wheel base will force excellent tracking for good handling.

I think conversions is the smartest way to go. This, whether you areinto DIY vehicle or hoping to develop a business model.
Conversion can get you into the market place without all the millions of dollars of tooling and manufacturing costs needed to build the infrastructure of a vehicle. And it'll help you learn the business while you are developing what you see as your niche in the market.