Today's Date:
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Del.icio.us
Email
Electric Race: Continued
Page 2 of 2
Customers will have the choice of a battery from Altair or Electrovaya for the same price. While the Altair battery has a smaller range of 100 miles, it will have the capability to recharge in as little as 10 minutes at a higher-voltage outlet. The Electrovaya battery will offer a 200-mile range starting next year - but takes five to six hours to charge regularly and a half hour to an hour using a rapid-charge outlet, Bliss said.
Offering the choice will help the company evaluate what its customers want, he said, and partnering with several suppliers will ensure Phoenix doesn't end up with a battery supply shortage.
With so many companies racing to the market, customers could end up with several all-electric vehicle choices as well. But will the demand match these companies' ambitions?
Thilo Koslowski, lead automotive analyst for Gartner, said earlier this month that he expects the market for some of these new vehicles to remain "fairly niche" for now, and said companies are jockeying for a leadership position so they can attract customers in the small but growing market.
"Not all of these companies will survive," he said, adding that he expects to see merger and acquisition activity in the field starting in the next three to five years.
But Boyd, who said mergers and acquisitions aren't part of Miles' strategy right now, claimed that electric-vehicle companies aren't worried about the size of the market.
"The reason people are rushing to be first is because it's an affirmation of your technology," he said, adding that the first to market would gain the advantage of a good amount of press coverage. "We're in it for the long term because we think not only is there a large market in the U.S., but a large global market. Sure there will be competition, but we think the market is so huge there's going to be plenty of room for people in this space."
The question is whether the market for electric vehicles picks up quickly enough to support all of them - and whether startups can compete with the automakers that are sure to jump into the market if they're successful enough.
Offering the choice will help the company evaluate what its customers want, he said, and partnering with several suppliers will ensure Phoenix doesn't end up with a battery supply shortage.
With so many companies racing to the market, customers could end up with several all-electric vehicle choices as well. But will the demand match these companies' ambitions?
Thilo Koslowski, lead automotive analyst for Gartner, said earlier this month that he expects the market for some of these new vehicles to remain "fairly niche" for now, and said companies are jockeying for a leadership position so they can attract customers in the small but growing market.
"Not all of these companies will survive," he said, adding that he expects to see merger and acquisition activity in the field starting in the next three to five years.
But Boyd, who said mergers and acquisitions aren't part of Miles' strategy right now, claimed that electric-vehicle companies aren't worried about the size of the market.
"The reason people are rushing to be first is because it's an affirmation of your technology," he said, adding that the first to market would gain the advantage of a good amount of press coverage. "We're in it for the long term because we think not only is there a large market in the U.S., but a large global market. Sure there will be competition, but we think the market is so huge there's going to be plenty of room for people in this space."
The question is whether the market for electric vehicles picks up quickly enough to support all of them - and whether startups can compete with the automakers that are sure to jump into the market if they're successful enough.