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Michael Kanellos | April 6, 2009 at 6:36 AM 5 Comments

Rocky Mountain Institute EV, the Idea, to Be Shown Off This Month

Bright Automotive, the plug-in hybrid car company spun out of the Rocky Mountain Institute this year, says it will show off its car on April 21 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Earlier, it was going to debut the car at a show in Norway in May. The name of the car is going to be the Idea. C'mon. Can't you think a little harder than that? ElectraScoot? PowerDrive? Mighty-Lighty (one of the attributes of Bright's car is that it will be comparatively lightweight, which increases battery range)? How about "The same force of nature that is used to remove unsightly eyebrow hairs will charge your car!" as a slogan? People are going to confuse it with Ikea. We interviewed Bright CEO John Waters back in January. He said that the car, which will get 100 miles per gallon, can run on battery packs 40 percent smaller than competing electric cars because of aerodynamics and weight. The car drives on battery power for the first 30 miles and then switches to hybrid to get the full 400 mile range.

"It's a revolutionary platform," he said. "The platform that's been on the road today is 100 years old. [The traditional technique for making cars] uses a lot of steel."

Bright will also face the same challenges in raising capital and moving from crafting prototypes to producing commercial vehicles. But it does have experience on its side. Waters worked on the battery for the General Motors EV1 and also worked at Ener1, which makes lithium-ion batteries. Many of the other executives have years of experience in the auto business.

Weight and poor design result in a disproportionate amount of fuel consumption in vehicles, Waters said back in January. The U.S. Post Office operates 162,000 delivery trucks that get around 10 miles per gallon, he said, and these trucks drive around 18 miles a day. If those trucks are put into use 300 working days a year, that's 87.5 million gallons of gas consumed by those white little trucks trolling your neighborhood. Boosting mileage to 100 miles per gallon conceivably could save nearly 80 million gallons of gas.

A one cent increase in the price of fuel raises the operating budget of the federal government by $8 million, Waters said.

It hopes to be in mass production in 2012. Initially it will target the delivery business.

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Comments [5]

  • rew 04/9/09 11:37 AM

    Bright Idea, what’s so wrong about that?  What did you expect, No va?  let’s see if it lives up to its name

     Reply
  • jzj 04/6/09 7:45 AM

    1.  After years of talk, delighted to see RMI is getting something out the door.
    2.  This had better be well-tested for safety: sure, race cars use carbon fiber tubs, but I think there in differences between impact and crush forces, and the passenger restraints are different.
    3.  The cost of carbon fiber production on this scale still has to be demonstrated to be economical.

    I really hope they succeed in proving that vehicle efficiency is more than about the powertrain: lighter and more aerodynamic is better.

     Reply
  • Sean 04/7/09 5:24 AM

    Isn’t this what aptera is already doing?  A great idea they’re not exactly first.  Laremo is embracing the same philosophy.  Come to think of it so are a lot a x prize contenders.

     Reply
  • mds 04/11/09 9:25 AM

    Sean,
    No, the Aptera 1h is 2 person plus some cargo space.  The all-electric distance and hybrid-mode peformance is way better, 120 miles all-electric plus 130 mpg hybrid-node.  Even lighter weight and better aerodynamics than the Idea.  You’re right that both are E-REVs.
    This is an SUV.  The main market group is different, with some probably overlap.  The Idea still has great performance compared with current ICE SUVs.  Their competition in this market segment should be from Raser’s new E-REV SUV.

     Reply
  • mds 04/11/09 11:32 AM

    btw The Aptera 2e (all-electric) should be shipping in October 2009.  The Aptera 2h (E-REV) should be shipping 2010.  There’s a waiting list already.
    Raser’s E-REV SUV is already road testing, but don’t know when it will be commercially produced or for how much.
    The Loremo (not Laremo) is targeted for production by the end of 2009.  There are two high mileage deisel versions and one all-electric version.  They don’t have an E-REV version.  The Loremo can carry 4 persons, but there is no cargo area with four on board, so also aiming at different group than SUV drivers.

     Reply

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