"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.
