Green Automotive to Join Forces with Liberty Electric Cars Limited
Green Automotive Company announced that it has entered into detailed discussions with Liberty Electric Cars Ltd., a UK-based developer of electric drive trains, battery management systems and provider of full support programs for all types of electric vehicles. These discussions will lead to Liberty technology being used to convert conventional internal combustion engine driven vehicles into zero emission electric vehicles.
Liberty, formed in 2006, states that it was the first company in the world to successfully convert the Range Rover into a high speed pure electric 4x4 capable of 200 miles on a single charge and driven by 4 individual motors. Liberty’s expertise will serve as Green Automotive’s foundation for its expansion into the European electric vehicle market as well as provide the technology for the conversion activities planned for the North American market.
"As I disclosed in several of our past public announcements, and in greater detail in our First Quarter March 31, 2012 Information and Disclosure Statement filed with OTCMarkets.com", said Fred Luke, President of Green Automotive Company, "we have elected to not make the Company’s primary business that of importing, performing the homologation, and then competing against a host of others now entering the market of retailing Electric Passenger Vehicles. Putting the last 2 years of import and homologation knowledge in the proper prospective, it is clear to us that our fastest and least expensive path to revenues from the Electric Vehicle (EV) will be to focus on the conversion of conventional internal combustion engine-driven vehicles of all types, particularly Mass-Transit and passenger vehicles which have already passed the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) tests, to make them into zero emission vehicles".
According to Mr. Luke, this move comes following disappointing test results during the homologation program and failing negotiations with Zotye for as to the Zotye Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). "It was determined by management and our independent engineers, at Roush Industries", said Mr. Luke, "that the Zotye SUV would struggle to pass the stringent crash tests required by the DOT, FMVSS and NIHSTA, without substantial expenditure and time. At which time the Company began seeking alternatives to replace the Zotye vehicles with automobiles that the Company could bring to market in a more expeditious and efficient manner."
On January 17, 2012 the company announced that it signed a Letter of Intent pursuant to which it would join forces with Niyato Industries in an effort to accelerate the plans of both companies to bring domestically manufactured Electric Passenger Vehicles to the US market this year. However, Ford’s announcement that it would be rolling out its own line of EV’s, beginning with the Focus and Fusion http://inhabitat.com/ford-announces-2012-ford-focus-electric-will-get-extra-2500-in-tax-credits-in-california/ made it very difficult for us to justify going any further with the Green Automotive-Niyato joint venture. In the process of due diligence on Niyato, the Company’s management determined that it was not in its best interest to continue with Niyato as Niyato did not appear to have the immediate manufacturing facility for the proposed conversion of the vehicles it represented to have under contract to "convert" to EV’s, nor did it have a prototype upon which to develop reasonable manufacturing costs, and it appeared to be under-capitalized to finance its plans, requiring the Green Automotive to provide the necessary capital.
Taking into consideration the costly and time consuming (24 to 36 months) efforts to move the Zotye Vehicles through the stringent import tests required by the DOT and NIHSTA, and the capital position of Niyato, negotiations with Niyato were put on hold and alternate solutions were sought.
The first of the Company’s new partnership targets was Liberty Electric Cars Limited, a UK-based "conversion and EV support" company which currently designs, develops, manufactures and markets electric vehicle drive trains for use in its own converted vehicles and for sale to OEM’s for incorporation into their production. Their focus is on larger platforms from 4x4 through to commercial vehicles, where they operate in a niche market with few competitors. Liberty Electric Cars Limited also supplies after sales support, training, and upgrades for electric vehicle users throughout Europe and Middle East.
Liberty, through its E-Tech division, is involved in a number of advanced research programs for developing next generation EV solutions, many in partnership with Tier 1 automotive manufacturers. The E-Tech engineering team can count over 2,500,000 miles of EV expertise, and were the first people to design and build a ground up electric truck. In addition, they own the UK’s largest EV retail company, which has sold over 1400 electric vehicles and they supply, through their E-Care division, a comprehensive after-market EV support program throughout Europe for electric trucks and cars.
Their clients include such high profile names as UPS, Fed-ex, Navistar, Veolia, Tesco and many more.
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