Wheego delivers its first all-electric low-speed car

By Special

For the AJC

Wheego Electric Cars Inc., based in Atlanta, delivered its first all-electric low-speed vehicle (LSV) to a customer Friday.

Stephen Currie, 41, of Atlanta, is the environmentally conscious type of person the company expects will form its initial customer base.  "I did a lot of research and found an electric car would be great for driving around the city. Everything in my life is in a 10-mile radius,” Currie said.

A product manager at EarthLink, Currie also has a second car for longer trips and those that require going faster than 25 miles an hour, the current Georgia speed limit for such cars.

LSVs are exempt from most federal motor vehicle safety standards, including crash-worthiness.

Mike McQuary, former president and COO of EarthLink, and his partners were looking for a new idea to invest in and came across a company in Columbia, S.C., seeking funding to develop electric golf carts. Carts didn’t excite him, but he began to research electric cars. He remembered that Charles Brewer, MindSpring founder, once owned an electric car and loved it.

“People were passionate about those cars, and then that movement faded," McQuary said. "It reminded me of the early days of MindSpring when people were passionate about the company. I knew early adopters like Stephen would embrace the technology.”

McQuary said the challenge was delivering an electric car that would work. “People were skeptical that we could start a car company from scratch; but, again, we did that with MindSpring. We were more concerned about getting a great product and making customers happy.”

The team found a Chinese company to provide the chassis and body. Other parts come from throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the cars are assembled in Ontario, Calif.

“An electric car is like a computer. You need great hardware but you need great software as well,"  McQuary said, pointing out some considerations.

"There’s a controller in the front that makes it run efficiently and well,” McQuary said. “We had to make the car affordable with amenities like a stereo and Bluetooth connectivity and make it look nice, not weird. We wanted it so that when you shut the door it didn’t rattle or sound tinny.”

About 16 dealers across the country, including Wheego of Marietta, sell the cars. The company hopes to sell about 500 by June.

The Wheego Whip sells for $19,995 to $22,000. Until the end of the year, a $7,500 federal tax credit will be available for buyers; after that, the credit will become 10 percent of the purchase price.

The car can travel 40 miles without a charge. Recharging takes about eight hours on most outlets, or four to five hours for those purchasing the dual charge option.

Wheego is crash-testing a full-speed electric vehicle that would be suitable for highway driving. Plans are to roll it out by summer with a list price of about $30,000. McQuary said he expects to sell 5,000 to 10,000 of the full-speed cars next year. A four-seater is on the books for 2011, along with extras such as navigation systems.

“There is going to be an explosion in the development of battery technology and there is a community of drivers who have a pioneering spirit that want this cutting-edge technology," McQuary said. "The green movement is not a fad.”