Last year, Stephen Currie bought an electric car, the Wheego Whip, “probably for the usual reasons.”
The Atlanta resident said he wanted “to help the environment, lower our carbon imprint and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”
His purchase was also an experiment.
“I wanted to see,” he said, “if electric cars were viable.”
Many years and many product iterations into the development of the electric vehicle, America is about to answer that same question.
Major automakers, including Ford, General Motors and Nissan, are on the cusp of rolling out to the public all-electric or hybrid-electric cars. They include the Focus Electric, the Chevy Volt and the Leaf, and industry executives and observers are anxiously waiting to see whether consumers will take to them the way they have gas-powered cars and trucks for more than a century.
“We’re at this inflection point, and nobody’s really sure [how electric car sales] will go,” said James Bell, an executive market analyst with Kelley Blue Book.
One manufacturer with a huge stake in the answer is Atlanta-based Wheego Electric Cars. Wheego hit the streets in 2009 with its short-distance, low-powered Whip two-seater and is following that up with the introduction of the longer-distance, highway-ready and crash-tested LiFe two-seater. The LiFe is expected to be in dealerships by the end of this month.
Whip sales weren’t robust (300 were sold through last year), and some critics question how large the electric market can be and how many makers and models it will support. But prospective buyers have lined up for Nissan’s much-publicized Leaf, generating optimism about demand for the technology.
Jimmy Ellis, chief operating officer of Jim Ellis Automotive dealerships in the Atlanta area, signed on to be a Wheego dealer. He expects that by 2020, 20 percent to 30 percent of the vehicle market will be electric.
Ellis said the demand for electric vehicles over the next few years is going to exceed manufacturers’ ability to supply them.
Wheego is betting that its emphasis on quality and personalized customer service will win it loyal owners. The company expects that its conservative business model, which outsources production and the heavy costs to a plant in California, will hold down overhead and help produce a profit even if sales don’t match those of a traditional auto company or traditional vehicle.
Wheego executives share the industrywide belief that drivers will view electric models as the second or even third vehicle in the family garage, something perfect for shorter urban trips to work or shopping or school. And that’s fine with them.
Said Wheego President Jeff Boyd: “We’re not going to displace the pickup truck for the plumber. You have to pick the right tool for the job.”
That probably means minivans won’t yield to electrics, either. But with gasoline prices rising, political turmoil in the oil-producing Middle East raging and environmental concerns mounting, electric models should find buyers.
Currie has been sold enough on his experience with the Whip that he is in line to buy a LiFe.
“It’s a fun car to drive, it’s easy to park and there’s been no issue with range,” he said, pointing to an ongoing concern with electric vehicles: Drivers fear their battery will run out of juice and leave them stranded.
Electric vehicles, most of which can go about 100 miles on a charge, can be recharged overnight using a regular outlet. Hybrids such as the Volt can tap into gas power if the battery runs down.
Currie calls his electric experience “normal, for lack of a better word.”
“You forget you’re driving an electric, to tell you the truth,” he said, “until you’re at a stoplight and you catch people looking at you.”
While no new car may be truly inexpensive, some critics regard the price of electric cars as high, especially considering their relatively limited use. Currie figures the price will be about $32,000 for the LiFe, but by using federal and state tax credits designed to promote sales, he thinks it will probably cost him closer to $20,000.
Those incentives are important to Wheego’s success, said Ellis, who signed on as a dealer even though other brands he carries also are due to produce electric vehicles. He said he wanted to be the first dealer in Atlanta to offer a fully electric car.
Wheego plans to interact with its owners long after the sale, an unusual practice in the industry and one it thinks will create more satisfied owners. But its position in the electric-car marketplace also will rely on support from the network of auto dealers it is building across the country. The company is shooting for about 70 dealers by the end of this year, Boyd said.
The lack of a built-in dealer network, which the traditional automakers have, is one issue facing Wheego. Another is name recognition.
Said auto industry analyst Bell: “Their brand equity is very small. People aren’t aware of them.”
Wheego CEO Mike McQuary, who faced doubts when he was with MindSpring, the highly successful Internet service provider that later merged with EarthLink, isn’t fazed. While other companies have announced big plans for electric vehicles in recent years only to disappear, Wheego is still around and making cars.
“Our strategy was never to be the first or the biggest,” he said. “We’ve purposely stayed under the radar. We waited until we really had a car to sell. I think it’s going to end up being a really amazing story.”
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