Grosse Pointe's Environmental Transportation Solutions bets on its electric car

He's not exactly Doc Brown from "Back to the Future," but Rich Marks thinks he has a car that could change the world.

Meet the EcoV Electric, the vehicle that Grosse Pointe-based Environmental Transportation Solutions thinks can alter the way people drive. The electric car is designed for urban driving without those pesky, expensive stops at the gas pump.

Marks, the company's president, has been working on it for six years and he thinks the time is right. Skyrocketing gas prices would seem to support that notion.

The street-legal vehicle is designed for commercial use for things like U.S. Postal Service vans. It can go up to 25 mph on its charge for up 40 miles, so it's made for a lot stop-and-go traffic.

"It works very well in the city or an urban area where you don't need to go very far, very fast," Marks says.

The car is priced at less than $10,000 and Marks claims it will pay for itself in saved gas mileage within one year.

"It's one of the few products that pays you to be green," Marks says.

He has spoken to a large variety of institutions about it, ranging from the city of Ann Arbor to the U.S. Postal Service.

He thinks it can be built through outsourcing, little capital ($6 million) and it become profitable after only a few units. He is currently raising the capital to get the project off the ground. Once he does he thinks he can bring transportation costs back to the future.

Source: Rich Marks, president of Environmental Transportation Solutions
Writer: Jon Zemke

Grosse Pointe's Environmental Transportation Solutions bets on its electric car

Related Tags

Recommended Content

Across Our Network