Another AMP model, the Mercedes ML, will beat Tesla to market as “the first modern all-wheel-drive electric vehicle,” according to Consumer Reports. The price tag for the Mercedes is about $77,400, compared with $57,400 for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Consumer Reports says.
The Tesla Model X will have a similar range as the SUVs from AMP.
Another AMP model, the Mercedes ML, will beat Tesla to market as “the first modern all-wheel-drive electric vehicle,” according to Consumer Reports. The price tag for the Mercedes is about $77,400, compared with $57,400 for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Consumer Reports says.
The Tesla Model X will have a similar range as the SUVs from AMP.
It is a thing of beauty. An all-wheel-drive SUV crunching through the snow, powered on pure, zero-emission electricity.
Sure, a short video of an SUV frolicking in the snow might seem like a simple thing to the untrained eye, but if you know the long road Amp traversed to put those wheels in motion, you would have a deep appreciation for what the company does. When people talk about the American Dream, this is the kind of endeavor to which they refer, a small group of professionals who begin with an ambitious idea and turn it into reality.
The unveiling of the AMP all-electric MLe AWD occurred at the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. U.S. Congressman John Dingell of Michigan, U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio experienced a prototype of the innovative groundbreaking EV that is on-hand for test drives on the Ride & Drive track. Continue reading →
“The company announced on Wednesday that it would bring a converted Grand Cherokee to the Detroit auto show in January, where it expected to release final pricing and introduce its first dealer. Steve Burns, president of Amp, said in a telephone interview that the converted Jeep would be price-competitive with the Tesla Model S, an electric sedan that in base form is priced from $57,400 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Amp Jeep, with a 37-kilowatt-hour battery pack, will have range of approximately 100 miles, Mr. Burns said.”
The all-electric SUV will be available for test drives during the show, and guests are invited to take one for a spin. Visit the Amp booth and talk to one of our representatives for your chance for a live test drive of the Amp Jeep Grand Cherokee.
America’s reliance on foreign oil is financially unsustainable, politically troubling and environmentally harmful. For example, we send one billion dollars out of this country every day for foreign oil. To that end, AMP has labored over the last four years to become one of a handful of startup companies trying to bring Electric Vehicles to market. Although the first generation of EVs come at a premium price and have limited range due to lack of charging infrastructure, we believe that there is an emerging appetite for EVs and that it will continue to grow as the vehicles and infrastructure mature.
Without exception, the world’s automotive manufacturing scene is dominated by very large companies that reap their profits from the building of vehicles based on the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). Most of these companies are decades or centuries old and all building slight variations on a 100 year old theme. In 1908 the Model T got about 25mpg and had a tailpipe to spew the poison out the rear of the vehicle to avoid the occupant from having to breath the fumes. In America, in 2011, after many billions in development and countless engineering manhours, the average vehicle gets 23mpg and has the same tailpipe, maybe even two.
The extremely high barrier to entry is such that there has not been a successful new car company in the U.S. for 70 years (Willy’s Jeep in 1942). But now a crack in that history has opened. Because the market for EVs is currently less than 1 percent of vehicles, the major automotive OEMs continue to focus on ICE based vehicles. A few are beginning to experiment with small EV programs, but by definition these large OEMs can’t state publically that ICE is bad and EV good. They are conflicted. And the demand for next quarter’s profits will keep them from fully embracing EVs for quite some time. In the meantime, they are missing the dramatic developments that are being made on the technology and infrastructure that will enable EVs to overtake the ICE based vehicles in the next couple of decades.
AMP’s goal is to build a brand now while the giants sleep. Our methodology to leap frog the high barrier to entry is to incorporate as many mass produced components as possible into our vehicles and only create the technology that is not readily available. A century of car making has produced extremely reliable, sleek, quiet and safe machines for the transport of humans from one place to another. We literally have decided not to reinvent the wheel (or the windshield, or the navigation system, or the airbags, or the…). Our methodology is to start with mass produced, best-of-breed ICE based vehicles and then add off the shelf automotive hybrid components coupled with our custom software and electronics. We then re-certify and validate the vehicles to ensure that the transformation did not compromise any of the original safety or reliability of the vehicle. The result is that we arrive at the marketplace with a fully validated EV for under 10 million dollars in development. Contrast this approach to that of our peers that are building EVs from the ground up and it becomes clear that it takes north of a billion dollars to arrive at the same marketplace with a ground up vehicle. And I would argue that our converted, mass production vehicles, are of better quality than that of any first time builder of vehicles.
Our first two vehicles to market will be based on the 2012 ML and the 2012 Jeep Cherokee. Notably these vehicles are both SUVs. Our premise is that since SUVs represent the largest segment of vehicles sold in the U.S. that we should electrify what is already the proven sales leader. Most of the early EVs are based on small vehicles under the belief that smaller vehicles require less energy to move. While that fact is obviously true, it still does not change the fact that Americans generally do not like small vehicles. So, we felt simply that if America loves SUVs, let’s bring electric SUVs to market. To accomplish this feat we had to engineer and battery system and drive train that was efficient enough and powerful enough to move a 2 and a half ton vehicle. From a branding point of view we want all of vehicles to have brisk acceleration and segment leading range. For example, even though our vehicle weighs 2 thousand pounds more than a Nissan Leaf, we have better range and acceleration.
With all of the models that we use as base vehicles, we expect to negotiate volume discounts and possibly buying the vehicles without the engine and other ICE components. We also intend to use existing car dealerships as our distribution model. We are currently in discussions with a major OEM for all of these options. Our business plan is designed to succeed even without negotiated items from the larger OEMs, however we get there faster and with less capital if we can negotiate attractive partnerships with the established leaders in the automotive OEM space.
We fully intend for our SUVs to be direct competitors to the Tesla Model S that is expected in 2012. If we succeed on our planned capital raises we expect our first SUVs to be validated and available for purchase in mid 2012 at price points comparable to the early Tesla Model S pricing. We use the Tesla Model S as comparison because it is the only luxury, full size EV, that we are aware of that will be on the market in 2012. We have chosen the luxury market as our initial entry point due to the premium price that is typical of any new high technology. As the technology matures and the pricing becomes more attractive, we will move ever closer to mainstream vehicle pricing. In the end, EVs will be less expensive than their comparable ICE counterparts because EVs are inherently much simpler and have a fraction of the moving parts and service problems associated with ICE based vehicles.
Our management team consists of a healthy mixture of GM and Chrysler management and engineering executives coupled with leading industrial motion control experts and entrepreneurs that have successfully started several groundbreaking companies. This powerful combination of the established and the new enables us to take advantage of 100 years of car making and yet stay nimble enough to incorporate the latest software and electronics into our vehicles.
One critically important part of our culture is that we must continue to innovate. By the time the giants awake, we want to be well ahead of them with our expertise and technology. One example of this innovation is that we are currently working on a 4 wheel drive version of our drive system for use in vehicles. This innovation is being driven by the fact that most SUV buyers purchase the all wheel drive versions of those SUVs. We intend to be the first commercially available AWD EV available for purchase in 2012. Another innovation we are working on is an EV commercial van and pickup truck conversion that will be suitable for fleet operators. We believe that many fleet vehicles are prime candidates for early EV adoption and their main vehicles of choice are generally vans and pickup trucks.
Thank you,
Steve Burns, Founder
AMP Electric Vehicles
“You’re still getting the Mercedes chassis, the suspension, the damping, the brakes, the stereo, the body, the leather — it’s a compelling package and it’s already proven,”
-Steve Burns, President and Founder
“…we took a turn, hitting both the highway and some residential streets for around 20 minutes. It wasn’t enough to see what it’s like to live with one of these, but it was plenty of time to prove that anyone who is looking for an all-electric SUV that drives exactly as you’d expect such a beast to drive and has all of the amenities of an expensive German vehicle.”
“DP&L is taking a leadership role in meeting the needs of owners of electric vehicles,” said Jim Taylor, AMP CEO. “The SUV market is very popular in America today. We are proud to have our AMP Electric Equinox SUV as part of DP&L’s study.”
Cincinnati, OH – December 13, 2010 – AMP Holding Inc. (OTCBB: AMPD), a company engaged in the emission-free electrification of OEM vehicles through its wholly owned subsidiary, AMP Electric Vehicles, Inc., announced today the appointment of James E. Taylor as its new Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mr. Taylor, who was previously an advisor and Board member for AMP, brings extensive experience in the automotive industry, with former positions at General Motors as the head of the Cadillac and Hummer Divisions.
“AMP is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry,” said Mr. Taylor. “I believe AMP’s integrated technology to generate electric propulsion is among the best solutions I have seen. The opportunity to participate in the expected growth of AMP from the technology company we are today, to a fully operating Global Automotive Business, is very exciting,” Taylor continued. “With current and future worldwide opportunities knocking on the door, AMP’s line of fully electric SUVs and sports cars meets the demands and requirements of individuals as well as fleet customers.”
In addition, AMP Holding has appointed Joseph S. Paresi as Chairman of the Board. With over thirty years in senior executive positions, Mr. Paresi has a history of many successes with high technology companies. Mr. Paresi is presently the Executive Vice President and co-founder of L-1 Identity Solutions and previously was Corporate Vice President of L-3 Communications Corporation, where he was part of the founding team as well as President of the Security and Detection Division. Prior to L-3, Mr. Paresi was the Director of Technology for Lockheed Martin and Loral Corporations.
“I am very pleased to join the board of AMP, as the company is delivering well designed electric vehicles that perform almost identically to their engine counterparts but with a quieter ride, better acceleration, all at a fraction of the cost of gasoline and with a zero carbon footprint” said Mr. Paresi. “Having James Taylor take the lead as the new CEO with his extensive automotive experience will help AMP make a long term impact on the automobile industry and I believe catapult AMP to the next level.”
AMP Founder and current CEO, Steve Burns, will become President and focus his attention on bringing AMP technology into larger scale production, fulfilling current and anticipated orders.
With new offerings from large manufacturers such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, electric vehicles have moved to the forefront of the automotive industry. AMP’s addition of these Senior Executives is evidence that AMP is serious about growth, putting in place the necessary steps to fulfill vehicle orders.
AMP’s management announcements come on the heels of the recent news of Northern Lights Energy of Iceland’s commitment to purchase 1,000 electric AMP SUVs, and the electrification of fleet vehicles by AMP for DTE Energy. AMP is also in the process of electrifying several brands of SUVs provided by large auto manufacturers and fleet owners.
About AMP Holding Inc.
AMP was founded in 2007 by automotive industry veterans who have created several hi-tech companies. Currently, the AMP team is comprised of top engineers and business executives, as well as two key pioneers of GM’s EV1 project. AMP’s first all electric demonstration models were the Chevrolet Equinox, the Saturn Sky, and Pontiac Solstice. Since its inception, AMP’s unique electrification technology has proven to be an idea that has generated an extreme amount of interest, with inquiries coming from around the world. AMP’s intent is to electrify a wide range of OEM vehicles and SUVs, and expects to announce new model additions in 2010. The Company expects its vehicle electrification technology will provide new solutions to America’s energy demands.
To learn more, visit the AMP website at www.ampelectricvehicles.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov). In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.
INFORMATION:
SOURCE: AMP Holding Inc.
INFORMATION: Investors: info@csirgroup.com
Media: mike@thecreativestorm.com
(513) 266-3590