What do y'all know about this company?
Friday someone asked me if I'd ever heard of a Company called Unique Mobility Inc., which made a hybrid gas/electric mini-van in 1990 for San Diego Gas & Electric. The concept was a 1.4 liter natural gas engine that included a battery component and regenerative braking. In
1990.
As of 1990, they were based out of Englewood, Co. It appears to me now that they're called UQM and are based out of Frederick, Co. I'm assuming it's the same company with a name change. Any one know anything about this company and what it does beyond what I can gather from the website? Shouldn't there be some employees from there lurking around here?
I've been thinking that Toyota was so far ahead of the game that no US company would ever catch up, and now all of a sudden, I'm wondering why a company that was experimenting with hybrids running on gasoline/electricty, diesel/electricity and natural gas/electricity 17 years ago has remained unmentioned anywhere that I could find on this thread other than in an article Jason posted about them recieving some grant from the DOE or DOD.
Is this company the best kept secret in green automotive news?
From their website
Quote:
A sample of some notable projects we have undertaken over the last 15 years include: The development and construction of a purpose-built hybrid electric mobile broadcast studio used by ABC Sports to broadcast the 1984 Olympic marathon event.- The development and construction of a hybrid electric firefighting robot for use on Naval ships capable of 360 degree steering of each of its four independent wheels.
- Conversion of a 22-foot Orion transit bus to hybrid electric drive and the deployment of this vehicle in various transit districts in New York State, achieving recognition as the first hybrid electric bus to carry fee-paying passengers in North America.
- The development and supply of electric propulsion systems for BMW’s electric vehicle program and Alcan Aluminium’s fuel cell vehicle program in the early 1990s. During this time, the Company sold electric propulsion systems to nearly every automotive OEM worldwide for evaluation and testing.
- In 1998, the launch of volume production of the industry's first gearless brushless direct drive motor for Invacare’s Storm® series electric wheelchair line.
- The development of a “multipurpose unit” to start the internal combustion engine, control regenerative braking and synchronize gears in General Motors hybrid electric Precept concept car introduced at the 2000 Detroit Auto Show.
- In collaboration with PEI Electronics, the development of a hybrid electric propulsion system for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (Humvee) for evaluation by the U.S. Army. Several hybrid electric Humvees have been delivered to the U.S. Army for field testing.
|
http://www.uqm.com
http://www.uqm.com/about/history.html
http://www.uqm.com/NCBRreprint.pdf
Unique Mobility Inc./UQM Technologies ?
