BY RUDOLPH BELL • BUSINESS WRITER • MARCH 27, 2009
Greenville pickup now gets around on 'green'
power Startup company's kit turns conventional vehicle into
hybrid
The head of a startup firm that retrofits trucks to run on electric power says he'd
move his firm to the International Center for Automotive Research, the Clemson
University research park in Greenville, if he had the money.
"It would be silly not to be here," said John R. Dabels, CEO of EV Power
Systems Inc. He was at ICAR Thursday to announce the first commercial
installation of his company's power pack -- in a city of Greenville pickup truck.
"We step forward to put green technology on the street," said Greenville Mayor
Knox White.
The seven-employee EV Power Systems, currently based in the Charlotte area,
makes systems that convert trucks into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, allowing
them to run on electricity as well as conventional fuels such as gasoline or
diesel or alternative fuels such as hydrogen.
Greenville Hospital System, Greenville Tech, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative,
SCANA and Santee Cooper have also committed to installing packs on
vehicles they operate, said Greenville entrepreneur Leighton Cubbage, a
member of the EV Power Systems board.
"This works. This is not some theory," he said.
Dabels said his company's $10,000 product cuts fuel consumption between 25
percent and 40 percent and also cuts emissions. The electric power system is
best suited for trucks that stop and start frequently such as garbage trucks or
Postal Service vehicles, he said.
So far, funding for EV Power Systems has come from management and S.C.
Launch, a state-sponsored program that provided $200,000. Dabels said he's
talking to investor groups in search of additional funding.
Dabels, a former executive in General Motors Corp.'s electric car program, cofounded
EV Power Systems in 2006.
