Detroit Electric is a 100 year old brand, although many of you may have never heard of them. They started talking about building electric vehicles back in 2007 and the electric car division was founded in 2008 by Albert Lam, former CEO of the Lotus Engineering Group. The image you see is a rendition of what some people supposed this vehicle may look like. Of course we have no idea what the actual car is going to come out like, but we will all know soon as the production is gearing up to finally start this summer.

The new electric automakers could have jumped onboard to get public funding when the Obama administration was dumping it out in bucketfuls to new, green car technology, but said “No, thank you”. Instead, Albert Lam set his sights on private investors and raised capital for this new venture through this medium instead.

Don Graunstadt, CEO of North American operations for the company that recently leased office space in the Fisher Building said, “It’s been a very daunting experience for us. We raised capital, we made some progress, we raised more capital, and then we made more progress.”

Of course, you have to wonder if this production is going to fully get off the ground as the electric car makers haven’t had the easiest time of it lately. With Henrik Fisker just resigning from Fisker Automotive and no one seems to want to bid on it. Even Chinese manufacturers Geely Automobiles Holdings has commented that it would not bid for the troubled car company.

Then there is the ongoing drama with the electric vehicle battery makers. A123 Systems went bankrupt and LG Chem Michigan has sold a single battery pack to date. How will that affect Detroit Electric?

“The likelihood for survival for any start-up is incredibly small — for anything at all, even a corner restaurant,” said Brett Smith, research analyst for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. “The hurdles are enormous for a car company.”

Who knows, perhaps Detroit Electric will be the electric car maker to figure out how to get over the hump.

By: DocMemory
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