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Parker business offers fully electric car

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Contributed by: Joseph Kirchmer/YourHub.com on 5/5/2008

A Parker businessman is hoping growing concerns over rising gas prices and global temperatures will lead consumers to his front door.

S.T. Tripathi, owner of Colorado Auto Connection, 10510 S. Progress Way, #100, in Parker, recently became one of only two distributors in the country to offer a fully electric plug-in car approved for the highway.

"I'm looking forward to this," Tripathi said. "I want to put this town on the map of the world."

The car, which is called the Current, may sound like a dream for motorists. It requires no gasoline, no oil changes, no tune-ups, produces zero greenhouse gas emissions and costs approximately two cents per mile to drive.

Read more about the Current by clicking here.

Tripathi has been working feverishly on getting the car into the market for the past two years. On April 22, he received his license from the state to manufacture and distribute the cars.

"I'm so excited," Tripathi said. "Electric cars are a passion for me. The day my car went out into transport, I cried."

The Current, which is listed at $28,990, is completely battery powered. The battery can be plugged into a regular household electrical outlet and re-charged.

The battery needs to be re-charged every 65 to 200 miles and its performance depends on the speeds at which the car travels. For instance, the battery would need to be fully re-charged after a 70-mile trip from Denver to Fort Collins at speeds of 65 to 75 mph, Tripathi said.

Upgrades, however, can be purchased to increase the battery's performance.

The battery takes about one to two hours to fully re-charge, which costs about $2 in electricity fees. It has a lifespan of about 8 to 12 years and requires little maintenance, he said.

The car, which can travel up to 75 mph, also has some get-up. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.

Tripathi said he's invested heavily into the development of his electric plug-in car and is hoping it will fill a niche in a small but rapidly expanding market. The Tesla, a luxury two-door sports car that retails for approximately $110,000, is the only other fully electric highway car currently available in the market.

Read more about the Tesla by clicking here.

Tripathi said the biggest hurdle in selling the electric car is clearing up public misconceptions. Since the technology is relatively new, consumers often have concerns over safety, reliability and performance.

But once the public becomes more aware of the facts, he said, the sky is the limit. He hopes to open several distributors of his electric cars across the nation.

"A lot of people and myself, we have a gut feeling this is really going to pay off," he said.

Large automakers, however, are not far behind. General Motors is expected to have an electric car ready for distribution by the end of 2010 while Ford and Toyota are testing electric hybrids -- vehicles that would run solely on a plug-in battery charge part of the time.

For now, though, Tripathi can enjoy being one of the few distributors in the nation to offer the car. The Current can now be ordered from his business and typically takes about two to three months to arrive.

The car's body and frame are manufactured in China and then shipped to Parker, where it is outfitted with air conditioning, heating and other features.

Tripathi has been in the automotive business since 1973, when he joined Skyline Dodge in Denver. He got into alternative vehicles when he opened the metro area's first smart car dealership in Elizabeth in 2003.

Since his move to Parker in 2005, his business has specialized in selling commercial electric vehicles that boast a top speed of 25 mph. The vehicles are primarily sold to government agencies and businesses and are typically used in confined areas.

Tripathi said he used the technology from those vehicles to develop an electric car approved for the highway. He said the Current passed a computerized crash test administered by the National Highway Safety Administration, adding that the car comes with driver-side and passenger-side airbags.

The Current, a 4-door hatchback, is one of several electric cars he hopes to distribute in the future. He's also working on designs for another 4-door hatchback called the Circuit, as well as a truck and a sports car.

"I've seen a lot of cars come and go, but this one is different," he said. "This is exciting. It will make a difference."

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