|
Bright Automotive was a startup company in Anderson, Indiana working to create a fuel-efficient line of plug-in electric vehicles.〔Fehrenbacher, Katie. "The First Investment from GM's VC Arm: Bright Automotive: Cleantech News and Analysis «." GigaOM – Technology News, Analysis and Trends. http://gigaom.com/cleantech/the-first-investment-from-gms-vc-arm-bright-automotive/ (accessed January 27, 2011).〕 The company was started in 2008 with a team of employees from former companies such as Chrysler, Delphi, GM, Mazda, and Toyota. The company designed its first vehicle, the IDEA,〔Vaughn, Kelly. "GM's $5M Jumpstart for Bright Automotive | Business | GreenBiz.com." Green Business News, Resources, and Sustainability Career Tools | Business | GreenBiz.com. http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/08/16/gms-5m-jumpstart-bright-automotive?page=full (accessed January 27, 2011)〕 a plug-in hybrid electric fleet vehicle designed to reduce fuel costs for corporations that maintain a large commercial fleet. Bright also had a service branch called eSolutions that focused on speeding up the process of car electrification with consulting and conversions. Bright's last CEO, Reuben Munger, stated in early press releases that he wished to see the IDEA in production by 2013. In 2012, after waiting over 3 years for a final response from the Department of Energy on their application for a loan through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, Bright could no longer sustain itself and announced they would cease all operations. == History == Bright Automotive was started in 2008 as the offspring of the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) under the leadership of John E. Waters, who became founding CEO of Bright Automotive. Waters spent years at General Motors and was the inventor of the battery pack used in their first electric vehicle, the GM EV1, in the mid-1990s.〔LaMonica, Martin. "Bright Automotive to enter electric-car derby | Green Tech - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10165562-54.html (accessed January 28, 2011).〕 Under Waters' leadership, and by the end of 2008, Bright had acquired $17 million of initial funding with plans to obtain a $450 million loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program. In addition, Waters created a consulting and conversion entity within Bright known as eSolutions and recruited leadership from Mercedes-Benz to lead the effort (Nigel Francis). eSolutions was successful in acquiring a $4 million US Department of Defense (DOD) initiative to design, build, and deliver a plug-in hybrid electric commercial vehicle (PHEV) for off-grid electric generation (i.e., vehicle-to-grid). This successful vehicle program was based on the identical "road-coupled hybrid" (RCH) powertrain of the Bright IDEA. Due to US DOE stipulations specifically to Bright for the ATVM loan program, in January 2010, Waters et al led a global effort to align with a major automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to receive the DOE funding. In August 2010, notably, a new branch of General Motors called General Motors Ventures, LLC invested $5 million in Bright Automotive as its first investment in the innovative transportation technology realm.〔 This investment by General Motors Ventures, LLC provided both funds and recognition from the US DOE. Bright spent over 3 years applying, negotiating, and finalizing a loan from the US DOE under their $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.〔 On February 28, 2012 new CEO Reuben Munger announced the company failed to receive a federal retooling loan and their portion of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. The company closed operations over the following few days.〔("Bright Automotive closes up shop after failing to get fed loan money" - The Detroit News (accessed February 29, 2012) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bright Automotive」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|