ExxonMobil/Electrovaya's electric car, the Maya 300, gets detailed tomorrow
If you had gobs and gobs of money, would you spend some on an electric car? What if your core business was selling people oil and gasoline? That's what ExxonMobil is all about, but the company is backing the electric car sharing program AltCar that uses a new EV called the Maya 300. News has been available on this unusual partnership with Electrovaya for a long while, but more details should be announced tomorrow when Electrovaya opens up about the car. Electrovaya has been signing deals and working on EVs with many partners over the years, but the Maya 300 is particularly interesting.
According to Green Tech Media, the Maya 300 uses li-ion batteries to go about 60 miles per 8-10 hour charge from a standard outlet. The car should be available in 2011 for something like $20,000-$25,000. For $30,000-$35,000, a 120-mile range version will also be available. When it was first announced, the Maya 300 was called an NEV. Considering the price, GTM believes that the car might be more than that now. We should find out more tomorrow and when the car is displayed at the National Motor Vehicle and Aviation Workshop in Chicago in late July.
As for AltCar, the carsharing program will initially be available at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, MD and will be open to residents and tourists to rent at Maya 300 by the hour. Thanks to John H. for the tip!
Update: Photo now shows current Maya 300 incarnation.
[Source: Green Tech Media, Green Car Congress, All Cars Electric, Exxon]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nick P. 5:11PM (6/23/2009)
I may be wrong on that but weren't they the ones who purchased the EV1 battery technology from GM? If so, they are probably trying to prove it's viability so they could charge electric car companies in the long run.
Sorry to say, but I'm skeptical of their motive...
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paulwesterberg 5:21PM (6/23/2009)
No you are thinking of Chevron/Texeco:
http://www.ev1.org/chevron.htm
mister nomer 5:32PM (6/23/2009)
Actually that was Texaco in 2001. And then Texaco merged with Chevron a few days later.
At the time the big 3 were - IIRC - ExxonMobil (who merged in 98), BP-Amoco (who also merged in 98), and Royal Dutch Shell.
mister nomer 5:37PM (6/23/2009)
Whoops, I see paulwesterberg beat me to it.
paulwesterberg 5:15PM (6/23/2009)
I do want to buy an electric car, but not from exxon.
Those bastards have got enough of my money already.
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wave54 5:04PM (6/24/2009)
You're not buying a car from Exxon -- except for their affiliation with the car-sharing service, AltCar, all they provide is the separator film in the battery. I hardly think of this as an Exxon/Mobil product.
We're probably all using products made with chemicals/plastics derived from petroleum that came from Exxon's wells (or Shell, BP, etc.). What do we do -- throw ourselves in front of a bus over misplaced corporate hatred?
Stew 5:20PM (6/23/2009)
This is the exact same car as the Wildfire WF-120V which you can buy right now in the states with lead batteries for $15,000. It is rear wheel drive with a solid rear axle similar to the old wedge shaped city car from the 70's. There are a few videos of this thing if you search for them and I can only imagine they chose this particular model because they are trying to make electric cars fail, it is very noisy and cheap. This car is the kind of car that makes people think of EV's as golf carts.
Stew
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GoodCheer 5:35PM (6/23/2009)
The thing that makes me think it must be more than a NEV is that you can get it with 120 miles or range.
Can you imagine any possible use for a NEV that would include traveling in the thing for more than 5 hours at a stretch?
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Chris M 6:15PM (6/23/2009)
Quite a strategy, make a small underpowered "punishment car" NEV with limited range and slow charging, sell it at a higher than normal price to a few foolish treehuggers that wouldn't want to buy gasoline anyway.
Looks like they are trying to make EVs look bad!
That sure explains the ExxonMobil connection.
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polo 6:34PM (6/23/2009)
Something tells me the only reason for this car and partnership is to make a very noise flop thats intended to paint EVs as either not attractive or not viable.
Why would you even look at this thing when you could get an imev for little bit more? It looks like poop.
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polo 6:38PM (6/23/2009)
Just from a PR standpoint this looks like a horrific partnership. Its like a Chinese food restuarant deciding to open up a petshop in the back...that sells only cats.
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jake 6:53PM (6/23/2009)
The press release says: "The five-door, five-passenger urban vehicle is equipped with the safety, performance and convenience features common to cars."
I don't think the picture above is correct.
Here is the website for the Maya 300 referenced in the article, it's clearly different:
http://www.mayamobility.com/
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mister nomer 7:14PM (6/23/2009)
Looks like if you do a google image search of the maya 300, it pulls up the image above from an old page on the company website.
However, if you go directly to the ExxonMobil website (http://www.exxonmobil.com/), there's a link to the story there with the images of the current car.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/exxonmobil/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1001106&newsId=20090623005671&newsLang=en
Judging by the pics jake provided, the maya 300 doesn't look half bad.
wave54 5:12PM (6/24/2009)
I've seen another photo (possibly an older version) that looks like a very low-rent Smart fourTwo, but the car at http://www.mayamobility.com seems to be the same as the BG C100, probably with a different battery. The BG is much more reasonably priced at $16-18K.
http://www.bgelectriccars.com/
Sebastian 11:29AM (6/25/2009)
thanks. pic has been updated
Spence 7:12PM (6/23/2009)
It's getting to I just need an Exxon:fail button on my keyboard.
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RAN 8:56PM (6/23/2009)
They both look like crap. I guess Exxon/Mobil figures the only way they'll be able to make money with these "punishment cars" is to rent them by the hour.
I wouldn't buy or rent any car that Exxon/Mobil stands to make a dime on.
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Matt Lenart 11:48AM (6/24/2009)
that thing has worse specs than the Maya 100 which was made 5 years ago. i really don't understand how technological progress works...
DasBoese 2:31AM (6/24/2009)
Yep, ABG has a picture of the wrong car. The actual one looks far more refined.
Their batteries look interesting to me. Appears they're using a nanostructured li-polymer chemistry in a flat "pouch" design, similar to the cells in the Volt's battery pack. Made in Canada too.
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Bernie123 11:50AM (6/24/2009)
Electrovaya has failed to inform Exxon that their NEV/LSV (neighborhood/low speed vehicle) for $25,000-$35,000 is not DOT/NHTSA approved or licensed for U.S. roads. Major PR faux pas on Exxon's part.
Speed limit is 25 mph (Federal Law), not 25-35 mph as you published.
Your publication/site should do their homework before you write articles, rather than sending false and misleading press releases to the public.....even if it's Exxon.
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