Is there trouble at Bright Automotive? Yes and no, as job cuts and new hires could now lead to profitibility

Bright IDEA PHEV - Click above for high-res image gallery

Bright Automotive has not been able to drive the Idea plug-in hybrid van on the easiest road to market. A new set-back – from one perspective – was a number of layoffs and executive shuffling at the company this week. CEO Reuben Munger, though, doesn't see the job cuts and repositionings as anything but positive for the company. After all, they were his decisions and he told AutoblogGreen it's all part of the reason he became CEO a few weeks ago.

Munger said his new job is to "create the transitional experience" for the company to get the Idea van off the drawing board and onto the road. While some people – contractors and a small handful from the eSolutions sustainability consulting group – were let go, Bright will also soon be bringing in new people to focus on the company's upcoming strategic partnerships. These partnerships should kick-start the Idea program and Munger said he hopes the company is now in a position to be profitable:

I think we very clearly have an execution oriented team that is in position to make money from today. Therefore, future changes are all about adding people to realize the vehicle program and/or supporting new business in the engineering solutions area.

The cuts are not tied to the slow-moving DOE loan application process, Munger said, adding, "We look forward to continuing our dialogue with them to a successful completion." Michael Brylawski, Bright's executive VP of corporate strategy, told AutoblogGreen something similar:

We're also in talks with a number of OEMs on strategic partnerships and are planning for a major transition and relaunch of the IDEA program within the calendar year. We had a few staff transitions this week that are part of the overall shifts in our business as we get cash flow positive and prepare for a relaunch.

We've been evolving the business over the last few quarters to get to cash flow positive with our eSolutions/conversions business. Our business is viable without DOE, although like all other US OEMs developing electrified platforms we are working with the 136a program to help fund the IDEA launch. Of course having been in this program since December 2008 we (like many other applicants) are hoping the DOE can accelerate its overall process.

Thanks to anonymous for the tip!

Related GalleryBright IDEA

Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright ©2009 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Bright Automotive]

Category: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Bright Automotive

Tags: bright automotive, bright automotive electric car, bright automotive ev, bright IDEA, bright idea phev, BrightAutomotive, BrightAutomotiveElectricCar, BrightAutomotiveEv, BrightIdea, BrightIdeaPhev, idea, idea plug in car, IdeaPlugInCar, reuben munger, ReubenMunger

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Michael Brylawski

@jpm Good question: a big part of our strategy is to price the van on a per-mile (or per-month) basis where PHEVs compare very favorably with ICE vehicles as you are bundling in not just the capital cost of the vehicle but also its fuel use. The per-mile cost is often referred to as "total cost of ownership" or TCO.

TCO-based buying has been the norm in the commercial vehicle market in Europe for over a decade, and for the past couple of years has come to the U.S. Fleet customers essentially buy vehicles on "spreadsheets", factoring in the cost of the vehicle (depreciation), fuel, maintenance, insurance, taxes, and tax credits (including the write off of depreciation). It's very different buying behavior than the consumer market, where people are much more sensitive to upfront price and tend to discount heavily lifetime fuel savings.

Thus, the pricing of the IDEA is to have it's TCO be significantly lower than the "competition," specifically the vehicles it will be replacing in our customers' fleets. The TCO difference is going to be mostly a function of the fuel savings, hence dependent of what the price of oil is going to be, but right now at an anticipated $3.15 a gallon in 2013 we're targeting a 10-30% lower TCO than competitive ICE vehicles (depending on whether that vehicle is, say, a minivan or fullsized van).

Bright Automotive's view is that PHEVs (and EVs) can only win in the short and medium term if they compete on TCO. EVs are more expensive to produce, no matter how you slice it, so you have to factor in and "monetize" the fuel savings to make them cost competitive.

That's a big reason we focus on fleets, because fleet managers value TCO. (Other reasons fleets are ideal is because current vehicles in this market are based on very old platforms that are heavy and inefficient; and fleets in our segment drive about twice as many miles per year than consumer vehicles, further advantaging EVs/PHEVs).

Hope this answers your question...not entirely straightforward, but they key takeaway is that we are designing our vehicle to be ~10-30% cheaper per mile on a TCO basis @ $3 gas.

May 30 2010 at 2:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

@Glock23: Bright is far from "another EV vaperware (sic) company." We develop hardware. If you aren't in Indiana and can't come visit us in Anderson, please see several of the other articles from this site describing our hardware on the road and in development:

We have running hardware prototypes you can drive:
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/08/03/first-drive-report-bright-idea-plug-in-hybrid-van-gets-a-b-for/

We are also developing hardware for USPS and the military:
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/03/05/bright-automotive-latest-to-get-usps-contract-for-electric-truck/
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/28/bright-automotive-announces-esolutions-army-plug-in-hybrid-cont/

@Throwback Indeed the Tesla/Daimler/Toyota and now Reva/Tata is the trend: startup EV companies will increasingly link up with larger OEMs. It's mutually beneficial, and the norm in industries like pharma and IT.

To others, thank you for your support! As I watch this horrible oil spill unfold, it is a stark reminder to me and my colleagues of the urgency of getting as many EVs, PHEVs, and HEVs on the road to displace oil. The IDEA is critically important in this regard as it will displace some of the most inefficient (and oil hungry) vehicles on the road. I'm hoping this community continues to support all genuine efforts--big and small--to electrify transportation and help transition this country off oil.

Thanks,

Michael

May 28 2010 at 12:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Michael Brylawski's comment

jpm

@Michael,

What is the estimated/approximate price per van?

May 28 2010 at 5:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Glock23

Bright = Another EV Vaperware company. Big on Press Releases, little on tangible products.

May 28 2010 at 11:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Throwback

"We're also in talks with a number of OEMs on strategic partnerships and are planning for a major transition and relaunch of the IDEA program within the calendar year."

Translation, we want to get a deal like Tesla got with Toyota.

May 28 2010 at 10:21 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

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