Parker entrepreneur aims to be electric car king

KUSA - Rising fuel prices and a slow economy have slowed down auto sales across the country, but a local entrepreneur may be able to jumpstart the sagging car business with his new, made in Colorado electric cars.

Satyendra Tripathi is no newbie to the auto business. In 1973, he dropped out of the University of Colorado to pursue his passion for cars. He worked from the ground up at Skyline Dodge in Denver, starting out in sales before graduating to management. He sold everything from Mazdas to Mercedes to huge RV's. It was about five years ago that he realized that increasing fuel prices wouldn't help move large vehicles.

"I started to sell Smart Cars", he told 9NEWS reporter Nick Carter. "I knew that about five years ago that something's got to change."

Fast Forward to the last couple years, in an 8,000 square foot showroom near downtown Parker, Satyenda, or ST as his friends call him, started looking at designing his own small-car bodies, and putting electric engines in them. That's how Electric City, his assembly shop and dealership got started.

ST believes that he has what it takes to get cars moving across the USA, a combination of "car smarts" and a new approach to things. "Most of the people in our industry are not car people. That's the biggest problem you have. There all college people who think they can run the car business. Well, they can't," he says.

Next to the showroom floor, several technicians are working on one prototype model that will be up for sale in January. The body and frame are molded in China, but all the other parts are USA all the way.

"All the drive train stuff here is done in Parker, Colorado, and I have several sold and I just signed a contract with a Canadian company for 58,000 vehicles for the next two years", ST says.

Most of us are a little leary of electric cars. We think of a dinky design that looks like a Volkswagen built by the Wiggles, but ST's cars look handsome and can fit four people.

One favorite design ST showed us was the Current, a bright red, 4 door sedan with heating, air conditioning, a stereo and CD player. The acceleration was exhilirating and the car had no trouble keeping up with the 50 mph traffic.

"We drove from Parker to 225, to Lincoln and I-25 and back here. It was 28.3 miles at an average of 57 miles per hour. We had no problem. We still had plenty of juice," ST pointed out as he checked a portable GPS that he uses for speed and distance calculations.

Of course, electric cars will have less range with a large load, but ST stresses that the most gas guzzling occurs during city driving. That's where the electric car shines.

"Most of us don't drive 100 miles. We only do 35 to 40 miles. All you have to do is go to work to downtown Denver from here, plug it in for an hour. You'd be fully charged and you can come home and you can run to the store and then give it to your kids," he says.

But what about sticker price. The cost of a new Electric City Current may bring a bit of a sticker shock to you at first. The car sells for $28,990, but ST stresses that besides the fuel savings over the life of the car, there's little if any maintainence required for the car.

"There is no transmission. Instead there's a shaft that we build. It's a half shaft system that works off the motors. And besides the body, everything from the drive train to the tires are made in the United States, so if, let's say you need brakes, it's no problem, ST says.

Because the cars are assembled here, they get a US VIN number. That means that insurance companies are on board with the Current and other cars coming off the line.

"I've got a guy with State Farm in Fort Collins who says that he'll insure, no problem," ST tells us.

There's also a little help from Uncle Sam if you want to buy an electric car. Starting in January there's a $7,500 tax incentive for anyone who purchases an electric car. There's also a little jolt of juice for the front range economy, courtesy of ST's venture.

"We're looking at a building right across the street, which is 8,000 square feet, and I've got a 3,800 square foot building that we're going to design our bodies. And I have a 31,000 square foot building, and we're going to hire 100 to 150 employees."

ST Tripathi is taking orders for his cars today, but he's still building his dealership-auto plant. He promises that Electric City has a warantee on the batteries, and he will have a great customer service base for those who go electric.

For more information on Electric City of Parker, you can go to their website at www.electriccitymotors.com