A son of Ballard is shaping the future of electric vehicles in a big way.
Steve Leighty is President and founder of Ecocruise, an electric car company devoted to changing how Americans think of transportation.
After a long process of design, prototyping and manufacturing Ecocruise will be releasing their new line of cars urban electric cars by the end of the year. Leighty hopes that these new models will one day replace the light and utility transportation used today.
Leighty grew up in North Seattle and lived in north Ballard for 45 years before starting Kasea Motorsports in 1989. Leighty designed ATV’s, motorcycles and scooters that were competitive in the industry for over 25 years. His office was based in Seattle.
From his experience with ATV’s Leighty realized he wanted to make “cleaner,” more sustainable vehicles. Moreover he saw a window emerging in the electric car industry, a new market for smaller electric vehicles. Leighty saw that the established vehicle industry was moving sluggish and thinking about transportation in the same way as gasoline fueled vehicles: big.
“They are basically building the same big cars the same way – built for interstate and highways, but for people commuting through the city, there’s no need for that,” said Leighy.
Leighty envisioned smaller, simpler cars. In 2011, Leighty with mostly other Ballardites, started Ecocruise with the goal of making a car that is somewhere in between a scooter and a full-fledged electric car like a Prius with absolutely no carbon emissions. They thought that people who are simply commuting within the city and not cross-country, need simple and reliable cars. Moreover, he wanted to make them clean using no fossil fuels.
“Our vision is to bring affordable and quality electric vehicles to the market to empower every commuter and business with an option to go green,” states the Ecocruise website, http://www.ecocruise.com/
The Ecocruise cars are small, light and built for the niche group of people that need to make a trip downtown and back. The cars have the capacity for 50 mile per hour but are governed for 40. The frames are built from carbon fiber for strength and lightness. The engines only have two moving parts, which Leighty said means fewer maintenance calls. In fact the engine has two ball bearings that he says would only need replacing every 15 years. The cars are rechargeable with lithium ion batteries. Charge times range from two to three hours and the batteries have a range of 60 miles.
Leighty envisions drivers of his cars as people who might be driving a scooter right now but would like to get something more practical with four wheels.
He also said that his cars allow people to get into the eclectic car market without breaking the bank. Ecocruise cars will all be priced at under $10,000, and some models under $4,000.
So what about the cars?
At the end of the year Ecocruise will launch two of their cars: The Cruser Sport and the EZIP4.
The Sport looks much like a buggy, showing Leighy’s past design experience with ATV’s. It also resembles a Volkswagen Bug stripped down to the utilitarian essentials with a big windshield (with wiper), two seats, T-top and grocery storage in back.
The EZIP4 is basically a four-wheeled scooter for a single driver. It’s narrow with a tubular seat. The EZIP4 tops out at 25 mile per hour.
Ecocruise has multiple other cars on the way and available in 2015. Leighty said that the Cruser Sport Golf should be a popular vehicle on the golf course and dense urban areas.
In addition, Ecocruise also has service vehicles that Leighty hopes will one day take over the gasoline burning delivery vans. The service vehicles are three-wheeled utility vehicles that look much like current parking enforcement buggies, but have a few design tweaks. There is a “van” version and a “truck” version that offers lots of storage and is ideal for making urban deliveries like flowers or pizza. A one-person cab service might also be considered for the Sport model.
“It doesn’t make sense for big cars like the Prius to be delivering small stuff,” said Doris Au, communications specialist for Ecocruise. “Why not have something small and electric? That’s all you really need to deliver food in a city environment.”
Indeed, Leighty said that there are over 35,000 floral delivery shops in the country. "If they switched to driving electric cars they would cut way back on fuel costs while doing a big favor for the environment," said Leighty.
In addition, Leighty sees his service vehicles replacing the Seattle municipal vehicles for Parking Enforcement and the Parks Department. He said that his cars would save the City money in fuel costs and maintenance. He also envisions police currently using bicycles switching over to electric vehicles.
All cars pass safety regulations and are street legal with seatbelt, headlights and turn signals.
“We need to stop thinking and start acting on how we can support a global population and economy while making sure we protect the Earth and its non-replenishing natural resources.”
However, first things first, Leighty and Ecocruise are currently operating out of a small office in Crown Hill and want to bring the manufacturing end of Ecocruise to Seattle – hopefully Ballard. Currently, the cars are being built in China.
“Our plan is to hold demonstrations for fleet managers, universities and corporations in Ballard; probably at the Ballard Elks Club. We will also look for office space in Ballard or close to it,” said Leighty.
Currently, Ecocruise is looking for potential investors and dealers that want to help them hit the ground running when their vehicles are ready at the end of the year.
For more information visit http://www.ecocruise.com/.
