Green Car Congress: Ford to Sell Old Ranger EVs

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Ford to Sell Old Ranger EVs

19 July 2005

Sacramento Bee. Former lessors of Ford Ranger EV trucks will have a chance to purchase a refurbished version of the electric vehicle for $6,000 in a lottery system this fall.

Current lease owners will be able to purchase their vehicles—as is, with no warranty—for a dollar.

Ford’s earlier plan to crush the old EVs was met with protests. Ford yielded, and in January opted to sell two of the trucks to their protesting drivers.

About 20 people have chosen to purchase the vehicle for $1, said [Niel] Golightly [director of sustainable business strategies for Ford], who expects to have about 200 vehicles available for the lottery.

“The batteries have been degraded somewhat, and some of these vehicles need a lot of work,” he said.

The $6,000 is to cover refurbishing the vehicle and battery, and for transportation. Most of the work will be handled by Sacramento-based Battery MD Inc.

Buyers will not be able to choose the color or battery type. If interested, former leaseholders must submit their information by Aug. 31. for a Sept. 23 drawing. Company officials said information will go out this week to ex-leaseholders on how to register.

A Web site is under construction at www.rangerevlottery. com.

Separately, Toyota has also yielded to protests over its plan to crush its RAV4 EVs, and has agreed not to destroy the vehicles.

July 19, 2005 in Electric (Battery) | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Too too bad that GM couldn't be convinced before they destroyed their electric cars, and their corporate goodwill.

Posted by: tb2 | July 20, 2005 at 09:04 AM

It's sad that car manufacturers are getting out of the electric vehicle business. Electric vehicles seem like the most promising long-term solution to me, more so than hydrogen vehicles.

Posted by: Marcus Huertas | July 20, 2005 at 07:38 PM

A hydrogen car IS an electric car its just that it has the fuel cell or in shorter run an ice running on hydrogen to keep the batteries in thier optimum charge range and extend range.

Thats whats so blooming stupid about the hostility toward hydrogen its realy just an electric car with a fuel cell attached and less batteries as a result.

Posted by: wintermane | July 22, 2005 at 04:46 AM

I'm electrical enginer and living in small country Macedonia.Driving car like thic green car is very good in country like Macedonia!

Posted by: Simeon | July 29, 2005 at 06:22 AM