Iceland, geologically blessed with an abundance of renewable energy resources, like hydropower and geothermal, is hoping to use some of that energy to run the country’s automobiles. On Monday, Cincinnati-based AMP Holding announced it had signed a letter of intent to deliver 1,000 electric sport-utility vehicles over five years to Northern Lights Energy, a company that is constructing a network of electric vehicle charging points throughout Iceland.
AMP converts gasoline-power automobiles to electric using vehicles from manufacturers like General Motors. Founded in 2007, AMP went public earlier this year. The Northern Lights Energy deal is AMP’s biggest, according to the company’s chief executive, Steve Burns.
Mr. Burns said he expected to add 10 more employees to his current work force of 30 to handle the orders. The company plans to ship the first E.V. to Northern Lights? in early 2011 for performance testing. If the vehicles pass muster, AMP will ramp up assembly in February and aim to deliver 200 vehicles per year over the next five years.
AMP and Northern Lights expect Iceland will offer an ideal test bed for an all-electric transportation system. “The climate is perfect: not too hot and not too cold,” Mr. Burns said. “The car batteries like that. Commutes are short. Gas is expensive. Electricity is cheap. And many of the people prefer S.U.V.’s: 35 percent there compared to about 20 percent here.”
AMP specializes in converting S.U.V.’s, working primarily with the Chevrolet Equinox. It accommodates a bigger battery pack, about 50 percent larger than the one found in the Nissan Leaf, and consequently provides 50 percent more range, up to 150 miles on a charge, Mr. Burns said.
Northern Lights is building a nationwide charging network through its Icelandic National EV Project, which Sturla Sighvatsson, the company’s managing director, expects will be completed by the end of 2012.
Starting next year, a subsidiary of Northern Lights, called EVEN, will sell the electric vehicles to the public and commercial fleet customers. It will also offer access to its national charging grid through a monthly fixed fee. Mr. Sighvatsson compared this business model to the eVgo Network in Houston recently launched by NRG, a power generation company.
“This deal with AMP will ensure the Icelandic public will have access to electric S.U.V.’s over the next five years,” he said. “It’s about making electric vehicles a real option for the people here.” Northern Lights is also in talks with other electric vehicle manufacturers, including Renault and Nissan, to provide vehicles.
The Icelandic government also appears supportive of the project. While import duties on fossil-fuel vehicles are quite high, up to 45 percent of the car’s customs value, these duties are waived for E.V.’s.
Mr. Sighvatsson hopes Iceland can become a model for other countries to emulate. “Looking ahead 10 years from now,” he said, “people will look at the Icelandic market and say, ‘O.K., they did it. They made the cars available. They built the infrastructure, and the population embraced it.’ That’s the ultimate goal of our national E.V. project.”
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