AC Propulsion Awarded $300k Grant by AQMD

After announcing global expansion plans earlier this month, AC Propulsion has now revealed it has received a $300,000 grant by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) that are meant to be used to integrate the company’s electric drive system technology into commercial service vans in Southern California.

AC Propulsion's electric propulsion technology has been developed and tested in vehicles produced by BMW, Tesla, Volvo, Volkswagen, Yulon and most recently in the Progressive X-Prize winning MonoTracer E.

"AC Propulsion's electric drive system is proven and patented to work for a broad range of vehicles," said Tom Gage, CEO of AC Propulsion. "The grant from AQMD is allowing us the opportunity to take gasoline-fueled commercial trucks and replace all of the components that contribute to air pollution with a zero-emissions system."

AC Propulsion will launch the conversion program by developing the electric propulsion system and conversion process for full-size vans that are used by service fleets nationwide. The converted vans will run on electricity only, with zero emissions, and will charge directly from the power grid, using 100 percent domestic energy.

The project will include the conversion of three vehicles that will be evaluated by service industry partners to be announced in the coming year. The first vehicle will be a developmental prototype, the second vehicle will be utilized for safety and crash testing and the third will go to in-use testing. The first conversion vehicle is slated for road testing in early summer 2011.

“Cleaner technologies such as AC Propulsion’s electric drive system have great potential to help improve air quality in Southern California through cleaner vehicle fleets,” said Barry Wallerstein, AQMD’s Executive Officer.