Green Car Congress

MARCH 6, 2010

Bright Automotive, the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA ( earlier post ), has been awarded one of five contracts by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to develop and test an electric postal delivery vehicle. Under the contract, Bright Automotive’s eSolutions team ( earlier post ) will retrofit a standard USPS Long Life Vehicle (LLV) with an integrated electric drive train, and place the vehicle in real-world service for one year in the Washington DC area.

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Bright Automotive 2010 IDEA Washington 185

Green Car Reports

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Startup plug-in vehicle maker Bright Automotive announced today that it is closing down. While General Motors had invested $5 million in the company, Bright had relied on the hope that the U.S. Department of Energy would grant it low-interest loans under the advanced-technology vehicle manufacturing program. A letter from its CEO and COO to Energy

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Bright Automotive 2012 General Motors Grant 128

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Bright Automotive, Inc., the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA ( earlier post ) launched of Bright eSolutions to support automotive customers worldwide to accelerate vehicle electrification, lightweighting, and overall platform efficiency. Bright Automotive launched eSolutions with a just-announced contract from the US Army TACOM to conduct a demonstration project on a low-cost plug-in hybrid electric solution for non-tactical military vehicles.

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Bright Automotive 2009 IDEA Eaton 170

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 11, 2009

Start-up Bright Automotive, which in May unveiled its IDEA concept series plug-in hybrid light commercial van ( earlier post ), will convert VW Transporter vans with the series hybrid Bright powertrain as a bridge between the concept and the production version of the IDEA. Conversions are expensive, noted Lyle Shuey, Bright VP of Marketing and Sales, and the converted Transporters will not be as efficient as the purpose-built IDEA. The Bright IDEA and Transporter PHEV.

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Bright Automotive 2009 Convert Plug-in 185

Green Cars News

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Start-up electric vehicle maker, Bright Automotive is to close down after failing to secure loans from the US government. Green credentials Bright Automotive electric carThe Indiana-based firm, backed by General Motors’ venture capital arm, blamed the US Department of Energy (DOE) for a three-year wait for a final decision to be made on its application for a $450 million low-interest [.].

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Bright Automotive Indiana 2012 General Motors 41

Green Car Congress

APRIL 19, 2009

Bright Automotive will unveil its IDEA plug-in hybrid concept on Tuesday in Washington, DC. Bright will then take the IDEA will to Norway in May 2009 for the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS24). Bright Automotive launched in January 2008 from Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) with the goal of building on the work of a consortium of organizations, including Alcoa, Google.org, Johnson Controls and the Turner Foundation.

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Bright Automotive IDEA 2009 Bright Works 150

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 3, 2010

Bright Automotive, the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA ( earlier post ), and General Motors Co. Funding through GM Ventures will allow Bright to begin ramping up the development of the production program for the IDEA in the third quarter of 2010. Bright continues to seek a low-interest loan through the Department of Energy’s ATVM program. With this deal, Bright gets financial support that puts us on the fast track toward mass production of the IDEA.

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Bright Automotive 2010 GM PHEV 184

Green Car Congress

JUNE 1, 2009

Bright Automotive has applied for $35 million in government grants to accelerate the production of its plug-in hybrid the IDEA ( earlier post ), and to deliver battery solutions to the industry through its engineering services arm. In addition to these grants, Bright Automotive has applied for $450 million in government loans under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.

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Stimulus Package Bright Automotive Stimulus 2009 150

Green Cars News

AUGUST 3, 2010

General Motors has agreed to pursue a strategic relationship with Bright Automotive, the developer of the purpose-built, plug-in hybrid IDEA. Tags: Green cars Latest news general motors Bright Automotive Bright IDEA GM technologies GM Ventures From Renault and Nissan to Toyota and Tesla, some of the world’s leading car makers are joining forces for this new, green era – and now you can add another partnership to the list.

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Bright Automotive General Motors 2010 Nissan 37

National Green Transportation

AUGUST 3, 2010

Aug 3, Detroit, MI and Anderson, IN - Bright Automotive and General Motors have announced plans to begin what they're calling a strategic partnership. The deal will help Bright start mass production of their plug-in hybrid fleet vehicle

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Bright Automotive Detroit General Motors 2010 40

All Cars Electric

MARCH 14, 2010

As federal government agencies add electric vehicles to their fleet, will consumers notice and follow along? If an agency such as the USPS, who is seen be everyone, employs electric vehicles in daily use will consumers believe that EVs are feasible, reliable means of transportation and follow suit? These questions will remain unanswered for some

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Bright Automotive 2010 Fleet Electric Vehicles 49

National Green Transportation

AUGUST 12, 2010

Yesterday an enigmatic tweet from the Bright Automotive twitter account saying "Another Bright announcement coming tomorrow." clued us in to an interesting followup to last weeks announcement that GM is exploring investing in Bright

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Bright Automotive 2010 Chrysler GM 40

Revenge of the Electric Car

MAY 11, 2009

We interviewed Senator Lugar in DC recently — as we caught the Capitol Hill debut of Bright Automotive’s Idea — a plug-in hybrid electric delivery vehicle. Senator Lugar was also cheering for his home team – Bright are from Anderson, Indiana. They claim the Idea will save a 250 vehicle fleet company more than $500,000 a year in reduced fuel costs. We filmed John as he briefed Congressmen and women on the Bright Idea.

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DC 2009 Bright Automotive EV1 116

Revenge of the Electric Car

JANUARY 27, 2009

This new company, Bright Automotive , is founded by ex-GM EV1 people, and the super efficient Rocky Mountain Institute to make plug-in hybrids in Indiana. Like Paul MacCready’s original design for the Impact that established the world’s lowest drag coefficient of.195, Bright will be building cars that “do more with less&# , a philosophy MacCready was famous for (and the title of a wonderful biography on him). Bright is based around a parallel hybrid.

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2009 Bright Automotive Plug-in ZENN 116

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Bright Automotive has been threatening to break out as an upstart company in the plug-in hybrid car sector for several years – and now it has secured a partnership in North America which may help it achieve its ambitions. Green cars Hybrid cars Latest news AM General LLC Bright Automotive Bright IDEA plug-in hybrid car

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North America 2011 Bright Automotive America 41

Green Cars News

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Bright Automotive Inc has launched eSolutions in an effort to accelerate worldwide electrification and overall platform efficiency and at the heart of the new programme is a newly announced contract from the US Army TACOM to conduct a demonstration project on a low-cost plug-in hybrid electric solution for non-tactical military vehicles. When most people think of US Army vehicles, they naturally picture gas guzzling tanks or far from fuel efficient patrol vehicles.

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2009 Bright Automotive Future IDEA 44

Green Cars News

AUGUST 12, 2009

Bright Automotive may only be considered a start-up company, but it is about to have a significant impact on one of the most important car manufacturers in the world - Volkswagen. The company, which unveiled its IDEA concept series plug-in hybrid light commercial van in May, will now convert VW Transporter vans using the series hybrid Bright powertrain. The goal for Bright meanwhile, is to prove the platform works and get it into play.

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IDEA 2009 Bright Automotive Convert 34

Green Cars News

APRIL 24, 2009

The event was organised by Bright Automotive to showcase its IDEA - a 100mpg plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that it hopes to market to both Government and commercial fleets. Bright wasn’t alone in bringing its wares for display. Tags: Green cars Latest news Bright Automotive Capitol Hill Senators

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Golf Cart ZENN 2009 Bright Automotive 34

Green Car Reports

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Starting a company is tough; starting a company in the green automotive field may be even tougher. So it seemed like the engineering team from defunct startup Bright Automotive, once granted investment by GM, might have a second chance to see their technology on the road. The assets and intellectual property of Bright were acquired by Echo

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2014 Kits Bright Automotive GM 109

Green Car Reports

MARCH 8, 2012

renamed NextCar), Aptera Motors, and Bright Automotive is Carbon Motors of Connersville, Indiana. Log one more startup car company the U.S. Department of Energy has declined to fund. The latest entry on the lengthening list that includes Virtual Vehicles Co. The five-year-old startup proposed to build a carbon-fiber police cruiser, solely offered

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2012 Aptera Bright Automotive Indiana 108

Green Car Reports

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Startup Bright Automotive announced last week that, once the company completes its funding, its advanced plug-in hybrid Idea delivery van would be assembled under contract by AM General. How times change. That's the outfit that built the Humvee and Hummer H1, and spawned the now-defunct HUMMER brand, including the HUMMER H2--which AM General also

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Hummer 2011 IDEA Bright Automotive 105

All Cars Electric

OCTOBER 21, 2009

In response to owners of the IDEA PHEV commercial vehicle, Bright Automotive has upgraded the vehicle to deliver 40 miles of electric only range and almost 40 mpg in hybrid mode. As Bright Automotive said CEO John E. Waters said, "After speaking to major fleet operators and measuring how they use their vehicles, we modified the

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Bright Automotive 2009 IDEA Water 43

Green Car Reports

AUGUST 17, 2010

When GM Ventures announced it would invest an unspecified amount of money into startup hybrid truck-maker Bright Automotive, several of us noted that the prototype Bright Idea delivery van used an 2.0-liter engine and transmission from a Dodge Caliber.

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Bright Automotive Dodge 2010 IDEA 73

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Kevin Czinger, President & CEO, Coda Automotive. Reuben Munger, Chairman, Bright Automotive, Inc. Business leaders representing the entire value chain of an electrified transportation system will hold a press conference on Monday, 16 November to announce the formation of the Electrification Coalition and the release of its Electrification Roadmap , a report outlining a vision for the deployment of electric vehicles and infrastructure on a mass scale.

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2009 Companies Bright Automotive Nissan 203

Green Car Reports

OCTOBER 20, 2009

Back in April, startup company Bright Automotive unveiled its design for a plug-in hybrid light delivery truck. Now, we've had a chance to drive the prototype, briefly, just as Bright raised its electric range to 40 miles. Our test vehicle was the only Bright IDEA van prototype built thus far by the Anderson, Indiana, firm. We were able to

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IDEA 2009 Bright Automotive Indiana 73

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Bright Automotive, Inc. has entered into an agreement for AM General LLC to be Bright’s exclusive North American assembler for the Bright IDEA vehicle platform. AM General will build the Bright IDEA in its Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, Ind., The Bright IDEA is an all-new, plug-in hybrid electric light-duty work-truck due on the market in 2014. Production of the Bright IDEA is contingent on the completion of Bright Automotive’s funding.

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2011 IDEA Bright Automotive PHEV 185

Green Car Congress

MAY 27, 2013

Echo Automotive, Inc., Echo’s Chief Technology Officer is John Waters, the founder & CEO of Bright Automotive ( earlier post ). a developer of technologies enabling the conversion of existing fleet vehicles into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, completed a $3-million financing with United Fleet Financing, LLC, through a private placement offering and mezzanine financing.

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2013 Financing Conversion PHEV 191

Green Car Congress

APRIL 2, 2009

ESN member companies/institutions include, among others: Duke Energy, Cummins, Delphi, Allison Transmission, Remy, IBM, SAIC, Rolls Royce, Raytheon, Indianapolis Power & Light, Brevini, I-Power, EnerDel, AltairNano, Bright Automotive, Rocky Mountain Institute, Midwest ISO, NSWC Crane, Purdue University, Indiana University, The University of Notre Dame, and Ivy Tech Community College. John Waters, President & CEO, Bright Automotive.

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Indiana 2009 Plug-in Bright Automotive 150

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

In fact, he was in Anderson Thursday taking pictures of an electric delivery van being designed by Bright Automotive. Director Chris Paine was in Indianapolis this week to film for ‘Revenge.’ ’ More details in this TV report: Filmmaker in Ind. for electric car doc. Here is the full text of the article, in case the link goes bad: [link]. Filmmaker in Ind. for electric car doc.

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Indiana 2010 Indianapolis EV1 133

Revenge of the Electric Car

JUNE 23, 2009

I’m betting that Bright Automotive in Indiana will be on the next list of recipients. We’ve been waiting for several months to hear this good news. Three EV pioneers, Tesla, Nissan and Ford, are receiving loans from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. Totaling $8 billion, the funds will be used to manufacture efficient vehicles and electric drive components.

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2009 Grant Nissan Ford 136

Plugs and Cars

APRIL 3, 2012

Bright Automotive went under. It just might be up to us. Sales of plug-in cars are steady, but not overwhelming. The Volt has had to contend with the overblown battery fire incident and the production hiatus. Fisker is delivering the Karma, but not without glitches and its DOE loan is being questioned. Aptera went under. The press has not been kind. Gas prices are at historically high levels, and have become a political football, but haven’t led to a surge in EV purchases.

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2012 Karma Aptera Fisker 100

Revenge of the Electric Car

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

Bright Automotive. Coda Automotive. Fisker Automotive. Fisker Automotive. Bright Automotive. And Reuben Munger, former managing partner at investment firm Baupost Group LLC, is a founder and chairman of Bright, which developed a fully electric delivery van called Idea. Fisker Automotive. The Wall Street Journal assesses your EV readiness. Are You Plugged In? By Mara Lemos Stein.

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2010 Plug-in NMG Plug 126

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

General Motors is leveraging two separate organizations—its internal R&D group and the recently formed GM Ventures—to accelerate innovation and to introduce new technology to keep the company on the forefront of the technology revolution now taking place in the automotive industry, according to John Lauckner, GM’s Chief Technology Officer; Vice President, Global Research & Development; and President, GM Ventures.

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2012 International GM Bright Automotive 229

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 22, 2009

A Bright IDEA BY SARAH A. WEBSTER • FREE PRESS AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR• April 21, 2009 Print this page E-mail this article Share this article Del.icio.us Facebook Digg Reddit Newsvine More evidence that we are approaching an exciting new frontier in the automotive industry will be on display today on Capitol Hill. A largely unknown automaker  Bright Automotive of Anderson, Ind. • BRIGHT AUTOMOTIVE: Unwrapping the 100 m.p.g.

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2009 IDEA Bright Automotive Detroit 47

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

In addition to examining the scope of the challenges, the report makes a number of recommendations to address them, including: Establish tax credits for installing automotive-grade batteries in stationary applications to help drive scale and contribute to reducing battery cost. Establish loan guarantees for retooling automotive assembly lines. Establish a guaranteed residual value for used large format automotive batteries. Kevin Czinger, President & CEO, Coda Automotive.

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2009 Light Tax Credit Miles 200

Creative Greenius

AUGUST 13, 2009

The folks who blew me away were the ones from Bright Automotive. They’re building their new Bright IDEA from scratch and they’re building it with a very non-GM mindset. Here’s a video the Bright folks have produced that tells the beginning of their story. He was the lead guy on the EV1 battery team and now he’s the head honcho of Bright. I’ll be writing a separate post going into detail on the Bright approach.

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2009 Volt i-MiEV Plug-in 163

Green Car Congress

MARCH 8, 2010

The drive system of the EDAG concept consists of two Protean Electric (the spun-off automotive drive/generator applications business of PML Flightlink) wheel hub motors mounted in a double wishbone rear axle. Inspired by the computer and software industry, the EDAG Group instigated an open source vehicle development project for suppliers from inside and outside of the automotive industry. EDAG’s Light Car - Open Source at the Geneva Motor Show. Click to enlarge.

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2010 Light Concept Bright Automotive 170

Green Cars News

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

However, it’s not just the ‘big boys’ of motoring that are having an impact as we enter a new automotive era. Fisker Automotive. A joint venture between Fisker Coachbuild and Quantum Technologies, Fisker Automotive was founded in 2005 with headquarters in Irvine, California, and has made the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid sports car its centrepiece.

2009 44

2009 G-Wiz Karma REVA 44

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 19, 2009

The Active Noise Control technologies are part of a steady stream of ground-breaking innovations that Lotus has brought to the automotive industry and we are committed to pursuing further developments in vehicle refinement and environmentally friendly transport solutions." "We We are privileged to team up with Lotus for this new development initiative, which will reinforce our mission to deliver exceptional audio and infotainment experiences for automotive customers," said Dinesh C.

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2009 Land Rover i-MiEV Dodge Circuit 29

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 21, 2009

Audi Volkswagen-owned company exploring PHEVs Metroproject Quattro Sub-compact PHEV Concept Car shown October 2007; PHEV of A1 Sportback under consideration Bright Automotive For-profit spin off from Rocky Mountain Institute designing lightweight PHEVs, successor to RMIs 1990s "Hypercar" concept. But, he said, for GM, "what started as a fuel cell project is now an electric vehicle project." ( Automotive News ). told the Nikkei International Automotive Conference in Tokyo.

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2009 PHEV Toyota VUE 39