Car Insurance

An electric car maker will locate a 50,000-square-foot factory in an El Reno industrial park, company officials announced Tuesday.

The Sarasota, Fla.-based Solarmax Corp. will begin construction this summer at a 37-acre industrial park in El Reno. The plant will employ around 500 people.

The plant will have a “two-pronged” mission: to convert conventional cars for use of electric power and to make electric cars “from the ground up,” said Solarmax Chairman Norman H. Donald III.

The company is in the process of designing prototype electric cars, Donald said.

Solarmax also plans to manufacture “The Breeze,” an electric motorcycle currently in the patenting process, at the El Reno plant by early spring 1996.

One company strategy is to market the cars to utility companies, which would in turn donate the electric-powered vehicles to school driver training courses, said Senior Vice President Rodger M. Ward.

Ward’s vision also includes a corridor of “charge stations” through the nation’s South, linking Florida and California.

Another prospect is a corridor linking Dallas and Oklahoma City.

Company officials said they have already spoken to several utility companies about corridor plans.

El Reno was chosen for a plant site because it is centrally located nationally and because it is near the General Motors Corp. auto assembly plant in Oklahoma City.

Solarmax hopes to purchase from the General Motors plant vehicle bodies for their company’s “retrofitting,” or conversion program.

Officials did not discuss what they expect Solarmax’s annual production of new and retrofitted electric cars would be.

Solarmax was formed in October 1992 and is privately held. Its corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility are in Sarasota.

The company is currently negotiating for plant sites in California and Mexico, company literature says.

In addition, the company has offered to assume US Electricar’s backlog of production and delivery of “retrofit” electric cars in California.

Electricar plans to close its plants in Florida and California.

Solarmax’s production line of retrofit electric vehicles includes a three-door minivan, two sedan models and a two-door coupe. The company takes existing internal combustion engine vehicles and converts them to use electric power.

The company’s “ground up” motorcycle, The Breeze, will have a range of 60 miles and a top speed of 55 miles per hour.

The company is also developing a minivan, the Sun Runner Max, which it plans to introduce in 1997. It will have a 150-mile range.

Solarmax markets its electric vehicles to government agencies, electric utility companies and private fleet operators through direct marketing.

Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, who sponsored a news conference announcing the plant location, said the new plant is “exciting news because of the growing interest in electric automobiles.”

Oklahoma has potential to become the “crossroads of America” because of its location on Interstates 35 and 40 corridors and on the North American Free Trade Agreement corridor, Fallin said.