Police carsCarbon Motors faces uncertain future

Carbon Motors, the makers of the specially designed E7 police car, are strugglingto survive financially and could be forced to shutter its doors if a $300 million government loan is not approved.

In December William Santana Li, the CEO of Carbon Motors, sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he intervene on the company’s behalf to urge the Department of Energy to approve a $300 million loan.

Two years ago, Carbon Motors applied for the loan under the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program to put the vehicle into production.

Santana Li said the E7 is far superior to existing police vehicles as it is built from the ground up for law enforcement officials in mind, rather than just modifying an existing car.

The vehicle comes equipped with sensors to detect radiological threats, license plate readers, as well as a wireless network that can connect each vehicle to a department’s central computer as well as other vehicles.

Underneath the E7’s hood is a powerful 300-horsepower BMW engine that gets thirty miles per gallon and is capable of top speeds of 150 miles per hour.

“This is not a vehicle designed to take you to the grocery store, or a police car that’s the same as the one from six or seven decades ago,” Santana Li said. “This will have a material impact on law enforcement and be environmentally more responsible.”

He added that the vehicle is also built in the United States unlike most police cruisers which are imported from Canada.

Unlike Santana Li, not everyone is convinced that the E7 is necessary.
“I like the product because it is purpose built as a police cruiser,” said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst with Gartner, a technology research and consulting firm. “But good product alone is only half of the required success in the automotive business, because production, maintenance and service requires substantial resources.”

More critically, Daniel Sperling, the director of U.C. Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies, said Carbon Motors’ entire business model is illogical.

“It makes no sense to start from scratch with a vehicle, given the massive scale economies and expertise of the big original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) [like Chevrolet and Ford],” Sperling said. “Frankly, nothing I read convinces me this is a compelling investment of taxpayer dollars.”

Sperling went on to say that since cities have a variety of needs, it makes sense for them to have a variety of vehicles. He also noted that the current trend in government contracts is to purchase existing off the shelf consumer products and modify them for their particular use.

Koslowski warns that Carbon Motors could be forced to close its doors if it does not receive a government loan. As an example, he pointed to Aptera Motors, an electric car company that went under after it failed to secure a loan from the ATVM program.

When asked, Santana Li avoided questions on whether Carbon Motors would be forced to close if it did not receive a federal loan.