About this project
AK Motors is designing and building a street legal fully enclosed low speed all electric vehicle. The vehicle will be entirely designed and constructed in NY state.
Almost all US states have Low Speed Vehicle rules. With the increasing rollout of charging stations at railroad station parking lots, supermarkets and public spaces a low cost commuter / grocery getter electric vehicle now makes sense as a second car. The vehicle will comply with all LSV safety regulations.
Golf carts, which can be made to be street legal as LSV's do not provide enclosed heated, weathertight or secure comfort for their users.
AK Motors has designed the vehicle as a full enclosed heated model with a stylish / techy retro design that is compatible with public and home charging systems.
The vehicle is designed to be unapologetically simple, and fully utilitarian. Fun colors are planned for the fiberglass body. The interior of the vehicle is kept very simple with attractive two tone vinyl bucket seats, matching armrest and dash pads, with the rest being smooth tan interior fiberglass.
For warm climate areas or for summer fun, the doors are removable. Both front and rear bumpers are equipped with accessory mounts for cooler carriers, bicycle carriers, golf bag carriers, cargo carriers, etc.
The vehicle drivetrain, body and systems are now fully designed. Without the rear window the van configuration can serve as a small delivery vehicle. The body wooden mold "plug" (as shown in the project picture) and production body molds are now being fabricated along with the prototype's chassis.
Experienced contract fiberglass (a yacht builder) and chassis construction subcontractors are being used, with automated and robotic manufacturing processes.
An onboard wifi link is designed into the vehicle to allow any tablet to be used as the vehicle's dashboard, or to allow the vehicle to connect to nearby wifi networks. The tablet allows the vehicle to have navigation capability without investment. A tablet shelf and charging system are integrated into the vehicle. The integration of the vehicle with IP technology allows for reduced costs and for remote control and monitoring of its systems. Checking the vehicles charging progress, or turn on the vehicles heater from inside a home, etc are all possible. The control systems afford themselves well for equipping the vehicle for ridesharing/car sharing services in the future.
The vehicle will be sold online and in shopping mall kiosks. Selected dealers may be used when production volumes increase and costs decrease to allow for dealer margins.
Funding will be utilized to complete the neccessary tooling for production body mold fabrication and production chassis jig fabrication.
An assembly facility is planned for the southern tier region of NY State.
Risks and challenges
Principals involved in this project have 30+ years of experience in engineering of electric drive systems, plastics fabrication and production.
We have reduced parts count, complexity, manufacturing labor and assembly labor to a minimum by design, while keeping all work domestic.
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