EcoCraft Automotive
The EcoCraft Automotive GmbH & Co. KG was a small German manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles . The company, which was founded in Wunstorf near Hanover in 2006 , developed the Eco Carrier small van in various model variants. After the bankruptcy in 2011, the company was liquidated in 2012.
Corporate development
The company's beginnings go back to the early 1990s. On April 8, 1995, the " Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung " reported in the business section: "New car manufacturer focuses on environmental protection". The talk was of a “packhorse” with a battery drive that was supposed to transport goods in an energy-saving manner. The “Expocar” was exhibited as a prototype at the Hanover Fair in 1995 , and its developer Dirk-W. Morche and Giso Gillner from Hanover had big plans. The new vehicle should be a "hit", according to the ideas of its makers.
“Due to its simple construction , the new vehicle offers environmentally conscious solutions for delivery and transport traffic in metropolitan areas. With its simple construction, it is also suitable for numerous other areas of application, from tourism to airport logistics, ”said the first brochure for the small electric truck.
However, the team of inventors had to wait 13 years for their dreams to come true. “Back then we were simply too far ahead of our time,” recalls Gillner, “everyone was fascinated by our vehicle, only the desire to buy was kept within narrow limits. The price of petrol was not high enough and environmental protection was not yet an issue. Both had changed fundamentally since 1995. The price of gasoline and diesel soared steadily, and a keen sense of environmental protection became increasingly firmly established in public opinion.
Car manufacturers around the world set about developing environmentally friendly passenger cars and brought them to an initially hesitant market. The interest in hybrid vehicles with coupled electric / diesel or gasoline engines increased, and demand followed this trend. However, only a few manufacturers paid attention to the topic of "environmentally friendly delivery vehicles". Giso Gillner and Dirk Morche updated the construction plans for their ExpoCar from 1995, renamed it EcoCarrier, exhibited it again at the IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hanover 2006 and kept an eye out for partners. They found it easier than at the first attempt, and so the company EcoCraft Automotive GmbH & Co. KG was finally founded in the same year.
A site for prototype construction was created in Wunstorf ; Series production began at Volkswagen Sarajevo in Bosnia .
In 2010 and 2011, when the public perception of the electric car had increased significantly, a large number of new providers entered the market for electric commercial vehicles, which brought the Eco Carrier considerable competition. Then there was the departure of the overall development manager and co-founder of the company, Dirk-W. Morche. Although EcoCraft then invested a lot of effort in new technology developments (such as ESP , ASR , ABS , Roll Over Mitigation , Load Adaptive Control ) to improve its models, it still had to file for bankruptcy in June 2011. In total, the company shipped more than 150 units of its Eco Carrier model. After the bankruptcy, the liquidation followed in 2012.
Models
Since 2009 EcoCraft has been producing and selling the cars at prices between 25,000 and 30,000 euros, depending on the model and equipment. Due to the electric drive, the operating costs are only 2.50–4.00 euros per 100 km, depending on the local electricity tariff and driving style, which is around 50% of the costs of a van with a combustion engine. The speed is limited to 75 km / h or 80 km / h and the range is limited by the capacity of the battery . In addition to Germany, the vehicles were also offered in Austria and Luxembourg .
On sale in 2010 were the
- Eco Carrier ES , a flatbed truck with a loading area for two Euro pallets (1670 mm × 2450 mm) and up to 370 kg payload, a box body volume of 1.8 m³ and a trailer load of 450 kg unbraked and the
- Eco Carrier EL with space for four Euro pallets (internal dimensions of platform 1670 mm × 2450 mm), a payload of up to 700 kg and an unbraked trailer load of 450 kg and a box body volume of 4.9 m³.
Both models were also offered with a box body.
drive
- The ES is equipped with a three-phase asynchronous motor with an output of 15 kW , which produces a torque of over 950 Nm on the drive wheels. The 84 volt lead gel battery has a capacity of 180 Ah. The acceleration time from 0 to 50 km / h is 8.5 seconds. The range is about 80 km.
- The EL has the same engine, but is only electronically limited at 80 km / h. An 80 volt lead accumulator with 100 Ah or a lithium-ion battery with 200 Ah are available as batteries .
Honor
Because the EcoCarrier is the first small electric truck to be mass-produced in Germany, Wunstorf was selected by the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative for June 21, 2009 as the location of the day .
See also
- List of electric cars in series production
- List of electric car prototypes
- ARI Motors
- Balqon Corporation
- Bluebird Automotive
- Piaggio Porter
- Smith Electric Vehicles
- German e-cars
- Micro-Vett
- e-wolf
- Streetscooter
Web links
- Company homepage ( Memento of September 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b company register
- ↑ a b c d EcoCraft Automotive Ecocarrier ( Memento from August 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Alternative Motion Internet portal
- ↑ EcoCraft expands production program and sales network ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. EcoCraft Automotive, company information via www.metropolregion.de internet portal, 2009
- ↑ Ecocraft reports insolvency to Schaumburger Nachrichten online, section "Local Economy", June 23, 2011
- ↑ Ecocraft files for insolvency at www.auto.de Internet portal, "Automagazin" section, June 24, 2011
- ↑ Marc Kudling: EcoCraft files for insolvency, but is confident ( memento of the original from July 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. watt gehtab Internet portal, June 27, 2011
- ↑ EcoCraft website ( Memento from May 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Key data from Eco Carrier ES and EL ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Technical data of the EcoCarrier ES ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF 14 kB)
- ↑ a b SauchteAutos.at at the wheel of the EcoCraft EcoCarrier
- ↑ Technical data of the EcoCarrier EL ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF 410 kB)
- ↑ Leine-Zeitung: EcoCraft Automotive receives award ( Memento from August 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), July 18, 2009
