19-4. WE VISIT DUTCH ELECTRIC CAR PRODUCTION

Electric Cars Europe, ECE, invited us to visit them in Lochem in East Holland. ECE converts cars to electric drive. The company has close contact with Lotus in England and converts the Lotus Elise to a potent electric sports car - in direct competition with Tesla in USA. We had a lively and informal lunch in the sun outside the production halls with Hjalmar Engel. He gave me a long tour in their converted VW Golf. A very convincing car: 150 kw motor, fast acceleration and sure road-holding - but very expensive. More news were coming in international cooperation. For chinese Geely ECE develops an electric version of a compact Geely, presented at the Amsterdam Auto show. Yet the market is small and the cars are built by hand and thus expensive. But it is expected to become big in a few years time. A lot of experience and expertise are accumulated around the world by many thousand people. The question is whether it will be the big companies that win the whole market?

Nina and Hjalte