V-Vehicles Has Plans for a CNG-Powered Car, Pickens Tells Press at Alt-Fuels Expo
By Scott Doggett May 10, 2010
LAS VEGAS -- V-Vehicles, the mysterious company backed by T. Boone Pickens and other billionaires, has plans for a compressed-natural-gas vehicle, the oilman and avid CNG promoter told reporters following a speech at the 2010 Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference here Sunday night.
Except for the photo of the headlamp shown here and some fuzzy artist's renderings of a dashboard and a few unrecognizable parts, the wannabe automaker that last June announced it would be coming out with a high-mileage gasoline-powered car hasn't actually let any members of the press or the general public view the thing.
But when asked Sunday if he had seen the vehicle, Pickens said that he had and he said "it looks all right." Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The vehicle, assuming there is one, was designed by Tom Matano, who was lead designer of the original Mazda Miata sports car and it V-Vehicles' design chief.
As to the health of V-Vehicles Co., Boone said: "I don't even keep up with that. Somebody else does."
But he added: "They thought they had the vehicle all ready to go down to Monroe, Louisiana, and, I don't know, something happened to their money in Louisiana and they haven't gotten any money from the Department of Energy."
In addition to Pickens, V-Vehicles is backed by a cadre of high-powered investors, including venture capitalists John Doerr and Ray Lane, of the Silicon Valley-based investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Kleiner Perkins, you might recall, also has pumped money into plug-in hybrid start-up Fisker Automotive and cellulosic ethanol pioneer Mascoma Corp.
V-Vehicles Co. was started in 2006 in San Diego, California, where it will remain based, according to statements made last June in Louisiana.
The car is to be built in a former automotive headlight plant in Monroe that once belonged to General Motors. Is to be built there if it receives a pile of money it's applied for from the Energy Department. That would be the DOE money that Pickens said hasn't come through.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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