The Icelandic company Northern Lights Energy (NLE) has signed a letter of intent with the U.S. company AMP Electric Vehicles to sell one thousand electric cars in Iceland over the next five years. According to Frettabladid, the project is part of a national campaign that aims for a large scale implementation of electric cars in Iceland.
Gisli Gislason, Chairman of NLE said, “We aim to import around two hundred electric cars every year and assemble them here in the country. It is most likely that AMP will set up an assembly plant in Iceland, it is not as complicated as people think and this will of course also provide jobs and foreign currency saving. We hope to get the first shipment in January.”
Steve Burns, the CEO of AMP explained to Jim Motavalli of bnet.com that, “Iceland only has two hundred thousand cars on the road, so this project will give it the best EV-to-conventional ratio of any country on the planet.”
Burns added, “Iceland is perfect for electric vehicles due to the fact that electricity, from a combination of hydro power and the abundant geothermal resources, is practically free, the climate is perfect because it doesn’t get too hot or cold, and imported gasoline is really expensive.”
According to bnet.com, Gislason said that fifty Icelandic companies and government offices, including the federal ministry of the environment, have signed up and will host electric vehicle charging and convert their fleets to electric vehicles. Gislason said that NLE are looking to sign up a total of three hundred companies.
Facts about the electric cars:
- Can travel 150 miles on one fully charged battery
- 0-60 in 7 seconds
- Maximum speed is 95 miles per hour
- Takes 5 hours to fully recharge the battery