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An Interview with Art Haines, Maine’s New Henry Ford? |
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Cont’d from page 2 EVMaine: You’d have to go through the National Vehicle Testing Lab in Idaho, and all that? Art Haines: Yes you would. That’s not necessary if I sell kits instead. Here’s the State of Maine form, you pay twenty-something bucks for it. You tell where you got the major components and provide Certificates of Origin. The State then assigns you a VIN number and then you take it to the registry. The State actually sent my form back to me because I put "None" where it said ‘vehicle parts were taken from’ because I didn’t have any. She said you have to have something there, and I said I don’t have any parts from any preexisting vehicle, that it is entirely a homebuilt vehicle. So in that case I needed receipts for the major components, such as the motor, or a manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin. I’m going to give each purchaser of a kit a Certificate of Origin stating where the kit was made, and by whom. I will also put serial numbers on each major component. I went to my Town Clerk to register my vehicle and she said she’d never heard of a Low Speed Vehicle, so she called Augusta, and they said that they don’t send the forms to the towns, instead I’d have to go to Augusta where I could get a license plate. And they also require insurance for Low Speed Vehicles. You’ve probably heard this story before: I called Geico and asked if they insure Low Speed Vehicles, and they said that they’d never heard of them. There are some companies that do issue policies for Low Speed Vehicles, mostly through local insurance agents. Daimler-Chrysler’s GEM Cars Division has sold over 30,000 of their Low Speed Vehicles, so there’s a nice market there for insurance companies to pick up on, and I’m sure that there are very few claims. EVMaine: Your website (www.sunnev.com) says that you have three different kits that will soon be available; a four-wheeled car, a three-wheeled car that would be registered as a motorcycle and a new pickup truck model. Is that correct? Art Haines: Right, the first two orders that we have are for the pickup truck design. EVMaine: Many people complain that the Neighborhood Electric Vehicles already on the market are too expensive, averaging around 9 to 11 thousand dollars, if you include some quite essential options for Maine, such as doors. So what are the approximate prices of your three different kits? Art Haines: They’re all the same, $3,500 dollars, and that does not include the batteries, or any solar panels that they might put on. EVMaine: Can they buy the batteries from you? Art Haines: Well, you wouldn’t want to ship the batteries to me and then have me ship them to the user. It is cheaper to get them locally, maybe at a golf cart dealer or Sam’s Club, or somewhere like that. EVMaine: Will you have the solar panel option available from you? Art Haines: Yes, they can buy the solar panel from me, or I can just tell them where to buy it. EVMaine: The State of Maine frequently says it wants new businesses here. Have you received any assistance from the State of Maine as you have begun your new business? Art Haines: No, not for this project. EVMaine: Has the State of Maine presented any bureaucratic barriers to your new business? Art Haines: No. EVMaine: What will your production kit vehicles be called? The Sunn car? Art Haines: Yes, Sunn vehicles with two n’s at the end. EVMaine: When can your kits be ordered? Art Haines: They can be ordered now, and delivery will be in ten weeks. EVMaine: When will the shipment of your first kit take place? Art Haines: On June 15, 2007.
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