AC Propulsion is a San Dimas, California

San Dimas, California

San Dimas is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 33,371. The city historically took its name from San Dismas Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above the northern section of present day San Dimas...

, USA company founded in 1992 by Alan Cocconi that specialises in alternating current

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

-based drivetrain systems for electric vehicles. Tom Gage is currently the company's CEO. The company produces goods such as electric vehicle drive systems and their top of the line electric sports car, the AC Propulsion tzero

AC Propulsion tzero

The tzero is a hand-made electric sports car that was produced in limited numbers by the U.S. company AC Propulsion. The tzero is based on the Piontek Sportech kit car, which consists of a fiberglass body built over a reinforced steel space frame with double wishbone independent suspension and rack...

. They also test prototype electric vehicle

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle , also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion...

s such as the "Plug Bug", a Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

 modified to run on electric power.

Founder Alan Cocconi designed and built the controller used in the original GM Impact, which later became the GM EV1

General Motors EV1

The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by the General Motors Corporation from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker, and the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the...

. ACP introduced the first AC-150 150 kW (200 hp) integrated drive system in 1994. The AC-150 has been used in a variety of applications, such as a biodiesel hybrid. AC Propulsion also produce Vehicle to grid or V2G systems, with their second generation AC-150 drivetrain offering a bidirectional grid power connection.

In addition to pure electric vehicles, the company built a prototype gasoline-powered motorcycle-engine-based Genset trailer

Genset trailer

A genset trailer is a range extending device for use with battery electric vehicles consisting of an internal combustion engine and an electrical generator . They run on traditional fuels such as gasoline or diesel and are sized to provide the continuous power requirements for the vehicle they are...

 to extend an EVs range. In the process of testing the Long Ranger, they confirmed that emissions for a gasoline engine optimized to run at a constant RPM were far below those of conventional vehicles.

Vehicles using an AC Propulsion electric drivetrain

• AC Propulsion tzero
  AC Propulsion tzero
  The tzero is a hand-made electric sports car that was produced in limited numbers by the U.S. company AC Propulsion. The tzero is based on the Piontek Sportech kit car, which consists of a fiberglass body built over a reinforced steel space frame with double wishbone independent suspension and rack...
  
  
• AC Propulsion eBox
  AC Propulsion eBox
  The eBox is a conversion of a Scion xB vehicle into a battery electric vehicle produced by the U.S. company AC Propulsion.-History:AC Propulsion executives announced their intention to convert Scion xBs to battery electric vehicles in October, 2003...
  
  
• Volvo 3CC
• Venturi Fetish
  Venturi Fetish
  The Venturi Fétish is the world's first two-seater electric sports car . It is produced by Venturi in Monaco, and the futuristic design of the car was done by the Parisian designers Sacha Lakic. The Fétish was first introduced in concept form at the 2002 Salon International de l'Auto...
  
  
• Courreges EXE
• Courreges ZOOOP
  Courreges ZOOOP
  The Zooop is a three-seat electric car produced by the Paris-based fashion house Maison de Courrèges....
  
   (with lithium polymer batteries)
• Wrightspeed X1
  Wrightspeed X1
  The Wrightspeed X1 is a one-off Ariel Atom heavily modified to use an all-electric powertrain. The Atom was chosen for its light weight and efficient design. The electric motor and inverter are sourced from AC Propulsion, makers of the TZero concept car, while the batteries are low weight, high...
  
   (based on the Ariel Atom
  Ariel Atom
  The Ariel Atom is a high performance sports car made by the Ariel Motor Company based in Somerset, England and under licence in North America by TMI Autotech, Inc. at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia....
  
  )
• Tesla Roadster
  Tesla Roadster
  The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
  
   (Tesla has licensed technology from AC Propulsion)
• Mini E
  Mini E
  The Mini E is a demonstration electric car developed by BMW as a conversion of its Mini Cooper car. The MINI E was developed for field trials and deployed in several countries, including the United States, Germany, UK, France, Japan and China...
  
  
• Peraves E-Tracer

Electric aircraft

Cocconi built an unmanned aircraft of 16.4-foot (5m) span, and in 2005 demonstrated its ability to fly 48 hours nonstop, propelled by solar energy alone. This was the first around-the-clock flight of such a propulsion system, carried only by solar energy collected and stored in onboard batteries.

External links

• http://www.acpropulsion.com