Atomic Electric Vehicles

NEV & LSV Forum Atomic
#1

Jim Rice is the owner of the American brand… with luck we can get him here as the true spokesman… I can put my foot in my mouth talking about cars I really don’t know about… this is a neat little car…

I think Jim is in Florida lining up dealers… the car is built in Indiana… for the Facebook crowd here is the group site

https://www.facebook.com/Atomic-Electric-Vehicles-LLC-641982949224353/?fref=ts

and the website… both have photos… they have a 2 seat… 4 seat and pickup model…

Atomic Electric Vehicles - Atomic Electric Vehicles

Bob

#2

Jim is one of us and a sub forum has been set up to accommodate Atomic fans. He is assigning a subject matter expert to assist us in anything relating to Atomic Vehicles.

#3

Thanks guys for the introduction. Like many of you I started out playing with golf carts and then eventually Gem cars. I feel that websites like this are important and are needed. When I started Atomic I was looking to solve some of the quirky issues I had experienced with golf carts and LSV’s, mainly mileage and comfort.
Feel free to ask any questions it will be my pleasure to answer them.

Jim

#4

Thanks Jim

I would be very interested to hear about your journey, how you arrived at Atomic Electric Vehicles and your plans for the future.

#5

Good question, I started out on the dark side owning gas based cars like, AMC javelin Sst, 73 z28 and many mustangs and trans ams. All along I worked in the Powder Coating Industry doing everything from owning and running systems to designing the control panels and programming the PlC. Then one day I bought an 36 volt club car for a project and a vehicle to drive around our campground. Well 144 volts later I got hooked on the torque that Electric Vehicles Produce. I spent many years customizing and fixing all makes of golf carts, but one thing always bothered me. No matter what I did to a golf cart it was still a golf cart. I looked for something different and found that Gem Cars gave the different look but had there own quirky issues. Don’t get me wrong I think Gem Car had it right in a lot of ways and was a lot fun to work on and own.

As I got older and hopefully wiser( lol) I had gotten back to wanting reliability, comfort and range. At the time AC drive system were new and problematic, brushed technology was reliable but inefficient. I read a lot and experimented a lot with brushless technology and found it was efficient and reliable. In my opinion in the LSV’s market it is ideal and I found that the golf car companies had not went that direction due to added initial cost of brushless over brushed. This technology helped reach the original goal of 80 miles on a charge due to its low amperage needs at higher speeds. I found this was the easy part, putting Air Conditioning, heat and other options in an golf cart/ LSV’s was a different animal.

In the future we look to produce a multiple hub motor driven LSV with drive by wire steering. This will allow people that are handicapped or limited to a wheel chair the ability to drive on there own and experience freedom.

In ending I ask you to think back to when Henry Ford built his first model T. I’m sure people thought it would never outlast the horse, skip forward 85 years EV’s are the model T and the gas cars are like the horse. I’m betting that EV’s will prove they are here to stay and eventually will win over all the horse owners.

#6

I have moved Tim K’s post about his Red Atomic EV 4 to a separate thread as I think it will attract a lot of attention and comments:-

http://www.electricforum.com/cars/atomic-electric-vehicles/9654-my-red-atomic-ev-4-real-head-turner.html

#7

Jim, I’m hoping you’ll read this post. I’m not sure how else to get in touch with you, and I need your help.

I bought an Atomic Coupe a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would not register it as an LSV because I had always been told that the cost of insurance would be prohibitive. It turns out that insuring it as an LSV will be less expensive than insuring it as a golf cart, so I want to get the car titled and licensed as quickly as possible.

I have been told that a necessary first step in getting that done is getting a form from you that will allow me to proceed further. My local dealer is now telling me that will take at least two months. I guess I’m just used to the process of buying a car (where the dealer already takes care of that paperwork for you), but waiting two months to begin the process seems like an excessive amount of time to me.

Is it true that that is the fastest this can be done? Is there anything you can do to help me get my car registered soon?

#8

Hi Hillncea

I have just dropped Jim an email and asked if he can post some feedback on the thread.

Regards,

Mark

#9

[quote=hillncea;30638]Jim, I’m hoping you’ll read this post. I’m not sure how else to get in touch with you, and I need your help.

I bought an Atomic Coupe a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would not register it as an LSV because I had always been told that the cost of insurance would be prohibitive. It turns out that insuring it as an LSV will be less expensive than insuring it as a golf cart, so I want to get the car titled and licensed as quickly as possible.

I have been told that a necessary first step in getting that done is getting a form from you that will allow me to proceed further. My local dealer is now telling me that will take at least two months. I guess I’m just used to the process of buying a car (where the dealer already takes care of that paperwork for you), but waiting two months to begin the process seems like an excessive amount of time to me.

Is it true that that is the fastest this can be done? Is there anything you can do to help me get my car registered soon?[/quote]

Hoilencia

If you contact your dealership where purchased, They will send me the information I need. My office will print you out the new title in your name and will mail it direct to your residence.

#10

Thanks Jim

Could you give us an update about whats happening at the company? Any new vehicles on the horizon?

Regards,

Mark

#11

Hilencia

This process on my end is typically 3-5 days.

#12

[quote=hillncea;30638]Jim, I’m hoping you’ll read this post. I’m not sure how else to get in touch with you, and I need your help.

I bought an Atomic Coupe a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would not register it as an LSV because I had always been told that the cost of insurance would be prohibitive. It turns out that insuring it as an LSV will be less expensive than insuring it as a golf cart, so I want to get the car titled and licensed as quickly as possible.

I have been told that a necessary first step in getting that done is getting a form from you that will allow me to proceed further. My local dealer is now telling me that will take at least two months. I guess I’m just used to the process of buying a car (where the dealer already takes care of that paperwork for you), but waiting two months to begin the process seems like an excessive amount of time to me.

Is it true that that is the fastest this can be done? Is there anything you can do to help me get my car registered soon?[/quote]

Hi just thought I would add that my total insurance bill through Allstate for my Atomic non LSV Cart is $103.00 per year for full coverage of 100/300/100 plus medical payments up to $1,000. With this cost and no registration cost I don’t know how you are saving any money. Tim

#13

[quote=hillncea;30638]Jim, I’m hoping you’ll read this post. I’m not sure how else to get in touch with you, and I need your help.

I bought an Atomic Coupe a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would not register it as an LSV because I had always been told that the cost of insurance would be prohibitive. It turns out that insuring it as an LSV will be less expensive than insuring it as a golf cart, so I want to get the car titled and licensed as quickly as possible.

I have been told that a necessary first step in getting that done is getting a form from you that will allow me to proceed further. My local dealer is now telling me that will take at least two months. I guess I’m just used to the process of buying a car (where the dealer already takes care of that paperwork for you), but waiting two months to begin the process seems like an excessive amount of time to me.

Is it true that that is the fastest this can be done? Is there anything you can do to help me get my car registered soon?[/quote]
Hi I just thought I would add that my total insurance bill through Allstate for my Atomic non LSV Cart is $103.00 per year for full coverage of 100/300/100 plus medical payments up to $1,000. With this cost and no registration cost I don’t know how you are saving any money.

Tim

#14

hillncea… I’d go ahead and at least title the car… a car that can be an LSV/NEV without a title is a boat anchor or at least a real pain to jump thru the hoops to be street legal if you ever try to sell it… do yourself and a future buyer a favor…

I bought my GEM car used and it came plated and titled… was a no brainier when I went to the DMV in Colorado with the paper work and the California plates,…

I have a friend who got a sweet deal on a California GEM car… it came with no title after the seller said she had one… it took him almost four months of title search and finally getting both state governors involved…

I don’t understand how the Atomic dealer let the car off the lot without title paperwork… hmmmm

Bob

#15

[QUOTE=Tim K;30645]Hi just thought I would add that my total insurance bill through Allstate for my Atomic non LSV Cart is $103.00 per year for full coverage of 100/300/100 plus medical payments up to $1,000. With this cost and no registration cost I don’t know how you are saving any money. Tim[/QUOTE

Thanks Tim.

#16

Bob the state of Florida is a little different then any other State in the USA. We sell them as golf carts in the state of Florida because the state requires LSV/NEV to be sold by registered Car Dealerships. If you Title the Vehicle in the state of Florida you can actually hurt your overall Value. Because you limit a golf cart dealer from being able to give you full trade in value. Florida is the only state I have seen forms to convert your LSV to a golf cart. Hope this helps.

#17

thanks Jim… didn’t realize… I try to help people find GEM cars but stay away from the ones with no titles… will make a note to really check Florida

#18

I wasn’t aware that this was indeed the law for Florida, but it’s completely consistent with my experience. People discourage you from registering your car. Two weeks ago, I went to the company that holds my homeowner’s insurance as well as my golf cart insurance, and they told me that it would be $5-600 to insure the cart if I made it “street legal.” (I’m under the impression that the terms “street legal” and “LSV” are interchangeable–someone please correct me if that’s wrong). I had been paying $50 a year for insurance on my old cart. I called my primary insurance company (USAA–I didn’t have my homeowner’s insurance with them because a few years back they stopped insuring homes in Florida). They said: (1) if you have homeowner’s insurance, golf cart insurance is an unnecessary duplication–you’re already fully covered under your homeowner’s insurance, and (2) the cost for insurance on an LSV would increase my auto insurance by $92 a year (offset somewhat because I now plan to put fewer miles on my SUV).

I just got the bill today from my current golf cart insurance company–the premium has risen from $50 a year to $133–the Atomic car is considerable more valuable than my old cart, and therefore considerably more expensive to insure. But the bottom line is that I can insure my Atomic for less by registering it than I can if I keep it as a golf cart.

#19

Hmm

Have you factored in the cost of registering it as an LSV? Florida gets ya big time.

  1. inspection fee $40

  2. Title Fee $80 -/+

  3. Plate fee $28

  4. Initial Registration Fee $225 (if not registered prior)

Rodney

#20

This is probably why you see a lot Gem Car come out of Florida without titles. We actually detune our line of Atomic Vehicles to 19.9 mph for the state of Florida.