It develops, produces, and markets fuel cell power plants, electric propulsion systems, and alternative energy generation equipment.
[2] This demonstrated that the Mars I was suitable for city driving, and led to EPF's sudden move to Detroit, where automobiles were manufactured.
[citation needed] Based on the 4-door, 5-passenger Renault R-10, 45 of these vehicles were produced in Ferndale, Michigan, during the years 1967 and 1968, and were sold primarily to utility companies in the USA.
The purpose of the trip was to demonstrate the car to government officials in hope of obtaining Federal money for research and development.
Hosted by Consumer's Power Co., the Mars II was driven from Detroit to Cadillac, Michigan, with charge points that had been set up in Flint, Saginaw, and Claire.
The second Mars II was driven from Detroit to Phoenix, Arizona, departing on September 20 and arriving on October 5, 1967.
Passing thru nine states and making 36 planned stops for recharging the batteries at utility substations and restaurants, the Mars II covered approximately 2,000 miles.
[8] Coming full circle, Robert R. Aronson made delivery of a Mars II to L.A. Water and Power on December 12, 1967.
Growing up in Los Angeles and delivering telegrams for Western Union on his bicycle, Aronson as a young man first had the dream of producing non-polluting vehicles as he rode behind diesel-powered buses which emitted black smoke.
On March 11, 1970, Arthur Godfrey drove the Mars II from the Ponchartrain Hotel in Detroit to the Holiday Inn West in Ann Arbor, a distance of 60 miles on I-94 at speeds up to 65 mph.
In the Pure Electric Division, only two of the six pure-electric cars that were entered completed the 3,600-mile cross country run from Boston to Pasadena.
The second was a converted Swedish mail truck called the Mars Van, driven by students from Stevens Institute of Technology.
The projected performance was to have a top speed of 45 mph and to be capable of making 400 stops and starts without recharging which would cover a 6-hour route.
In 1969, EFP completed the design and a mock-up version of an electric car that was featured of the front cover of the February 1971 issue of Popular Science magazine.
All were equipped with the tri-polar lead-cobalt battery and had top speeds ranging from 60 to 85 mph, and could travel from 40 to 101 miles on a single charge, according to company literature.
The EFP Hornet was powered by 1,500 pounds of tri-polar lead cobalt batteries and had a range of 70 miles in stop and go traffic with a top speed of 65 mph.
According to an article in the Duquesne Power and Light publication printed earlier in 1970, the car had a top speed of 85 mph and a range of 70 to 150 miles.
EFP planned to drop the Hornet in favor of the AMC Matador due to space problems and the ability to increase the size of the battery pack.
Abercrombie & Fitch unveiled the Electrosport, an AMC Hornet station wagon, on January 28, 1972, at their new Royal Poinciana Plaza shop in Palm Beach, Florida.
Palm Beach was chosen for a test market due to its flat terrain, mild climate and isolation from metropolitan areas.
Billed as the world's first full sized luxury electric car for people of vision, the target for the first year of production was 2,500 vehicles.
Robert R. Aronson, who had developed a fast charge battery in the '60s, said that it had taken every dollar that he could beg or borrow to finally be ready to unveil the Transformer I.
Long time friend Arthur Godfrey drove the first Transformer I at a press conference at the Raleigh House in Southfield, Michigan on May 14, 1975.
In October 1976, actor Lloyd Bridges took delivery of a Transformer I at his Westwood home, which marked the premiere showing of the vehicle on the west coast.
It was about at this time that famed car designer Henry Lauve joined the EFP team as did former John DeLorean exec.
The same patented tri-polar lead cobalt batteries, incorporating an automatic watering system were used again as in all other EFP electric cars.
On February 12, 1982, entertainer Arthur Godfrey was on hand for the first delivery of 3 Silver Volts to David Campbell, a Riverside, California BMW Dealer who planned to open a showroom in Palm Springs.
The Silver Volt was driven from Beverly Hills, California to Tijuana, Mexico on March 24, 1982, with a 3-minute stop for gasoline for the car's APU.
On September 28, 1982, the world's first electric vehicle charging station for use by the general public was unveiled at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel.
The Silver Volt program came to an end when employees of Electric Auto Corporation took and hid the demonstration vehicles in an unknown location in southern California.