CSW Total EV Receives Regulatory Approval to Sell Electric Bicycles, Related Products
PR Newswire - August 28, 1998 12:14
DALLAS, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- CSW Total EV, an unregulated Central and South West Corporation (NYSE: CSR) business line, has received authority from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell and market electric bicycles and related products throughout the United States.
The SEC approval clears the way for CSW Total EV to immediately begin selling electric bicycles in a targeted eight-state area. CSW Total EV was created in January 1998 as a line of business in CSW's non-regulated Energy Services group.
"This is certainly a significant achievement, and another major step in our plans to offer a broad range of services and products to customers," said Dick Bremer, president of CSW Energy Services, Inc. "Forward-thinking companies are always on the lookout for emerging technologies that can help the customers they serve. Bringing this new technology to the market fits nicely with CSW's track record of innovation."
CSW Total EV was formed to seek and capitalize on new market opportunities within the quickly developing electric vehicle (EV) industry. It has played an active role since its inception supporting the work of the Electric Transportation Coalition, the EV industry's major national advocacy group.
"The approval to sell e-bikes jump starts our efforts to become a major player in our region's EV market," said Ron DeFatta, managing director of CSW Total EV.
CSW Total EV has exclusive contracts with ZAP Power Systems and U.S. ProDrive to sell their electric bicycles and other recreational EVs in Central and South West's current four-state market of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, and the neighboring states of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. The business has offices in Dallas and Tulsa, Okla.
Recreational EVs primarily comprise such diverse and environmentally friendly products as bicycles, scooters, adult tricycles and electric skateboards.
"With about 15 million bicycles sold annually in the United States, we believe the electric bike will find its niche," DeFatta said. "Research tells us e-bikes meet the needs of recreational riders, college students and law- enforcement agencies."
Sales will be conducted through bicycle shops, directly to law-enforcement agencies and industrial customers, and over the Internet. CSW Total EV has established a Web site at totalev.com.
DeFatta said an estimated 200,000 electric bicycles were sold worldwide in 1997, while the U.S. market, still in its infancy, accounted for about 10,000 e-bike sales. CSW's electric operating companies have donated more than 50 electric bicycles to police departments and various non-profit organizations in communities with high ozone levels.
"CSW Total EV's long-range plans call for pursuing products and services in other areas of the transportation sector as they develop," Bremer said. "With the benefits electric vehicles hold for the public and the size of the market, we believe there is tremendous growth potential in the electric transportation market."
CSW's efforts in the EV market gained impetus in 1997, when it took delivery of the first factory-built Chevrolet S-10 Electric pickup, one of 10 such vehicles it now currently owns.
CSW also has been involved in a pair of electric transportation projects in Tulsa through its support of work by the Electric Power Research Institute. CSW has worked closely with the City of Tulsa and the Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority on their potential acquisition of several electric buses. It also is helping the Tulsa International Airport Authority electrify the tugs, baggage tractors, loaders and other equipment at three gates.
CSW's EV market recently has been affected by Environmental Protection Agency regulations, which have imposed stricter clean-air regulations in the Tulsa, Corpus Christi, Shreveport-Bossier City, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Longview areas.
Central and South West Corporation is a Dallas-based public utility holding company that owns four U.S. electric utility subsidiaries with 1.7 million customers, a regional electricity company serving 2 million customers in the United Kingdom, and non-utility subsidiaries involved in energy-related investments as well as subsidiaries that offer telecommunications, energy efficiency and financial transactions. On December 22, 1997, Central and South West announced a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction with American Electric Power Company, Inc.
SOURCE Central and South West Corporation
/CONTACT: Tom Kleckner, External Communications Consultant of Central and
South West Corporation, 214-777-1167/
/Web site: totalev.com
/Web site: csw.com
(CSR)
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