Feature Article: Economic Recovery Leads to
Increased Demand for Utility Vehicles

A recessionary economy has elevated the importance of job productivity, which has driven an increase in demand for the heavy duty utility vehicle as purchasing budgets start to “unfreeze”.  The overall non-recreational U.S. utility vehicle (UTV) market has improved in 2010 as entities continue to discover and realize the cost-effective capabilities of the machines, both as work and transport vehicles.  Among other critical success factors, this improvement can be attributed to budget stabilization in the golf industry, federal government incentives that have stimulated consumer demand in the electric-powered Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) product category, and displacement of pickup truck purchases by both low speed vehicles and heavy duty utility vehicles.

While pickup trucks remain necessary in many large municipal, college/university, military, industrial or construction equipment fleets, the productivity paradigm has shifted to focus on the integral outcomes of the jobs performed, rather than facilitation or transport of the worker to the job sites.  Pickup trucks are often too expensive, too big, or unable to access job sites due to weight, turning radius, or a negative footprint or compaction impact to a natural grass environment......

Feature Article: Low Speed Vehicles Catch on
with Strong Growth Likely

Low-speed vehicles (LSVs) comprise a niche in the broad spectrum of small, task-oriented vehicle markets.  While the numbers are still small, the market has been in place for over ten years, and for a number of reasons analyzed in this article, the growth prospects are quite positive.  LSVs fill a need on the transportation and utility vehicle continuum where full size vehicles or pickup trucks are overkill but where smaller, motorized vehicles can provide a high level of efficiency.  Whether it is for travel around a sprawling gated community, personnel transport on a corporate campus or resort grounds, or maintenance work at a park, these vehicles provide a cost-efficient and green alternative. 

Material for this article is based on market research undertaken by the authors for their upcoming study on the small, task-oriented vehicle market:  The Market for Small, Task-Oriented Vehicles in the United States:  Trends from 2003; Outlook to 2014.....

Feature Article: Today’s Utility Vehicles – Plug in. Power on.

You want power, pay load and performance.  No need to pay for it at the pump anymore.  Today’s emerging utility vehicles are powered with a plug. 

This doesn’t mean settling for a golf cart with a utility box.  Industrial businesses looking to green their fleet, are instead, choosing EVs with a truck-like platform.  Steel chassis, rugged suspension, more batteries, stronger motors, better amperage in the controllers.  These factors satisfy utilitarian needs while being sustainable at the same time.

Some EV manufacturers see this trend as opportunity to cross sectors and tap into the industrial, utility markets.  It’s easy to see why.  At Star EV, our best selling utility vehicle is a pick-up truck capable of carrying close to a ton!  Battery powered – built to last.  It, like other electric pick-up trucks, offers a solid base to the most discerning of material handlers.....

IUV Technology Conference 2009 Report: Answering the Needs of Greater Efficiencies and a Clean Environment

In many ways the IUV Technology Conference 2009 was a “green” seminar.  Virtually all companies in the economy are factoring in the needs for greater efficiency in the operation of their particular utility vehicles, and at the same time, their strategic decisions are being framed by environmental policies emanating from Federal and State governments.

In this context, not only established companies, but newly formed, entrepreneurial ventures, are finding windows of opportunity for profit and growth.  Thus, the conference  kicked-off with a panel of four entrepreneurs, bringing relatively new products and services to the industrial/utility vehicle market.

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