![]() That might not sound like a lot, but for a maintenance cart, campus fire service vehicle, emergency services vehicle, or Tropos’ new Sweeper package, they won’t be spending much time on city streets buzzing around town. Power comes from “maintenance-free, sealed, gel lead-acid batteries.” The 72 volt system and standard batteries result in a range of 40–50 miles per charge, with the base vehicle package having an optional longer range battery that allows for 50–60 miles per charge. The Tropos ABLE can climb over 30% grade in the heaviest vehicle package and can start and stop on the hill, not just climbing it with a running start, thanks to its “torquey” electric motor. The compact form factor and electric powertrain allow them to drive between buildings on a large corporate campus or hospital and even right into buildings for quick point-of-need service. “Our 12.5′ turning radius allows us to get around tight corners without making multiple turns,” John shared. ![]() These narrow vehicles are able to get into places full-size vehicles can only dream about. Rolling pickup components and specs together with its diminutive footprint pay out in spades with functionality. Tropos Technologies’ CEO John Bautista introduces the ABLE line at the 2018 ACT Expo in Long Beach The Tropos ABLE specs tell the tale with a payload capacity of 2,000 pounds (1 ton | 900 kilograms) and a towing capacity of 3,000 pounds (1.5 tons | 1,350 kilograms) that speak to its automotive-grade components. The ABLE Platformįast forwarding a few years and John and team are touring around the Tropos ABLE line of vehicles that John says, “fall between a golf cart and a small pickup truck.” Make no mistake about these vehicles, though - they are anything but glorified golf carts. Bringing together an extremely functional, low-speed electric vehicle with the modular flatbed concept just resonated with him. Somewhere along the way, John saw a modular electric vehicle concept that was designed to allow for modular flatbeds to be bolted and unbolted to compact LSVs and an LED light went off somewhere in his complex brain. The team took all the learnings from the road show and tweaked the product to get it to line up better with the needs of the customers. The prototypes were toured around the trade show circuit to gauge customer interest and to solicit feedback from real customers. It wouldn’t stay on the page for long though, with the team developing the first two prototypes in a mere 9 months. Tropos started off with a small LSV truck that began its life on the back of a napkin. ![]() Having spent years building electric race cars at Clean Speed, and even faster electric motorcycles at Zero Motorcycles, John Bautista finally decided to kick things into high gear with a move into the low-speed electric vehicle (LSV) market by launching Tropos Motors. ![]() We sat down with Tropos Motors CEO John Bautista and Sales and Marketing Director, Scot Harden for a chat about where the company came from and, more importantly, where the company is headed in the years ahead. Low-speed electric vehicle manufacturer and distributor Tropos Motors was founded out of decades of experience working across all levels of electric vehicle design. ![]()
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