By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
WAKARUSA -- Whether welcoming Think North America and its electric car or applauding Navistar's decision to build electric delivery trucks, the conversation has always returned to the young startup Electric Motors Corp.
Since the charismatic Wil Cashen came to town in early 2009 and began talking about building hybrid-electric pickup trucks and providing jobs for 1,600 workers, local residents have held a sustained interest in the company. EMC opened offices at the former DeMartini recreational vehicle dealership on S.R.19, publicly christened the building, hosted a summit to promote green technology and invited the community to the unveiling of its prototype vehicle.
The excitement turned to suspicion, however, as the grand ideas seemed to produce few solid results. Even inside EMC, discontent grew as "the leadership of the company chose to pursue nearly 20 different projects," said Ralph King, chief financial officer.
After determining the new directions were not bringing any benefit to the company, management decided to go back to the original plan of building electric drive-train systems and full-sized hybrid electric trucks. In addition, the managers removed Cashen in mid-December and handed the operations to King, naming him interim chief executive officer.
"If there has been a problem with EMC it was a problem of focus," King said, explaining when dealing with large investment groups, you have to stick to your plan and not change your mind every 30 days.
Cashen said being asked to step down hurt at first but now he feels the board made the right decision.
"I develop stuff," he said. "I don't run companies."
Still viable
With the prototype still under development, work slowed at EMC and in November the company laid off a handful of its small staff. Yet King maintains EMC is still viable.
"The company is not going anywhere," he said. "Not at all."
An industry executive with experience in truck and fleet truck sales is expected to be named EMC president in the coming weeks and the truck should make its national debut at the Chicago Auto Show in February, King said. Then production of the two truck models, the Flash and the Thunderbolt, could start in the summer with initial employment reaching 200. The scale of manufacturing will be small, with about 500 of each model being built.
EMC is confident that once the vehicles get on the road and are used by utility companies as well as government agencies, the market for the product will grow.
"People love the idea of a full-sized electric truck," King said.
Cashen's role
Describing himself as a major shareholder, Cashen said he wants EMC to be successful and that he remains a part of the company.
"Electric trucks and electric cars are going to happen with or without us," he said. "I want to be one of the people who help that happen. I want it to happen in Elkhart."
Cashen has since formed Wilhem Cashen Engineering, his own firm separate from EMC, to develop vehicles and other products. He raised the possibility of leading EMC again someday, saying he is going to watch over the operation and if things go wrong or quality drops, he will return to fix it.
King was more ambiguous about Cashen's position.
"We are working out an agreement for Wil to remain involved and a part of what we do," he said.
The money
Unlike Think and Navistar, EMC has not received any public money to get the operation started. The company has applied for a federal funding and, King said, while the application was turned down in the opening round, the U.S. Department of Energy encouraged the company to revise sections and resubmit its application.
EMC has reset its sights and is asking for a more "realistic amount," King said, of $20 million to $50 million instead of $500 million. Still, he maintained the company does not need the funding to move forward with its plans.
Reflecting on the past year, King concedes he may have done his job too well, bringing too much attention to Cashen and the idea and paying too little attention to building the truck. Now, he said, the company is different.
"While we certainly believed in Wil and still believe in Wil, we just had to change in terms of the way the company was being managed," King said. "We had to bring the company into more stringent, old-school management style."