Balqon Corp. announced today that through a new dealer agreement with Electric Cars of Costa Rica S.A., they will be introducing their zero emission medium and heavy duty electric vehicles for Class 7 and Class 8 applications. In the United States, Class 7 rated vehicles are trucks that have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 26,001 to 33,000 pounds. Class 8 rated vehicles are trucks that have a GVWR of over 33,000 pounds. This rating includes all tractor trailer trucks.
Founded in 2001, Electric Cars of Costa Rica has sales and services locations in the major markets in Costa Rica. Through the agreement, Electric Cars of Costa Rica will distribute Balqon’s medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles and drive systems, and provide service and parts throughout Costa Rica.
Balwinder Samra, president and CEO of Balqon Corporation, stated in the press release, “Costa Rica has been setting the pace among nations for reducing carbon emissions and has declared the ambitious goal of becoming the first country in the world to be carbon neutral,” Mr. Samra continued, “Electric Cars of Costa Rica has been leading the effort to introduce new zero emissions technologies to Costa Rica and has extensive experience in NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) inner city delivery vehicle markets.”
Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference. It is used in the context of carbon dioxide releasing processes, associated with transportation, energy production and industrial processes. Costa Rica is ranked in the top three of most major indexes with regards to being a “green” country and has the goal of becoming “carbon neutral” by the year 2012.
James Middlebrooks, president and founder of Electric Cars of Costa Rica, commented: “We are excited to deliver to Costa Rica Balqon’s extensively tested and successfully commercialized zero emissions technology for heavy-duty vehicles. We expect these advanced technologies to be quickly adopted by our existing environmentally-conscious customer base of resorts, distribution warehouses, and inner city distribution companies.”
This agreement is the third international dealer agreement that Balqon has signed since the first of the year. In February, Balqon signed Autoelevadores Yale, a leading distributor of material handling equipment and electric vehicles in Argentina. In March, Balqon signed Industrias IVOR, a distributor of trucks, firefighting trucks and equipment, refuse trucks, and heavy machinery for material handling products in Colombia.
BLQN is a very low float stock with less than 7 million shares in the float. BLQN closed yesterday at $.80 with 13,100 shares traded. More information on Balqon’s corporate structure and strategy as well as their electric vehicles is available on the Company’s website at www.balqon.com.
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