Global Electric Motorcars

The company was founded in 1992 by a team of ex-General Motors engineers from Livonia, Michigan, under the name Trans2.

The company was purchased by a group of North Dakota investors and relocated to Fargo, North Dakota. Global Electric Motorcars manufactured its first vehicle in April 1998, a 48-volt GEM car designed for two passengers with a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h). Shortly after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) established a new class of motor vehicles, the low-speed vehicle (LSV), also known as the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). This classification allowed GEM cars to be driven on public roads, provided they met specific safety criteria such as having safety belts, headlamps, windshield wipers, and safety glass.

GEM battery-electric vehicles are street legal in nearly all 50 US states on public roads with speed limits of 35 mph (56 km/h) or less. With a top speed of 25 mph (40 km/h), GEM cars have a range of 30–100 miles (50–160 km) on a single charge depending on the installed battery technology. They are battery-electric, operating on a 72-volt battery system that can be plugged into a standard 3-prong 120-volt outlet for recharging, and they fully recharge in six to eight hours.

Currently, there are six different models of GEM cars available, GEM cars are utilized by local, state, and national government agencies, resorts, master-planned communities, universities, medical and corporate campuses, as well as by sports teams, taxi-shuttle services, and the general public.

Timeline

Sources:

April 1998

First GEM car produced in Fargo, North Dakota

October 1998

As of October 2015, the GEM neighborhood electric vehicle is the market leader in North America, with global sales of more than 50,000 units since 1998.

Passenger Vehicles:

GEM e2 LSV — A two-passenger vehicle

GEM e4 LSV — A four-passenger vehicle