Aurica Motors Wants to Keep NUMMI Plant Open for Manufacturing EVs

In brief: California startup company Aurica Motors has announced a plan to keep the NUMMI plant in operation after Toyota pulls out at the end of March.

The word

The NUMMI plant in Fremont, California will, until the end of the month, still be producing cars for Toyota's North American sales. The car company is downsizing due to the economy and plans to shutter the plant on March 31. A new startup, Aurica Motors, wants to take over the plant and keep it and most of its employees on the job.

The company has plans to convert the factory to manufacture their electric car called the Aurica Motors E-Car. Confused because you've never heard of this car? Neither has anyone else and, in fact, the company has yet to finish designing the car itself.

The plan, though, is realistic and pushes for the factory to go back online by 2012 to produce the car in small numbers at first (about 5,000) and ramping up over time.

To do all this, Aurica is attempting to secure Department of Energy funds to convert the factory and re-train its workforce.

And so ...

As an offshoot, the company is also planning to produce a Power Exchange Package (PEP) battery swapping system.

Photo credits: Aurica Motors