Solar panels for GEM’s low-speed, electric-powered vehicles are the latest innovation from the well-known Anaheim-based brand.
The GEM light-weight runabout carts for commercial and private uses can be fitted with fully integrated solar panels to help charge their batteries.
The panels are available for GEM’s four-seater and six-seater models used on campuses, clubs and other sites as well as for the light work truck called eL XD, which is useful for groundskeepers and campus outdoor chores.
It’s a simple idea: especially in sun-soaked California, the off-grid solar power adds to electricity generated by conventional sources.
GEM specializes in personal use and urban mobility carts. They have been used in beach towns, neighborhoods, and gated, golf and leisure communities for decades, as well as on university and college campuses.
The company says the solar panel integration for the GEM e4 is an additional $2,760, suggested price for two panels. The GEM e6 and GEM eL XD solar setup has three panels and costs an additional $4,600 suggested price.
Making Waevs
GEM is a part of an Anaheim-based parent company called Waev, formed in 2021 to group together GEM, Taylor-Dunn industrial carts and Tiger tow tractors under one corporate umbrella.
Taylor-Dunn vehicles are used at hospitals, airports for baggage towing, schools, amusement parks, warehouses, manufacturing plants and military bases.
Tiger heavy-duty tow tractors have been towing cargo, baggage, parcel, and other equipment for ground support applications since 1981.
“We are growing and profitable,” Waev CEO Keith Simon told the Business Journal on May 5. “We finished 2022 even better than expected.”
Waev has more than 250 employees, most of them in Anaheim, at the same facility where Taylor-Dunn produced its first electric carts more than 70 years ago. The vehicles are engineered and produced there.
“We have expansion opportunities within our existing facility in Anaheim. With new operational leadership, new technology and best practices, we’re first going to optimize the capacity within our current facility,” Simon said.
Full-Size Cars
The state of California has well over 1 million EVs and plug-in hybrids on the road, a figure that is steadily increasing and along with it, an increased demand for electricity.
For the time being, GEM’s solar units benefit from the low speed and low weight of the vehicles.
The panels are made in the Midwest and are supplied by a U.S. company.
