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The South Korean electric carmaker that is planning to open a manufacturing and sales operation on Oahu by the end of next year thinks big.
of Seoul, which calls itself the largest electric vehicle maker in the world, announced plans in May 2010 to build a $200 million assembly plant on Oahu, with the goal of producing 10,000 all-electric vehicles annually and creating as many as 300 permanent jobs in the state.

That alone sounds ambitious. But the Hawaii plant is just one of 40 planned facilities that CT&T — an acronym for Creative Transportation & Technology — hopes to build in the U.S. to expand its reach beyond Asia. Two factories have already been established, in Long Beach, Calif., and Newnan, Ga., outside of Atlanta. The Oahu plant is one of three in the works that will add to four existing plants in Asia.

The company’s goal is to have 40 U.S. plants producing 300,000 vehicles annually by 2015.

The seven-year-old company began as an offshoot of Korean automaker , and is headed by Hyundai alumni, including CT&T President and CEO, , a former senior executive who founded CT&T in 2003.

Lee ‘s initial focus was on making electric carts for the golf industry in Korea. CT&T says it gained more than three-fourths of the market share in South Korea by 2008, competing against big players like Sanyo and Yamaha.

The company then moved on to develop small, low- and mid-speed, short-distance plug-in vehicles known as neighborhood electric vehicles, which it began mass-producing in 2008. The company has been exporting vehicles since 2005 to the U.S. mainland, Canada, China, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

CT&T currently produces 160,000 vehicles annually through four production plants in Asia — one in Korea that makes 10,000 units a year, another in China that makes 50,000 annually, and two other joint venture facilities in China that each produce 50,000 cars. CT&T has 500 employees in Korea handling manufacturing and research and development, and another 150 “direct” employees in China.

Two Models of Vehicles

CT&T has two lines of vehicles.

• Its e-Zone model is a two-seater that sells for between $12,000 and $20,000, can reach a top speed of 40 miles per hour and can travel up to 80 miles on a single 10-minute charge from a standard 110-volt plug. CT&T estimates energy costs at $10 a month to charge its batteries. Because it can reach a top speed of 40 miles per hour, the e-Zone would be eligible for a state rebate for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that goes into effect August 2010. The $4,500 rebate can only be used toward the purchase of “full-speed” vehicles that can reach minimum speed limits on freeways. The speed limit on most stretches of Oahu’s freeways is 50 miles per hour, where the minimum speed limit is set at 40 miles per hour. A federal tax rebate of $7,500 is also available for the purchase of plug-in electric vehicles.

• Its c-Zone model includes golf carts and small utility vehicles that sell for between $8,000 and $13,000. These also are estimated to cost $10 a month in energy costs.
  CT&T is developing three additional lines expected to be available for sale next year: A full-speed passenger car that can reach a maximum speed of 95 miles per hour and has a 155-mile range per charge; a line of shuttle buses for up to 20 passengers that can travel up to 50 miles per hour; and a small electric passenger boat.
  The company declined to disclose revenue figures, but it is likely generating sales of between $1.28 billion and $3.2 billion at its current output capacity, based on sales figures.

In 2009, CT&T set its sights on expanding to the U.S. with factories that could both assemble and sell its line of vehicles. The company’s business model involves building what it calls regional assembly and sales centers to combine assembly, sales and distribution in one location in hopes of “bringing electric vehicles closer to consumers,” said CT&T spokeswoman Hannah Lee. She would not disclose what percentage of CT&T’s current business comes from the U.S.

Two U.S. Headquarters

The company claims the concept will reduce costs for consumers because the product is made closer to the market where the cars are purchased.
In August 2009, CT&T set up two U.S. headquarters. was established in South Carolina to oversee expansion plans for all states east of the Mississippi River, as well as Texas and the Caribbean, while CT&T America was set up in Los Angeles to oversee west coast operations, including all states west of the Mississippi, Alaska and Hawaii. CT&T America will own and manage the Hawaii plant.

In addition to the Hawaii plant, CT&T is also building two assembly and retail facilities in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. These were announced in September 2009, before the Hawaii plant. The California and Georgia plants are scheduled to start assembling and selling cars in the fourth quarter of 2010. The two Pennsylvania plants are scheduled to go online sometime in 2011, and then the Hawaii plant is slated for completion by December 2011.

Mark Shade, spokesman for Pennsylvania’s , said state officials have been told the plants will each create between 85 and 125 new manufacturing jobs and additional sales positions. They would first assemble parts created abroad.

CT&T USA and CT&T America each formed joint ventures in 2010 with companies that have extensive auto industry experience to help jump start its growth. The East Coast office formed a joint venture with of South Carolina, which makes parts for automobiles and airplanes through six factories in the U.S., Mexico and Germany. Meanwhile, the West Coast office formed a joint venture with JKL World Group Inc. of Riverside, Calif., which was a former Mazda auto dealership for 20 years and owns real estate in Southern California.

The initial plan is to begin importing unassembled CT&T vehicles that can be put together using domestic parts and materials — such as tires, wheels, seats, paint, glass and headlights — and sold through its California and Georgia facilities. All manufacturing is still being done in Asia while the company is looking for domestic parts suppliers. It wants to move all production into the U.S. within two years.

Industry experts say that so-called knockdown assembling plants are less expensive to establish and maintain because they do not need modern robotic equipment, and the workforce is usually much cheaper than those at full-scale manufacturing plants.

CT&T says cities with large municipal fleets offer a large entry point to many markets, with the electric car as a low-cost option for parking authorities and similar agencies with short-distance, low-speed vehicle needs. It has a contract to supply 4,000 electric vehicles to California police organizations, which will use them as parking supervision vehicles. It also says it has signed an agreement to supply 10,000 electric vehicles to Spanish company , which makes automotive parts and systems.