Ken Montler, CEO of Vancouver-based Pangea Motors, was the featured guest at our Boardroom Breakfast Wednesday morning, held at the Fort Vancouver Artillery Barracks.
Here are 10 things we learned during the discussion
- Montler has more than 30 years of executive management experience in the automotive and other industries. He was recruited to the company after selling his previous business in high-end medical service and sales.
- Montler explained that the all-electric Comet (the shuttle bus-type vehicle that Pangea Motors manufactures) sells for about $45,000 – an affordable price tag when compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that transit organizations in the United States have spent on electric buses.
- To date, much of Pangea Motors’ sales focus has been on an international scale, securing contracts with countries like the Philippines. Currently, Montler said the company is working with Ethiopia.
- Within the United States, Montler said the company has targeted specific niche markets including military bases, universities and resorts where low speed shuttles make sense (the Comet tops out around 35 MPH).
- Montler noted that the Comet has approximately 300 parts – a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of parts found in the average gas vehicle.
- Pangea Motors doesn’t get the majority of its revenue from sales of the Comet. Instead, that comes from media and advertising on the vehicle itself. Mobile advertisements can be targeted to geographical location and/or time of day, Montler said.
- Montler said his company is looking to build a new facility “somewhere between here (Vancouver) and Washougal” that is between 70,000 and 100,000 square feet in size. He said it is important that the facility is near a port.
- When asked about the biggest changes in the world of all-electric vehicles, Montler spoke of battery technology. He said those innovations have been fueled by cell phones and laptops.
- Montler has experience with operating manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and internationally. He said that without question, “the best manufacturing is done in the United States.”
- Why Vancouver as a headquarters? Montler said that in addition to his family being located here, there is an industry cluster in Southwest Washington (for instance, aluminum suppliers) that can help grow the company.
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