Interest in electric vehicles gains speed

Interview with Paolo Tumminelli on swissinfo.ch

While the wheels are falling off the United States car industry, some Swiss companies that make alternative vehicles say their prospects are looking up.

Mindset, a Lucerne-based firm, hopes to release the first Swiss-designed hybrid car within about 18 months. Another company, Numexia, based in canton Vaud, in January unveiled a prototype for an electric delivery truck.

Even demand for electric-power bicycles appears to be on the rise. A spokesman for Bern-based BikeTec says company sales have expanded so quickly for its “Flyer” electric bikes – 100 per cent growth for three consecutive years – that workers will quadruple production this summer by moving into a bigger factory.

“When we started a year-and-a-half ago we couldn’t imagine the situation today,” said Mindset’s Paolo Tumminelli. “You’d think this is not a good time to be in this business.”