Ben Werner w/Revolution Motors

[Derwin]

Below is an email that I just received from Ben Werner, CEO of Revolution Motors...

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Hi Derwin,

Thank you for the update. As it happens, I was aware of the falling out between the club and Pursu.

As I hope you already know from our past conversations as well as the content of our website, Revolution Motors strives to maintain complete openess with the public on our process and the development of our first vehicle, Dagne. We are honored to have an enthusiastic following for our vehicle at this stage from your club, and we will do our best to nurture a meaningful relationship with fans of Dagne and potential future customers.

On behalf of Revolution Motors, I apologize for the lack of outside communication over the past few months, as we continue to be consumed with the task of raising funds for the next stage of vehicle development and proceeding to production. I can assure you that we are eager to share our story as it unfolds with your club. For the other founders and myself who have invested our entire net worth in our company, this period of transition has been extremely challenging as we continue to keep the company going while meeting personal financial obligations. We do not know how much longer this period of transition will last. We continue to pursue all funding opportunities we find, although it is a much drier climate in the financial world than it was a year ago.

We would be pleased to support a greater focus of your club on our company and vehicle. Please send me a list of requested logos, pictures, drawings, etc. and I will try and supply you with what I can. There are a few aspects of our technology that we must keep secret until the relavent patents are filed with the USPTO, but most of the technical information I expect you would be interested in is already patent-protected, so we shouldn't have any trouble sharing it with you. I assume of course that your purpose for the material is solely for the promotion of the club and personal hobby efforts such as building an RC Dagne. If there is any intent to use our material for some other commercial purpose, we would have to discuss that as a seperate issue.

Thank you for renewing your connection with us at Revolution Motors. We look forward to an ongoing discussion and relationship with you and the other members of the club.

With Best Regards,
Ben Werner, CEO
Revolution Motors


The above email has been posted with Ben's approval as mentioned below:

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Derwin,

Feel free to post our email to the club. I will work on getting you some material.

Best,
Ben


Since Persu Mobility has decided to not allow us to (at a minimum!) enjoy IGES images of their proposed vehicle (along with other reasons previously mentioned), I have decided to focus this club more on Revolution Motors, and their Dagne vehicle.

It seems Ben is much more interested in sharing things with our club, and working with us on every level.

If you have any questions for me, or for Ben, please post them here. I'll be sure that he is made aware of any questions, and I'm sure he'll be happy to respond.

Derwin

[RAN]

Ben, it's a pleasure to welcome you and your colleagues back to this club. You will find some familiar nicks here as several of us have posted to your RM/Dagne blog in the past.

I am sorry to hear that funding continues to be a challenge, but I believe you have a winning concept and that perseverance will ultimately pay off.

Again, welcome back, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future. :wave:

[jkbuster]

I'm glad to see the name Revolution Motors appear again. I have the RSS feed of their blog set up and I have been wondering why there hasn't been any new posts for a while.

[rickb]

Welcome Revolution Motors! Ben...........how much funding do you need to get Dagne from where she is now to our driveways?

[ziggy951]

Last video I saw it was something like 42million USD. Maybe that was just for the next step. Anyone have a link to that 2007/2008 video?


Z

[rickb]

Last video I saw it was something like 42million USD. Maybe that was just for the next step. Anyone have a link to that 2007/2008 video?


Z
I will have died from natural causes at 95 before that kind of money is raised and will have rusted out a Chevy Volt and an Etracer.

If we scraped together the 42 million........how many years before the Dagne gets to our driveways?

[ziggy951]

Probably less than a year after they got the money in a bank account. The Dagne guys are no slouches when it comes to getting tings done.

So if you make it to 96, you're golden :)

In all seriousness, $42 million is chump change to lots of the wealthy people, including many investors and investor groups, in this world. Technically I think Al Gore, the hypocrite fraud of hypocrite frauds, could probably float the bill on his own.



Z

[wireman]

I'd give it two years Zig. After all, they will have to do the tooling in order to make it production capable. As far as production design goes, I think you're absolutely right! These guys are NOT candy-A** lawyers, they're ENGINEERS. Yeah, you gotta have lawyers for some things, but if you're smart, you don't let them get anywhere near the production board or the design team! Keep em' in their place, and let the ones who will bring the vehicle to our driveways ROCK N ROLL!

Hey Ben, I too welcome you most warmly back to FTRC. We here have, and always will, wish you great success in your attempt to enable us out here in fanland/customerland to "fly the road". Of course we understand that some of the things you are working on MUST be kept wrapped, but based on your previous behavior toward us, we know we'll have some rolickin' fun TOGETHER as you bring it to us, because you're not afraid to show us the general goodies.

[rickb]

Z...................Thanks for reminding me of what chump change really is in this icey financial global economy. Obama dollars would be more likely. I remain hopeful.

[ziggy951]

I think you mean tax payer money, but the line does seem blurred.



Z

[RAN]

All I know is, RM would have been one heckuva lot farther along with the $6 mil that VV started with. I know who I would've backed.

Has anyone else noticed how the last two redesigns of American "money" are looking more and more like Monopoly "money"?

[Derwin]

Has anyone else noticed how the last two redesigns of American "money" are looking more and more like Monopoly "money"?


Hey, RAN, if you don't like looking at it, feel free to send it my way! =D

Derwin

[rickb]

[quote=RAN;14251]All I know is, RM would have been one heckuva lot farther along with the $6 mil that VV started with. I know who I would've backed.

You are right on that one. RM is already farther along than VV without the $6 mil.. Hopefully, Pursu makes me eat those words.

[pharuan]

I hope so too. With ketchup makes it yummy.

[wireman]

Hey, Ben W!

I have a question about your "flytheroad-by-wire" system. In the vids you put out about your prototype it seemed as though the steering input was similar in operation to the way a scissor lift steers. I would be leery of using that method on the road, due mainly to the fact that it is not responsive enough. As with a steering wheel or handlebars, a vehicle should "go where you point it". As I know from experience, any kind of quick maneuvers at any speed over a crawl can result in a serious loss of control with that form of joystick steering. Have your guys come up with something?

[mariner13]

I hope so too. With ketchup makes it yummy.
Not Grey Poupon?!!2thumb:up:whoohoo::taz:

[wireman]

Ben!

In Ref. to #15 above, I just got on a library machine today that allowed me to see the YouTube vid that Derwin had on the home page. I see now that DAGNE does indeed "go where it's pointed". Great work! SIGN ME UP!