As Longmont’s UQM turns 50, a look back at its dune buggy past

Before the Prius, the Tesla, the Leaf, before electric vehicle (EV) charging stations were sprouting across Boulder County and the nation, Longmont's UQM Technologies was working toward just such a future The maker of EV propulsion systems celebrated its 50th anniversary Friday, closer than ever to a world where gasoline-powered cars are a relic of the past.

The company was founded Dec. 7, 1967, in Englewood, making the true anniversary months away. But officials and employees took advantage of the warm weather for a picnic and paddle boarding at Union Reservoir.

John Gould started UQM as Designers Manufacturing Inc., to build a sports car. The company's first commercial vehicle was actually a dune buggy named the Bandit, and it dealt in parts, kits and rentals for years.

"We had a saying back then," Gould recalled. "We liked cars that could be fast enough to wrinkle pavement when they took off."

Electric cars had not fulfilled that vision when the business, by then renamed Unique Mobility Inc., built its first EV in 1973. Though the first electric car had been built in the 1800s, America remained infatuated with the cheaper, more powerful and practical internal combustion engine.

The oil crisis of the ’70s spurred EV innovation, including at Unique Mobility. Using techniques honed during its dune buggy days, Gould and co. stripped off weight and developed the forerunners of what would become UQM's eventual focus: drive systems.

"We were one of the pioneers to show that motors didn't have to be as heavy and that you could build a performance vehicle," Gould said of his company.

Its innovation had the business brushing shoulders with industry royalty: Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby were board members. One hundred Unique EVs were involved in a Department of Energy research study. A company car propelled the camera that captured marathon runners during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Country western music star Johnny Paycheck — of "Take this Job and Shove It" fame — was a shareholder.

The company's projects were as diverse as its supporters. Gould helped develope fiberglass shelters to house radioactive waste from nearby Rocky Flats nuclear weapons production facility. On the transportation side, the technology went into buses, trucks, planes, even a wheelchair.

"If it moved, we did it," said Alan Gilbert, a 27-year employee, one of a handful that has been with UQM for more than two decades as it moved from Golden to Frederick and then Longmont.

That diversity of work helped keep them on for the long haul, Gilbert said, and sustained them as the promise of EVs as the future would flare and fade with each successive environmental or political disaster threatening oil supplies.

The most recent renewed interest in alternatives to gasoline-powered autos has the employees of UQM hopeful. "This," said Titus Herschberger, a 28-year veteran, "this is it."

UQM is bullish on China, which is leading the push for alternatives to fossil fuel-powered cars. The company is in the process of selling a third of the business to Hong Kong's Sinotruk for $28.3 million.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, the future is in China," said CEO Joe Mitchell. "We have to go there."

Though its eyes are on Asia, UQM's feet will stay firmly planted in Longmont, Mitchell said. The 4120 Specialty Place plant is up for sale, but the company will look for a new, smaller space in the city.

Gould, who retired in 2001, is as hopeful as many of the current employees for the future of UQM and the future of electric vehicles.

"I’m encouraged; a lot of advances have been made," he said, calling himself a "big fan and cheerleader" of UQM since his exit.

"They’re advancing the technology, which will hopefully excite potential buyers, which will in turn help our emissions problem."

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, [email protected] or twitter.com/shayshinecastle

Follow Us