automobile
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
manufacturer headquartered in
Connersville
Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,324 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of and the only incorporated town in the county. The city is in t ...
,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Formed in 2003, Carbon Motors was notable for designing the Carbon Motors E7, a purpose-built
police car
A police car is an emergency vehicle used by police for Police transport, transportation during Patrol, patrols and responses to Call for service, calls for service. Police cars are used by police officer, police officers to patrol a Beat (po ...
. After a government loan request failed, the company closed in 2013.
History
Carbon Motors Corporation was founded in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, by Stacy Dean Stephens and William Santana Li (a former
police officer
A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
and former
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
executive, respectively) in 2003. Carbon Motors Corporation moved to
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
in 2006, where it continued to develop its product and gain investors. In July 2009, the company relocated their headquarters to
Connersville
Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,324 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of and the only incorporated town in the county. The city is in t ...
,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
, with plans to invest $350 million into converting a former
Visteon
Visteon Corporation (VC) is an American global automotive electronics supplier based in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Visteon designs, engineers, and manufactures vehicle cockpit electronics products, connected car services and electrification p ...
plant there.
On March 22, 2010, Carbon Motors signed a contract with
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
for the delivery of 240,000 six-cylinder diesel engines.
On March 7, 2012, media reported that the
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...
(DOE) had denied a loan request of $310 million applied for under the
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program is a $25 billion direct loan program funded by George W. Bush's second term as President of the United States, Congress in fall 2008 to provide debt capital to the Automobile indust ...
with Energy Secretary
Steven Chu
Steven Chu Carbon Motors officials had worked with the DOE over the prior two years to address concerns about Carbon Motors' plans. Carbon Motors criticized the DOE's reasons for refusing the loan as politically motivated and related to the 2012 elections. Another Indiana startup,
Bright Automotive
Bright Automotive was a startup company in Anderson, Indiana, working to create a fuel economy in automobiles, fuel-efficient line of plug-in electric vehicles.Fehrenbacher, Katie. "The First Investment from GM's VC Arm: Bright Automotive: Clean ...
, was forced to end operations the week before after applying for the same loan in 2008 and being unable to continue waiting for the DOE to act on the application. On March 13, 2012, Secretary Chu testified before a Senate hearing partly related to claims made by Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li regarding the politicization of loans granted by the DOE stating "Politics is not a factor, period. It has to do with the finances of the company, the viability of the loan."
In early March 2013, Carbon Motors began to remove equipment and vacate the plant in Connersville. The lease on the plant was allowed to expire on March 31, 2013. The company's website and
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel were taken down around the same time. By April 2013, the company effectively shut down.
On May 22, 2013, three former Carbon Motors executives filed a lawsuit against the company for unpaid, deferred wages.
Carbon Motors E7
Carbon Motors was formed to develop and produce the E7, the first purpose-built police car ever made. The E7 was to be only available for
law enforcement agencies
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...
to purchase. The
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
was first revealed in 2008 on the "Pure Justice" tour. The E7 had an expected release date of 2012. It was designed in part by American law enforcement officers for the sole purpose of producing a vehicle to be most effective to police. The company stated that, in order to keep the vehicle out of private ownership, when an agency wishes to dispose of an E7, it would either be sold to another law enforcement agency or returned to the factory to be parted out. The price was intended to be competitive considering the cost of equipping a conventional car for police work and how long each vehicle lasts. The Carbon E7 was to be built to last 250,000 miles, compared with 75,000 to 120,000 miles for the typical patrol car.
Specifications
The vehicle was to be equipped with a BMW
straight-six
A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...
turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
-
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
, which was more fuel efficient than contemporary
gasoline engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as Autogas, liquefied petroleum gas and Common ...
police car engines. It was designed to be
rear wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars.
Most rear-whee ...
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (AT) or automatic gearbox is a multi-speed transmission (mechanics), transmission used in motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions.
The 1904 ...
, be governed to a top speed of 155 mph, and accelerate from
0-60 mph
The time it takes a vehicle to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h or 27 m/s), often said as just "zero to sixty" or "nought to sixty", is a commonly used performance measure for automotive acceleration in the United S ...
in 6.5 seconds. It also featured numerous safety features, including 75 mph rear-impact crash capability, and optional ballistic protection panels. The vehicle also had law enforcement equipment designed into the vehicle intended to be installed during production so agencies would not need to purchase equipment from other companies and then install them on the vehicle. The front seats of the E7 were designed for comfort while wearing a duty belt.
Equipment
According to Carbon Motors Corporation, the E7 was to have numerous features and options available, including:
* NIJ Level III-A (or better)
ballistic
Ballistics may refer to:
Science
* Ballistics, the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles
** Forensic ballistics, the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes
** Internal ballistics, the study of the proce ...
protection (front doors and dash panel)
* Purpose-designed seat for use with on-body equipment and seat heating and ventilation
*
Head-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD () or head-up guidance system (HGS), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a ...
* Reverse backup camera
* Remote start capability
* Engine features to enable extended idling as well as operating in extreme conditions (heat and cold)
* Driver-specific intelligent key
* 360 degree exterior surveillance capability, with fully automatic recording
*
Automatic number-plate recognition
Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also #Other names, other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing clos ...
, programmable and upgradeable
* Video and audio surveillance of rear passenger compartment
* Nightvision compliant interior illumination
* Integrated forward looking infrared system (
FLIR
Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation.
The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...
)
* Integrated
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
and
rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
mounts
* Secure weapons storage
* Optimized storage capability (compartment and cargo), to store police gear ranging from spare restraints to
forensic
Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...
equipment
* Integrated front and rear passenger compartment partition
* Isolated ventilation for front and rear compartments
* Rear seats designed to accommodate handcuffed suspects/prisoners
* Security features to prevent escape of prisoners
* Rear passenger compartment designed to be washed by hosing down
* Integrated push bumpers and PIT capability
* Integrated aerodynamic emergency lights with
sirens
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths.
Places
* Si ...
In popular culture
The Carbon E7 is featured in the 2010 video game '' Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit'' as one of the vehicles available for use when playing as a police officer. While most other playable vehicles (such as the
Ford Crown Victoria
The Ford Crown Victoria ("Crown Vic") is a full-size sedan that was marketed and manufactured by Ford. The successor to the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, two generations of the model line were produced from the 1992 until the 2012 model years. T ...
,
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over eight generations since 1966.
The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version.
In the United Sta ...
, and other well-known vehicles) have performance statistics such as top speed listed, most of the E7's statistics are listed as "CLASSIFIED". However, the vehicle was removed from the remastered version of the game released in 2020 due to Carbon being defunct and the car never entering production.Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is missing some classic cars /ref>