To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

CONCORD, N.C. — The truck purrs like a kitten when it starts and sounds like a car of the future as it hums around the city.

Brooks Agnew drives the truck around making deliveries for Amelie's French Cuisine in uptown Charlotte. His company, Vision Motor Cars based in Concord, knows there are obstacles with the electric battery technology that weans vehicles off gasoline.

"It will haul 1,000 pounds and it will go about 100 miles on a charge," said Agnew. "Electric vehicles, once you disconnect from the wall plug you're on your own so Vision Motor Cars actually has 5 ways of recharging the vehicle."
 
The most unique way is through solar panels on the top of the truck. They are a product of a neighboring Concord business, SBM Solar.
 
"He's [Agnew] got a great piece of green technology. We've got a great piece of green technology. And together it will really revolutionize the automotive marketplace," said Jay Rao of SBM Solar.
 
The truck's estimated operating cost is 75-cents a day. Rao said with his company's solar technology it could theoretically be completely free—zero cents a day. Vision Motor Cars has their truck manufacturing plant in Kentucky and plans to have their car production plant in Concord, North Carolina.
 
The companies hope to have electric and solar vehicles on the road by the end of the year and are aiming for a $25,000 price point.