Liggo – The First Brazilian Electric Car developed by Alta Green Motors

Transport is the fastest-growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter of any sector across the globe. Further, within Brazil, transport remains the highest energy-related GHG emitter, contributing more emissions than the industrial and residential sectors combined.   

Electric vehicles may offer a viable way to decrease CO2 emissions in Brazil, but will, more importantly, boost public health in cities. The local reduction in air pollutants is particularly key as tailpipe emissions are reduced to zero for both battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles.  

As per news released in PRNewswire, Emerson Gottardi, Giovanni Cataldi Neto and Sandro Lima pooled their skills and a whole lot of perseverance to develop one of the first electric vehicles in Brazil. From 2012 through 2013, Business, Branding, and Design Consultant, Sandro Lima, started the development of certain products in the field of renewable energy for a business group from Greater Porto Alegre.

Among them, the design of a hybrid solar and wind energy tower, and a station for recharging electric vehicles – which ended up evolving into an even more visionary project, one of the country’s first electric cars.  

Image credit: Alta Green Motors  

Sandro Lima hooked up entrepreneur Emerson Gottardi to the project, one of the few specialists in electric vehicles, who is responsible for the development of a number of products sold on the market today.   

Also joining up was Giovanni Cataldi Neto, an expert in the Recruitment of National and International Investors and the Structuring of Financial Operations, now serving as the main person responsible for channeling investments to make the project viable.   

The aim is to develop a vehicle that is 100% electric, created especially for big cities where lots of people need to travel a few kilometers per day, an average of 40 km a day, economically, without taking up much space, and sustain-ably. The Liggo fills this gap. The plan is to unveil the prototype by the end of 2016.   

The entrepreneurs are also studying a collective financing arrangement along the lines of crowdfunding to finish the project. The vehicle’s chassis and electric engine are already mounted. “This is probably one of the first projects that are 100% national. We created the design and the brand (Liggo), and registered it with the INPI at the end of 2013.   

Electric Car – Liggo (Image source: PRnewswire)  

They believe that the market for renewable energy will be one of the most promising in Brazil in the coming decades. The current model based on fossil fuels is no longer compatible with the needs of the public or the planet, and at present, it’s also less interesting to investors,” observed Giovanni Cataldi Neto.  

The Liggo has also been conceived in a model with a dynamic chassis that can be adapted to an electric utility vehicle, or a vehicle for riding around inside company spaces, like a golf car. The trio of entrepreneurs also has a project that goes beyond the electric vehicle. They have developed a vehicle for the physically handicapped, and a mini kart.  

One of the barriers Brazil has faced when attempting to transition to cleaner vehicles is the lack of incentives for newer technologies. Indeed, while there are a plethora of alternatives to gasoline vehicles available—including electric vehicles produced entirely within Brazil to imported, new technology—they remain largely remain expensive and inaccessible in Brazil.   

This new electric car could help in reducing CO2 emissions and will improve the lives of people in Brazil. Also, it would reduce the import of electric cars from other countries and help in improving the fiscal deficit of the country.