A Wilmington, Del. company says it's going to start building the Philadelphia area's first locally-assembled electric cars starting next month, with help from state and, possibly, federal subsidies.

"The Delaware Economic Development Office will give a $94,140 grant to AutoPort, Inc., for a project designed to retrofit existing gasoline-powered Toyota Scions so they can run on electric battery power," writes today's Wilmington News Journal. "The cars would be equipped with technology developed at the University of Delaware." Story here, state press release (with a lot less info, and the false claim that AutoPort is a "Fortune 500" company) here.

Dick Johnson, director of business development for privately-held AutoPort,  told me his company currently employs 70 preparing GM vehicles for shipment to the Middle East and Ford F-150 trucks for use as Iraqi police vehicles. AutoPort will use the state grant to train staff to set up a third production line that would add electric drive trains and batteries (which would go under the front and rear seats) to the Toyotas.

The power trains are built by AC Propulsions, San Dimas, Calif., which is also a supplier to BMW's electric Mini-Coopers and to the high-end electric-vehicle developer Tesla. AC uses batteries from Taiwan -- though Johnson said he plans to ask AC about using East Coast battery suppliers. 

"We'll build AC's backlog," currently including 15 vehicles, of which 5 are earmarked for the University of Delaware and the State of Delaware, Johnson added. The UD vehicles will be modified to enable them to sell stored electricity to the PJM Interconnection and local power utilities, using a system developed by UD engineering professor Willett Kempton. 

Like Teslas, AutoPort's vehicles will be expensive, starting around $70,000. Price should come down as the company builds more. AutoPort has also asked Delaware to see if it can subsidize part of the price from federal economic stimulus funds or the planned federal energy bill, Johnson said. 
 
Philadelphia steel trader Barry Bernsten's BG Automotive, whose attempts to assemble a cheaper ($16,000) electric car in Philadelphia were chronicled in this space last year, said his company has also been talking to Delaware about a possible plant site. The state has a big hole to fill: its Chrysler plant, near UD in Newark, Del., shut last fall, idling over 1,000.