Bad Boy sells first electric vehicles

MELBOURNE — While Dustin Kramer purchased five new multi-terrain vehicles from Bad Boy Mowers Tuesday, only four made it back to his Independence County Off Road ATV Specialists shop in Batesville.

Blane Johnson of Melbourne didn’t wait for Kramer, now the first all-terrain vehicle dealer to sell the all-electric MTVs, to get back to Batesville to buy one.

Johnson gave Kramer a check and Kramer gave him the keys before ever leaving the Bad Boy Mowers-Melbourne parking lot.

Both men are the first in the state to have the electric-powered multi-terrain vehicles manufactured by Bad Boy at Melbourne.

With Wednesday’s unveiling of the new MTVs, Bad Boy co-owner Robert Foster expressed confidence with the new line and the Melbourne plant, which opened last year.

“I feel real confident we’ll have three of four (of the new MTV lines) out before the year is over,” Foster said, adding that the company’s goal is to have four MTV models available by 2010.

More lines will also mean more jobs.

“We’ll have to add 10 or 15 people with every line we add,” Foster said. “Every time we bring in a line, (it) will bring in more people.”

With four lines, “we could get up to 100 people within the next year, year and a half,” which could bring the total of Bad Boy employees at Batesville and Melbourne to 250 at “peak time,” he said.

With the new MTV all-electric, gas- and diesel-powered line, Melbourne Mayor Mike Cone said while it’s hard for him to visualize what it will mean to the Melbourne plant, he is excited about its future.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” Cone said. “Boeing would have this parking lot full.” When Boeing closed in 2006, Cone said the full parking lot was one sight he missed.

But a parking lot full again, this time with Bad Boy employees, will be a welcomed sight once the Melbourne facility is fully operational.

“If this thing goes how they want,” said Cone, “that would be a big, big blessing for Melbourne. Anytime we can keep our young and adults at home (going to work) it’s a good thing,” the mayor said. “We all need something positive with the way the economy is today.”

While its biggest competition is Chinese golf carts, the all-electric MTV includes a push-button four-wheel drive and a 600-pound capacity bed with automatic hydraulics. The MTV can be charged automatically from any standard 100-volt outlet through a built-in Smart Charge System.

Foster said the single-cab model will cost about $8,995 for dealers, while a future gas-powered model will run about $1,500 less.

The decision to create an electric line will give Bad Boy the chance to be included in more markets the company has tried to get into, Foster said. The line will also give the company a better chance to be considered by dealers who have looked at them before but have not worked with them. It will be a “profit maker,” Foster said.

Foster said Bad Boy Mowers, which spent about nine months working to create the all-electric MTV, will fill a niche because of the line. And because the plant at Melbourne is very advanced in its setup, he’s confident about its production.

While a regular mower can be built in about four minutes at the Batesville facility, Foster said, “Within a year and a half, I think we can get the MTV in that five- to six-minute range (at Melbourne).”

The new line will include both the single- and double-cab electric models as well as gas-powered and diesel multi-terrain models.

The new MTVs will be available in orange and in black, while a camouflage prototype is in the works.

Kramer, 31, who has owned Independence County Off Road ATV Specialists for five years, said selling electric MTVs will be huge for his business. “It offers me a product I can sell to a whole new clientele.”

Taking a seat inside his new purchase, Johnson, who now owns two Bad Boy products, said he was very pleased with his electric MTV.

Formed in 1998, Bad Boy Mowers, which sells mowers and MTVs to registered dealers only, has manufactured, assembled and stored mowers in multiple facilities at Batesville and Melbourne.

The Arkansas-based company purchased the former GDX Automotive building in Batesville last year. Between all three facilities, Bad Boy has about 600,000 square feet of space, Foster said.

Bad Boy MTV employee works on the robot welder at the Bad Boy Melbourne facility.

Bad Boy MTV employees assemble an MTV.

Bad Boy MTV dealer, Dustin Kramer, with the first load of MTVs sold.

First Bad Boy MTV owner, Blane Johnson.