Danville welcomes hybrid fuel technology

DANVILLE - Local leaders hope to be on the cusp of the growing hybrid fuel technology with the announcement that the Advanced Vehicle Research Center is just days away from breaking ground at Cyber Park.

Dick Dell, executive director of AVRC-Virginia, said ground should be broken soon on a $3 million, 20,000-square-footbuilding.

Dell hopes to have the facility ready by spring.

"We see the Danville area as the perfect place for our expansion, and we're very enthusiastic about beginning construction," Dell said last week. "The region already has significant assets that support the automotive industry such as the Virginia International Raceway. Our work in advanced technologies and alternative fuel vehicles will benefit from the extensive research being done at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research."

Dell hopes to hire 30 people with an average salary of $50,000. The company is looking for mechanics, engineers and fabricators.

Dell said the Danville operation will focus on the development of plug-in hybrids for vehicles. The first part involves off-road testing of military vehicles on 63 acres near the plant.

The other part of the project involves installing this technology to convert hybrid Toyota Priuses to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The company has done this type of conversion for Progress Energy, Duke Energy, the city of Raleigh, N.C., and other clients in areas from Virginia to Florida.

Vehicles that have this electrical hybrid device installed run for 30 to 35 miles before the gasoline motor turns on, officials said. The car is plugged in each night to recharge the unit.

Dell said it costs about $10,400 to install this type of technology.

Danville Mayor Sherman M. Saunders hopes the area will become recognized as a center for automotive research with companies such as AVRC. He hopes it will keep young, trained talent here and help bring people home who would like to work for AVRC.

"Some of the research will be done right here in the Danville-Pittsylvania County region," Saunders said, "and as that information, that knowledge, is spread around, it will make it us more attractive to other investments."

Coy Harville, chairman of the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors, said Monday's announcement is good news for the local economy.

Besides the jobs and the salaries, work on at the site will be done by Blair Construction Co.

"This is state of the art," Harville said.
Bernard Baker is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.