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After two years at its new location on M-57, Impact Powersports is now looking to sell Kandi electric cars in addition to ATVs and other recreational vehicles. – DN Stock Photo | Cory smith
TOWNSHIP OF OAKFIELD – Since moving from the bustling northern urban outskirts of Grand Rapids to a more spacious location in rural Kent County two years ago, the owners of Impact Powersports have found success by being located on the M-57.
At the August 17 Oakfield Township Planning Commission meeting, Impact Powersports owner Ron Campanelli said his business is not only successful, but continues to grow as it has grown. approached the Commission with a desire to expand its ATV dealership and powersports store at 11630 14 Mile Road (M-57).
Having recently unloaded two small electric cars on his lot, Campanelli said customers immediately started inquiring about what non-ATV vehicles were doing on the property.
“People stopped and asked, ‘Are these electric cars? So I think there is a good chance that we are selling electric vehicles, ”he said.
An electric car made by Kandi is on display at Impact Powersports as the company prepares to expand its services by becoming an electric car dealership in addition to selling ATVs and other recreational vehicles. – DN Stock Photo | Cory smith
Campanelli said Impact Powersports had a long history of selling several Kandi-brand e-karts and ATVs, but was approached more recently by the company regarding the potential sale of electric cars.
“We’re primarily a powersports dealer – quads, dirt bikes and stuff like that – but one of the products we represent is Kandi,” he said. “They started out as a powersports company making quads and karts and most recently they were bought by a company called Geely. This is an auto maker that owns Lotus and a few other major car manufacturing companies. They decided to go into the electric car business. So Kandi came to us and asked if we would like to be a franchisee of their electric cars.
Kandi and Geely are both auto companies based in China.
Because of this interest from Kandi, Campanelli said he had asked the state to become a certified car dealership.
“We have received the auto repair license and we should receive the new auto dealership license in the next few days,” he said.
To properly present the vehicles and be able to store them appropriately, Campanelli approached the Commission with a sitemap that would see the basement of Impact Powersports, which currently functions as the company’s service department, transformed. into a new showroom.
In turn, after-sales service would be moved to half of a new barn (which had previously been approved by the Commission), with the other half of the barn to be used for lithium-ion battery storage.
Assessing Campanelli’s request, as Commission members fully supported the company’s expansion and success, they expressed concerns about the storage of batteries at the facility.
“That’s my concern, the storage of lithium-ion batteries,” Planning Commission chairman James Tilton said. “By lowering the temperatures, you can cause a chemical reaction inside these battery cells… and create a fire. So how many of these batteries are you going to have on site, in storage? “
Campanelli said the storage would be for “one or two” spare car batteries, which would be isolated in designated, temperature-controlled battery storage containers inside the barn.
“These are 450 pound batteries,” he said. “These storage units for batteries, they build them as small or as big as you need them and the unit is self-contained. These units will then be placed inside the storage part of the barn.
Expressing cautious optimism, Commissioner David Pusczak said he believed that Impact Powersports’ original intention – the sale of ATVs – could progress faster than expected.
“I want to congratulate your business on its success, that’s great… but I remember someone at the (Commission) when we approved the building (barn) in the backcountry last year and we were told it would be just for cold storage, ”he said. “Well now move quickly into the future and now we’re doing something else. It is a question of perception and reality. Let’s face it, you must have made a lot of modifications to do what you’re doing. The building wasn’t really designed for a showroom – it used to be a restaurant – and now it’s essentially becoming a dealership, even now for electric cars, so it looks like the snowball is rolling down the hill and gets bigger and bigger, where it wasn’t really the original intention.
Campanelli assured the Commission that all modifications and changes would be “up to code” with local and national inspectors, and that all licenses and permits would be in place before he started selling the vehicles.
“To address your concerns, we had no idea this was going to be a possibility – it was coming straight from left field,” Campanelli said. “But we are currently the only concessionaire in the state for Kandi and they are pushing us to get all the interest from customers. “
After further discussion, Commission members reached consensus that the site plan was acceptable and voted unanimously, with Commissioners Anthony Marko, Dannie Marko and William Pelak absent, to approve the plan.
“As your small business grows, and we as a township love to see this, but I hope you don’t run out of land because I would hate to see you having to build,” said Tilton. “I don’t know how many properties you have there, but if other dealers come to you, you have to look at your landscape and ask where are you building another building, if necessary.”
Campanelli said that once the transformation of the showroom is complete, it will put four different Kandi electric vehicles up for sale.
“Plus we’ll also have bikes, mountain bikes and stuff like that,” he added.
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