GEM e6: the six-seat GEM

The GEM e6 is the largest passenger model of Global Electric Motorcars: a six-seat low-speed electric vehicle first produced in April 2006. Its job is to move a small group of people around a site, and it is bought mostly by fleets — campuses, resorts, towns and shuttle operators — rather than by private owners.

GEM e6 at a glance

Based on one source: the English and German Wikipedia pages on Global Electric Motorcars, which describe the brand rather than the e6 individually.

History of the GEM e6

Arrival in 2006

GEM had been building two- and four-seat cars since 1998, and the utility models eS and eL since the same year, before it added a six-seater. The company’s own timeline puts the first GEM e6 in April 2006, in the middle of a decade under DaimlerChrysler ownership; in January of that year GEM had 150 dealers. The model then stayed in the range through the sale to Polaris in July 2011 and the Polaris refresh of August 2014.

A shuttle first

Six seats make the e6 a small bus rather than a car. GEM lists local, state and national government agencies, resorts, master-planned communities, universities, medical and corporate campuses, sports teams and taxi-shuttle services among its users, and the e6 is the model that suits that work best: it can carry a group at low speed over short distances without a full-size vehicle. Examples run as campus and city shuttles in the United States.

Technology and the 2016 redesign

The e6 uses the same 72-volt layout as the rest of the range, made up in the German description of six 12-volt lead-acid or lead-gel accumulators, and charged from a standard American 110- or 120-volt socket in six to eight hours. Top speed is 25 mph (40 km/h) and range is between 30 and 100 miles depending on the battery. Because it meets the low-speed vehicle requirements — safety belts, headlamps, wipers and safety glass — it may use public roads, and GEM cars are street legal in nearly all 50 states on roads with limits of 35 mph or less. In October 2016 the e6 was one of the four models fully redesigned under Polaris, with lithium-ion battery options added.

Design and features

• Six seats: the largest passenger body in the GEM range.
• Shuttle role: made for moving groups around campuses, resorts and towns.
• Low-speed legality: usable on public roads limited to 35 mph.
• Lithium-ion option: added in the October 2016 redesign.

GEM e6 versions

• e6 LSV: the standard six-passenger low-speed vehicle.
• e6 with lead-acid or lead-gel batteries: the original specification from 2006.
• e6 with lithium-ion: offered from October 2016.
• e6s: a variant name that appears on cars photographed in Washington, D.C., in 2009.

The four-seat version is the GEM e4 and the two-seat one the GEM e2. Utility bodies are described in GEM e825, the whole range in GEM car, and more electric vehicles are in the GEM collection.

Sources

• Global Electric Motorcars, English Wikipedia: production date, models, technology, customers
• Global Electric Motorcars, German Wikipedia: battery layout, charging, model list