Most days, Gov. Jack Markell gets around to his various appointments up and down the state in a car or SUV driven by his state police detail, but on Jan. 26 the governor got behind the wheel of a high-tech plug-in hybrid for a spin around Dover.
The converted Saturn SUV was built by AFS Trinity Power Corporation, a firm based in Washington that’s shopping for a place to build its proprietary gas-electric powertrain, which claims to feature longer battery life and better fuel economy than current hybrids.
Trinity CEO and founder Edward W. Furia said he’s been touring the Mid-Atlantic with two of his prototypes looking for a state government that will give his business a leg up.
In the first year of his term, Markell has made attracting new firms to the state a priority. So far, the largest jewel in his business development crown is the agreement with Fisker, a maker of luxury electric cars, to set up shop at the shuttered GM Boxwood Road plant.
To get Fisker, the state offered a package of tax breaks and low interest loans that convert to grants if the company meets its job creation targets.
But Markell said its Delaware’s responsiveness that companies find attractive when they’re looking for a state to locate their operations.
“We’re generally not the state that writes the biggest check, we can’t afford to,” he said. “We have to be faster, more responsive.”
While there are no plans as of yet to bring Furia’s company to Delaware, Markell said the fact that Trinity came to Delaware to talk about it speaks volumes.
“People are becoming aware of our leadership,” the governor said. “We’re on people’s radar screens.”
Furia said he’s met with or contacted officials in a few states, including Michigan, the country’s stalwart automotive center.
But, he said other states, like Delaware, are on the top of his list.
“Detriot was the motor city, but there’s no reason it would necessarily be Detroit down the road,” he said.
Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com
