microcarfan
  • Electric microcar
  • United States
  • Four wheels
  • Low-speed vehicle

GEM (Global Electric Motorcars)

Also known as GEM car, GEM e2, e4, e6 and eL XD

In size and speed it is a golf car. In law it is a motor vehicle, with safety belts, headlamps, wipers and safety glass, allowed on American streets where the limit is 56 km/h (35 mph), and more than 50,000 had been sold by 2015.

Red-nosed open four-seat electric car with a white roof and two rows of black seats parked by a fence.
A red and white GEM e4 four-seater used for village tours, photographed in July 2006.Photo: Weatherman1126, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

GEM (Global Electric Motorcars)

Low-speed vehicle · Fargo, North Dakota

Built
1998–From April 1998; still built
Country
United StatesFargo, North Dakota, from 1998; later plants not recorded
Maker
Global Electric MotorcarsFounded as Trans2; owned by DaimlerChrysler from 2000, Polaris from 2011 and Waev from 2022
Engine
Battery-electric, 48 V72 V on later cars; lithium-ion batteries an option from 2016
Seats
2, 4 or 6The e2, e4 and e6; utility versions have a cargo bed
Wheels
4
Production
over 50,000Sold worldwide by October 2015
Top speed
40km/h40 km/h40 km/h (25 mph) on later cars; the first car of 1998 reached 32 km/h (20 mph)

Not yet recordedpower, length and weight.

How big is it?

True proportion

Length unknown

No reliable length has been found. The Fiat 500, the Peel P50 and the adult stay, so the gap is shown, not hidden.

  • Sizes not yet recorded for any model
  • From two seats to six, by model
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

GEM began as Trans2, a company founded in 1992 in Livonia, Michigan, by engineers who had left General Motors. Investors from North Dakota bought it and moved it to Fargo, and there, in April 1998, the first GEM car was built: a two-seater running on a 48 V electrical system, with a top speed of 32 km/h (20 mph).1

What made it more than a golf car was a class of vehicle written into American law. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s rule for the low-speed vehicle, FMVSS 500, asks for safety belts, headlamps, windscreen wipers and safety glass, and in return lets such a vehicle use public roads with speed limits of up to 56 km/h (35 mph). Its own top speed is held to 40 km/h (25 mph).1 In the United States these are often called neighbourhood electric vehicles, and GEM, by its own account, became the market leader in North America; that claim comes from the company, through English Wikipedia, and no independent count has been found.1 It is an American branch of the family of electric microcars.

Two seats, then four, then six

The range grew quickly. The eL followed in October 1998, the eS in November and the four-seat e4 in December, all in the first year.1 In December 2000 DaimlerChrysler bought the company, which for some years put it in the same group as the Smart Fortwo.1 In April 2006 came the six-seat e6, and in December 2007 the eL XD, a utility version with a load bed of 1,780 × 1,220 mm (70 × 48 in) and a payload of 499 kg (1,100 lb).1 What the eL and eS first differed in is not recorded.

Polaris bought GEM in July 2011. In August 2014 it added the eM1400, a utility based on its own Ranger, with a 1,300 × 1,070 mm (51 × 42 in) bed and a payload of 635 kg (1,400 lb), and a version legal as a low-speed vehicle followed in October 2015.1 By then more than 50,000 GEMs had been sold worldwide.1 In October 2016 the e2, e4, e6 and eL XD were redesigned, with lithium-ion batteries as an option. The later cars run on 72 V, reach 40 km/h (25 mph) and cover 50–160 km (30–100 miles) on a charge, depending on the battery; a full charge from an ordinary 120 V outlet takes six to eight hours.1 Since January 2022 GEM has belonged to Waev, with its headquarters at Medina, Minnesota.1

Who drives them

Private owners buy them, but so do government agencies, resorts, planned communities, universities and campuses, sports teams and shuttle services.1 The photographs on this page show them as police cars in Anaheim and Cuernavaca and in Carabinieri livery in Italy, with the US Army and the National Park Service, as airport shuttles in Bangkok, a cemetery shuttle in Heidelberg, snack and food carts in Girona and Washington, and a six-seat ride service in Brooklyn.

What we do not know

No length, width or weight has been found for any GEM, nor its motor power, its prices, its output by model or year, or why DaimlerChrysler bought it.1

Blue and white two-seat electric car with round lamps and doors open on a show floor, visitors around it.
A blue and white GEM e2 with doors, on show at the North American International Auto Show, Detroit, in January 2008.Photo: Joe Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr
Bare chassis with a row of batteries, wheels, steering column and seat frame on a show floor.
A bare GEM chassis with its batteries and running gear at the same show in January 2008.Photo: Joe Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr
Side view of a long white open electric car with three rows of black seats and a rear deck on green carpet.
The six-seat e6, three rows of seats under one roof, at the Washington Auto Show in January 2010.Photo: Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 13

  • White open-sided two-seat electric car with a grille guard and round lamps on tarmac by a mulched bed. Opens a larger view

    1 A white 2008 GEM e2 two-seater parked beside a planted bank in June 2021.

  • White four-seat electric car lettered Friedhofsmobil with a rear rack, parked by iron cemetery gates. Opens a larger view

    2 A GEM e4 used as a cemetery shuttle at the Bergfriedhof, Heidelberg, Germany.

  • White four-seat electric car with doors and a green swoosh on cobbles in front of an old stone wall. Opens a larger view

    3 A municipal Chrysler GEM e4 in Trento, Italy, side view, in June 2009.

  • Dark blue and white open four-seat electric car with a canvas roof parked on grass before a brick building. Opens a larger view

    4 An open GEM e4 with a roof used as a security patrol vehicle at a school in Durham, North Carolina, in July 2008.

  • Rear of a white two-seat electric car with a yellow lower body, a cargo box and a SOLR GEM plate at a kerb. Opens a larger view

    5 A yellow and white GEM e2 two-seater with a rear box, parked on a street in the United States in December 2008.

8 more picturesFewer pictures
  • Rear of a white electric utility vehicle with a box body carrying an orange slow-vehicle triangle on paving. Opens a larger view

    6 A US National Park Service GEM utility with a closed box body, rear three-quarter, in November 2008.

  • Blue nose of a small electric car with a yellow cable plugged into a socket on a brick wall, grass below. Opens a larger view

    7 A blue GEM recharging from a wall socket on the Duke University campus, Durham, North Carolina, in September 2008.

  • Long white six-seat electric shuttle with an advertising wrap crossing a street junction, shops behind. Opens a larger view

    8 A GEM e6 shuttle of the Circuit service driving along Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn, New York, in August 2019.

  • Blue and white open six-seat electric shuttles with bangkokair.com lettering on a polished terminal floor. Opens a larger view

    9 Chrysler GEM shuttles of Bangkok Airways at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2007.

  • White two-seat electric utility vehicles with headlamps lit lined up on a blue floor in a dark hall. Opens a larger view

    10 The first GEM neighbourhood electric vehicles delivered to the US Army at Fort Myer, Virginia, in January 2009.

  • Two white two-seat electric utility vehicles with box beds parked beside a brick building. Opens a larger view

    11 Two GEM utility cars parked at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in July 2008.

  • Rear of a blue electric car with red lamps, a chrome bumper bar and a white upper body on a show carpet. Opens a larger view

    12 The tail of a blue GEM, with its rear lamps and chrome bumper, at the North American International Auto Show, Detroit, in January 2008.

  • Front of a grey and white electric car with both doors open, a twin-bar grille and round lamps on carpet. Opens a larger view

    13 A grey GEM with doors, head-on at the North American International Auto Show, Detroit, in January 2008.

Variants and relatives 9

  • Black and white open four-seat electric car with a light bar and gold lettering on a red-paved street. Opens a larger view

    14 An open GEM used as a police car by the Anaheim Police Department, California, in April 2007.

  • Dark blue electric car lettered CARABINIERI with a blue roof light and a uniformed driver, another behind. Opens a larger view

    15 A GEM in Carabinieri livery patrolling a car-free zone in Italy in June 2007.

  • White and dark blue two-seat electric car numbered 004 with a light bar, parked by a stall of paintings. Opens a larger view

    16 A GEM e2 used as a police car in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in August 2009.

  • White two-seat electric utility vehicle with a black nose, grille guard and dropside flatbed on dry grass. Opens a larger view

    17 A GEM eL XD utility with its flatbed, belonging to a California college district, in August 2026.

  • Green electric car with a food counter on its rear beside a stone museum wall and a heap of snow. Opens a larger view

    18 A green GEM food cart recharging outside the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., in February 2010.

4 more picturesFewer pictures
  • White and dark green electric utility vehicle with a Park Ranger door badge and rear box on a path. Opens a larger view

    19 A US National Park Service GEM utility with a box body, front three-quarter, in November 2008.

  • Long white six-seat electric car with doors and ‘gotcha’ lettering parked on a campus road under trees. Opens a larger view

    20 A white GEM e6 six-seat campus shuttle at the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 2010.

  • Green electric car towing a steel snack counter with green banners on a square, people standing by. Opens a larger view

    21 A green GEM converted into a snack van in Girona, Spain, in September 2010.

  • White two-seat electric utility vehicle with INRA lettering and a tipper body on a gravel path by buildings. Opens a larger view

    22 A GEM utility with a tipping bed at the INRA research centre, Jouy-en-Josas, France, in October 2016.

Picture credits (22)
  1. 1 DestinationFearFan, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 2 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0
  3. 3 Matteo Ianeselli, CC BY-SA 3.0
  4. 4 Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), CC BY-SA 3.0
  5. 5 Shannon Kringen, CC BY 2.0
  6. 6 dave_7, CC BY-SA 2.0
  7. 7 Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), CC BY-SA 4.0
  8. 8 Tdorante10, CC BY-SA 4.0
  9. 9 Mattes, Public domain
  10. 10 The U.S. Army, Public domain
  11. 11 Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), CC BY-SA 4.0
  12. 12 Joe Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0
  13. 13 Joe Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0
  14. 14 Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious, CC BY-SA 2.0
  15. 15 Jollyroger, CC BY-SA 2.5
  16. 16 Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 3.0
  17. 17 TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0
  18. 18 Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), CC BY-SA 3.0
  19. 19 dave_7, CC BY-SA 2.0
  20. 20 Ahlibe, Public domain
  21. 21 Georges Jansoone (JoJan), CC BY 3.0
  22. 22 Lionel Allorge, CC BY-SA 3.0

Variants

From two seats to six

GEM models, with the month each was first built
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
First GEM carApril 1998Two seats, 48 V, 32 km/h (20 mph)Not found
eL and eSOctober and November 1998Details not recordedNot found
e2Not recordedTwo seatsNot found
e4December 1998Four seatsNot found
e6April 2006Six seatsNot found
eL XDDecember 2007Utility: a 1,780 × 1,220 mm (70 × 48 in) bed and a 499 kg (1,100 lb) payloadNot found
eM1400August 2014; LSV October 2015Utility based on the Polaris Ranger: a 1,300 × 1,070 mm (51 × 42 in) bed and a 635 kg (1,400 lb) payloadNot found
2016 redesignOctober 2016e2, e4, e6 and eL XD redesigned, with lithium-ion batteries as an optionNot found

Specification

What is recorded, from English Wikipedia

Motor and batteries

System48 V on the first car of 1998; 72 V later1
BatteriesLithium-ion an option from the 2016 redesign1
Charging6–8 hours from a 120 V household outlet1
Motor powerNot found

Performance and running

Top speed32 km/h (20 mph) in 1998; 40 km/h (25 mph) later1
Range50–160 km (30–100 miles), by battery1
Roads allowedSpeed limits up to 56 km/h (35 mph), as a low-speed vehicle1
Dimensions and weightNot found for any model

How many were built?

The one figure found

Over 50,000 sold by 2015More than 50,000 GEMs had been sold worldwide by October 2015. It is the only figure found, from one source, and no count by model or by year has been seen.

  1. over 50,000GEMs sold worldwide, April 1998 to October 2015One source

    English Wikipedia1

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. Legal on the street

    Belts, headlamps, wipers and safety glass make it a low-speed vehicle, allowed on roads limited to 56 km/h (35 mph).

  2. Over 50,000

    Sold worldwide between April 1998 and October 2015.

  3. Three corporate owners

    DaimlerChrysler from 2000, Polaris from 2011 and Waev from 2022.

On screen

Confirmed appearances only

Survivors and collecting

Today

GEMs are still built and still at work, and no club, museum car or auction result has been found for the early two-seaters of 1998. No count of the cars still on the road has been found either.

Sources

Numbered as in the text

Almost everything on this page rests on one source, English Wikipedia’s article on the company, which draws on the trade press, Polaris and the US Federal Register. No road test, maker’s history or sales record by model was read.

  1. English Wikipedia, Global Electric Motorcars, read. Its references include Green Car Reports, Polaris and the Federal Register.
  2. IMCDb, the Internet Movie Cars Database, vehicle list for Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), read in an archived copy of 10 November 2025.