Dan Sturges

In addition to his work as a designer, Sturges is one of the industry’s top entrepreneurs. He founded trans2 in 1997, designing and commercializing the world’s first Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) and creating the first-ever nationally certified new class of vehicle in the process. Today, his NEV design remains at the forefront of local transportation solutions, marketed under the Global Electric Motorcars brand and owned by Polaris Industries.

After starting his career as an automotive designer at General Motors in 1986, Sturges shifted his focus towards personal transit solutions and infrastructure design. Some of his lasting design works include Intrago’s prototype shared electric bike system, “First & Last Mile” strategy for Southern California Associations of Government, Federal Transit Administration, and developing a new mobility vision for the University of California’s Institute of Transportation Studies.

Sturges has also worked as a designer in various capacities with the likes of Ford (electric vehicles), Target (mobility education), Segway (service and systems), Avego (User-Interface) and the country’s largest vanpool company, vRide (branding).

Over the course of his career, ID Magazine selected Sturges as one of the country’s top 40 designers, while Popular Science designated him as one of seven visionaries entrusted to change the future of the automobile. He presented at TED4 in Kobe, Japan, and his work has been profiled in Wired, Wall Street Journal, MIT Technology Review and Automobile Magazine.

Currently, Sturges serves on US Transportation Research Board committee for New Public Transportation Systems and Technology.