Nelson starts new ULV business in Ottertail

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

When you think of the home for luxury low-speed vehicles and golf carts, one doesn’t typically think of a tiny community on the shores of Otter Tail Lake—but that may be changing in the near future.

What began as an idea from Kenny Nelson at bringing a luxury low-speed vehicle to the masses some 3-4 years ago, is on the precipice of reality thanks to his new company Ultra Luxury Vehicle, or ULV for short. The luxury low-speed vehicles are essentially a cross between a vehicle and high-end golf carts, yet at the same time are very different than the vehicles that help carry clubs on the course and drive between one place to the next. The new ULV can provide a neighborhood vehicle for places like retirement communities, camp grounds and just recreational vehicles where a large vehicle is no longer needed.

“When you go down south you see golf carts everywhere. You can add features to (golf carts) but it is still just a golf cart,” said Kade Lee, who is a salesman at ULV in Ottertail. “People want all the luxury their vehicles have, but at a neighborhood level.”

ULV was started in 2022 by Kenny Nelson who enlisted the help of Whitey Schuett, who is the chief operating officer of ULV in Ottertail. He later hired Austin Erickson as chief executive officer to join the team. 

Henning High School alum Jackson Nyhus joined the staff in 2024 and said all of the employees have been putting in long hours in order to not only bring this new product to market, but provide yet another reason to put the town of Ottertail on the map. 

“It’s cool that Kenny started this on top of everything else, but to do this and do it in Ottertail (makes it even more special),” said Nyhus. “You think of Detroit with Ford and Chevy and how big they are and now we have a little car manufacturer in the tiny town of Ottertail.”

The new low-speed vehicle is not only created in Ottertail, but features parts designed by other small and family-owned businesses from across the region. It’s a focus on supporting other small and family-owned businesses that many larger companies do not reciprocate, but one that Nyhus said was important to ULV founder Kenny Nelson. 

“Kenny’s big push for us is to find suppliers that are family-owned or local,” said Nyhus. “If you take a look around so much of what is around here is from North Dakota and Minnesota.”

That push for local and family suppliers not only has been another way to invest in the future of small businesses in the region, but has also led to a buy-in from the suppliers that is not commonly seen from bigger companies. For example, Nyhus said the suppliers have spent countless hours in Ottertail, or on the phone brainstorming ways to make their part of the ULV a success. That extra effort has gone a long way to help and launch what is soon to be a new brand of electric vehicles. For instance, much of the carbon fiber and fiber glass for ULV comes from just down the road from Master Composites in Henning. 

“The suppliers are invested in the success and have put in a lot of extra hours,” said Nyhus.

Each vehicle is made on a custom manufacturing plant just on the edge of Ottertail. The manufacturing part of the vehicle is state-of-the-art as each station features diagnostics that show how many times a wrench should be turned and won’t allow for the vehicle to move to the next spot until everything is correctly completed.

Each vehicle has custom features that includes navigation, a 28.5” touch screen display, plenty of storage, custom headlights, a windshield with a tinted roof glass, 17” wheels and a durable hitch system that is built to handle towing with confidence and ease. The goal was to be able to connect small trailers or accessories to haul items without skimping on style or performance. 

“Every piece on this is custom,” said Lee. “We really wanted that elevated feel.”

Unlike many electric vehicles like Tesla, the ULV uses just a regular plug in to get power, meaning people who take the low-speed vehicle camping or to their mobile home site down south can simply plug the vehicle into a regular outlet to get power. That means power is readily accessible just about anywhere a person needs, without having to find a special plug or plan ahead too much in advance for power.

The vehicles are also fast and can reach 25 miles per hour, while going for over 100 miles per charge.

As with anything that is breaking down the walls of conventional companies, ULV has been forced to do countless hours of research on both its test track near the Ottertail plant, but develop new research to ensure safety and its ability to work for long distances. Much of the research has never been done before, meaning ULV is in a market all-by-itself at the moment. 

“I’ve been on a lot of the testing part of it,” said Nyhus. “If there hasn’t been very much research done on these things before we must be in the right market.”

While the company continues to head towards mass production, extensive research in an entirely new field hasn’t been the only hurdle the company has had to overcome.

After 2 1/2 years in development, Lee said the company that created and built the batteries used for ULV vehicles informed the Ottertail business that it couldn’t supply the batteries for the vehicles anymore and sold that portion of their company to ULV. 

As the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons you turn it into lemonade, or in the case of ULV, when a company goes out of business that has spent 2 1/2 years working on a battery for your company, purchase the business and build the batteries in another warehouse in Ottertail. 

Now ULV is not only in the business of creating luxury golf carts/low-speed vehicles, but also operates a battery manufacturing company in Ottertail as well. 

With luxury in mind, as well as its name, the vehicles are not the average run-of-the-mill golf carts. In fact, the low-speed vehicle has a price tag that rivals many new vehicles, but also comes with the opportunity to be on the ground floor of what could be a revolutionary change in the market of luxury vehicles across the country. The cost of a new ULV ranges from $50,000-60,000, but is fully electric and has many of the same features as high-end luxury automobiles, just in a low-speed version that can make a statement to those who see it on the road. 

“We are just excited,” said Lee. “When people see it the first thing they do is ask questions because they have never seen anything like this before.”

The plan is to begin mass production soon and begin delivering the preordered ULV’s in the near future. Until then, the staff at ULV are eager to share photographs, take preorders and showcase some of the prototypes that provide a real-life glimpse at what the new low-speed vehicles will look like when they begin to make their way through the production plant. Lee and Nyhus said it has been fun seeing the reaction on people’s faces when they see the vehicle for the first time and not just a picture in a magazine or book.

“When they see it in person it is a completely different reaction,” said Lee. “It is fun to see people’s reaction for the very first time.”

For more information, visit www.driveulv.com