The Zap Alias and Zapino Electric Scooter
Earlier this week I discussed emissions standards and touched base on the PZEV, SULEV, ULEV and LEV standards. One of The Green Motorist’s readers reminded me about the ZAP vehicles. ZAP stands for Zero Air Pollution and the company sells electric scooters, bikes, all-terrain vehicles and even an electric outboard motor.Â
The company’s strategy, according to their website, “is to serve the growing and underrepresented consumer that seeks fuel efficient vehicles.â€Â The website then continues on to say “ZAP has assembled a complete line of products to meet the growing demands of the environmentally conscious consumer…â€Â Today I’m going to introduce the readers of The Green Motorist to two of the ZAP products that may pique your interest.
ZAP Alias
The sleek-looking ZAP Alias is expected to be produced in 2009 and currently holds a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $32,500. This three-wheeled vehicle is expected to have a 0-60mph time of 7.7 seconds with a 100 mph top speed. This electric vehicle should have a range of 100+ miles on a charge and the vehicle will weigh just over 1612 pounds.Â
ZAP has a presentation available on the Investor Ideas website which details a bit more about why the vehicle is being produced. Naturally America’s dependency on oil and the ever-increasing oil prices are a big part of it. However, the presentation goes on to discuss the “Asia Factorâ€: Asia’s demand for oil is expected to double by 2030 and half of a million people per week will be moving from rural areas to the cities.  Consumers interested in the ZAP Alias can reserve a vehicle directly on their website.
Zapino Electric Scooter
For college students and other short-distance city commuters, the Zapino Electric Scooter is a perfect fit for your daily commute. The scooter has a list price of $3,495 and can reach speeds up to 30 mph with a 30 mile range per charge. The Zapino comes in five colors including pink! Owners of the Zapino will sleep easy knowing that the scooter comes with a six month warranty.
ZAP has been in the electric vehicle market for 13 years and has produced 100,000 electric vehicles which are used in more than 75 countries around the world.
|
Filed Under: General |
|
If you enjoyed reading this article... Subscribe to Our Feed |
Loading ...
Zap does have a pretty long-running reputation in making EVs, but this would be their first foray into a non NEV-style vehicle for highway use. Most EV manufacturers are coming out with new models in the next year, primarily due to new lithium-based batteries. However, I remain very skeptical about this particular machine since Zap hasn’t made a tadpole-design vehicle in quantity before and they specialize in low speed fleet vehicles.
This vehicle represents everything that Zap has never been: fast, sleek and sporty. If Zap is successful at producing one of these (I’ve never been able to find a real picture or video of the “actual” prototype) it will represent a fundamental change in the company. I hope it’s for real, but it could kill them since tadpole competitors are everywhere, including Aptera, NMG, and the most potent IMHO, the Triac.
Hey Scott, thanks for the comment. I did find it odd that I didn’t see any pictures, just the CAD video. For a vehicle that is supposed to be released next year, you’d think that there would be pictures of a physical prototype.
I found a very interesting article about the Zap company. It’s a hard hitting expose of Zap in general from Wired Magazine.
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-04/ff_zapped
Wow, I hadn’t seen that before. I was a subscriber of Wired for several years and must have skipped over that article. Eye-opening, for sure!
Here’s an exclusive video of the Zap Alias, along w/ chassis @ Zap’s headquarters:
http://smashgods.com/2008/08/08/zap-alias-video-exclusive-three-wheeled-all-electric-sports-car/
[...] Wilkey North Industrial Park in Franklin, Kentucky may be the future manufacturing home of the ZAP Alias. In cooperation with Integrity Automotive, ZAP has broken ground on a new facility that will be [...]
The ZAP looks AMAZING, I need to check those videos out as well. Love the style.