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My Pursuit of the Ultimate EV

Blog Entry

ZapWorld Cars

Friday, May 23rd 2008 @ 3:04 PM post viewed 2088 times

Looking at one of the few available electric cars on the market today, http://www.zapworld.com now offers a product called the "Xebra", a dorky (dorky is the new cool) looking electric car with what appears to be technology from the 70's. But hey, it is an electric car available today, in the USA.

First a little on the company. The guy in sales seemed very anxious to get me off the phone. What's up with that? he is in SALES! he referred me later to a dealership that is a few states away from me. Apparently there is no online listing of dealerships. That first impression concerned me.

Now the cars. They offer two cars that peaked my interest: the Xebra and the Alias, currently a concept car expected out n the "2nd or 3rd quarter of 2009" according to the salesperson from ZAP. For now, let's ignore this one because they don't even have a production model -- or even a photo of one. Just a CAD drawing.

The Xebra. This is a 3 wheelin' non-pimped-out econobox that will run you about $11k. Not too bad, but very bare bones. It comes in colors that one can only assume were chosen by the owner's great aunt (update: there are other colors -- at least white available, just not advertised on the website). This car uses lead acid batteries -- very old technology, in fact, around before the word "technology", but still used by many EVs today. It does go 'up to' 40 mph -- the salesman on the phone kept on stressing "that is ideal conditions", which after some back and fourth, meant down a very steep hill. It gets 25 miles to the charge, which really is not too bad for zippin round the hood (however far from ideal for a drive-by, unless the targets are all on foot).

For a few thousand bucks, I would be willing to play with this one, but for just under $12k, I think I will keep looking for now.

UPDATE: I spoke with a local VT dealership. This guy was a friendly "old timer" who knew very little about the car. Apparently the ZAP cars are just one of their many lines of cars they sell. He did tell me that they keep just one car in stock, and that they sold one car to a guy in NY several month ago. Ok, so these cars are not huge sellers. When I confirmed that it is a four seater, he did throw in the fact that these cars have a "300 pound load weight limit". 300 pounds??? I weight 205. The salesman added "Don't forget, these cars are made in China". Sure, they are made in China, but for Americans. Even if they were made for Chinese, the average Chinese person weighs a heck of a lot more than 75 pounds.

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Comments

Videojester said on Saturday, May 24th 2008 @ 9:19 PM:

Don't miss the Wired article about ZAP, at http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-04/ff_zapped. Whether it's all true or not, it makes you think twice about the company -- which is too bad, given they are, as you say, "one of the few available electric cars on the market today"

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Bo Bennett
Tuesday Host
Group Administrator

Bo said on Sunday, May 25th 2008 @ 8:49 PM:

I got this response back from a representative of ZAP:

Wired wrote a completely slanted article citing one sided comments from disgruntled former employees and failed dealers. We knew they were writing a negative article and did not cooperate except to have several erroneous facts stricken from the article. All that remains is speculation and opinion and indeed lies. These individuals represent at least two competitive companies, which is unethical journalism to leave out facts like this. That's just for starters. It was a very well coordinated attack to discredit the leading EV company. If anything it was intended to put doubt in the minds of the media and our dealers. If you want to find out the true story, feel free to contact me.

I am anxious to hear the other side. Like you said, they are one of the two places you can get an EV TODAY in the US. It would be great to know there is a solid company behind the cars.

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Videojester said on Tuesday, May 27th 2008 @ 11:02 AM:

Regarding the "dorky is the new cool" concept: it's interesting that Tesla just went with "cool," which is the safer way to go. The Zap Xebra is definitely a head-turner, but if you think dorky is just dorky, you might not want to be seen in one, even if you are excited about spreading the word about EVs.

With the Zap Alias, it looks like the company may have come to the same conclusion -- much more "Batman," much less "Mr. Bean." (Now if it just lives up to its hype....)

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DanaAndrei said on Monday, July 4th 2011 @ 10:39 AM:

It sounds great to me and as long as it's affordable I am definitely in the game. It's not the ideal car if you need space though... a class B van is a better fit for that. I'll have to decide between the two options when I'll get full information about both.

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