ZAP announces mysterious high-performance electric car
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jun 23rd 2007 11:01AM
posted Jun 23rd 2007 11:01AM
Read -- ZAP press release
Read -- AutoblogGreen's take on ZAP
posted Jun 23rd 2007 11:01AM
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There is a Zap dealership by my house. The only thing that they sell are those ugly 3 wheeled electric cars that look like the retarded younger brothers of the soviet eastern block cars of the 1970's that you used to be able to trade a pair of jeans for. This company will soon be filing for BK ...
yet another electric car of the future that will stay consistantly *in the future.*
here's a poll: how many people have actually seen a fully electric car on the road?
I have.
1. A co-worker of mine has a pair if electric honda civics. They're a bit old and still use lead-acid batteries.. but they work.
2. I've seen the wrightspeed X1.. it's amazing.
Electric cars aren't only "in the future"; they're also in the recent past. I recommend the documentary WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? It turns out that an excellent electric car was available once, and GM did everything it could to squash it. There are no serious technical obstacles to an all-electric car (the way there are with flying cars); it's purely a perception problem.
I'm sorry, but that is a downright awful documentary. Who killed the electric car? BASIC ECONOMICS. The car cost nearly $80,000 to make and was sold for $25,000 so that GM could up their Average Fleet Emissions rating. Once they got their fleet up to the EPA standards they didn't need to continue selling the car at a massive loss. Couple that with the cost to maintain a bunch of cars with batteries that only lasted 4 years and cost $30,000 to replace? No, it's not a conspiracy. The EV-1 was a trick to get around environmental legislation. Companies will always release a product where there's sufficient demand.
yeah, when I think of zap....its those ugly and wimpy 3 wheeled cars, kinda looks like steve erkel's ride.
Engadget is dangerously close to having a full 50% of vertical space taken by ads and links. The other gadget site is getting worse too.
I'm pretty sure Gothamist is as popular if not more so than Engadget, yet seems to flourish with much less screen real estate devoted to ads.
C'mon Engadget...leave some room for the content, lest we start to look for or create another site for our gadget news!
Clearly you don't understand the equation!
[ CONTENT ] [ ----------- ADS DISGUISED AS CONTENT -----------]
There are ads on Engadget? Never noticed.
Wow,I never noticed it either, since i never look in the middle!
The way my pc shows the page is like this.
[-------------ad(s)-------------]
[----Article----][ads][--links--]
[-------------ad(s)-------------]
[-------------links-------------]
I hardly even notice the ads unless those annoying ones pop all over what your reading!
Now about the topic! Yes, ZAP cars are ugly! And this one shows just how ugly cars MIGHT be in the future. I hate that look! Which is odd since I like the look of the caddilac CIEN
What ads? Oops. Nevermind.
This is surely the Nascar "Car after Tomorrow" or "CaT", for short.
shut up. no one wants to go to your stupid site. stop spamming with dumb comments so you can pimp your terrible site.
go and die quietly somewhere.
Starting this summer, at least two Tesla's will be on the road extensively (daily driven by the CEO and by the chairman). By October or November, they will be delivering the vehicles to the first 400 customers. So, yes, by next year you will see plenty of Tesla roadsters on the road. Even though I cannot afford it, I am really excited that this is happening.
Nuff Said :^)...
http://www.teslamotors.com/
That lens flare looks awefully familiar, like the one I frequently use in Photoshop on my renderings.
ZAP has a long history of law suits, questionable claims, and press releases for stuff that never happens. They've been delisted from stock exchanges, have sued the Sonoma County Fair over a children's coloring contest. They sell repo cars and a cheap Chinese 3 wheel electric car out of a rundown facility in a rural area of Sonoma County.
Check out the story here - http://tinyurl.com/yru4cw
I could see these things being used on the Game Grid.
After realizing how misleading ZAP's claims about their ZAP-x are, I wouldn't believe anything this recent refugee from brankuptcy protecion says. It turns out that there are several ZAP-x models - ZAP quotes the good characteristics only, even though they are often incompatble. For example, their $60,000 price quote doesn't apply to the claim of a 350 mile range - that is for a much more expensive model, etc. and the penny per mile is only for nighttime recharges in those few places wher 5 cent electricity is vailable. Rates in California (location of ZAP) during te daytime are 15 cents, three times as much, and 10 minute recharges 1) only apply to the smaller battery pack, and 2) can't be accomplished at home, so will be at at a much higher retail rate, probably 4 or 5 times what they quote elsewhere. I've seldom seen so many misleading statements in advertising, which is saying something.
The Prius was initially sold for less than the manufacturing cost; this will be true of any competitor to traditional cars, which have an enormous economy of scale working to their advantage. And all-electric vehicles will certainly reach a break-even point sooner than the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that the Bush administration was promoting.
ZAP is a stock scheme, in my opinion. They trade stock for credit at nearby restaurants so their executive staff can eat free. I smell a rat.
High performance electric car with a top speed of 100 mph? ya.
Actually, a high performance is not an oxymoron. Electric motors have excellent torque characteristics and are great for getting a vehicle moving. The problem is getting performance, range and low cost. Right now you can have any two but not the third. The main cost and range impediment is the battery technology. Hopefully in the next 3-4 years the cost of lithium ion batteries will com down to a point where EVs with decent range are affordable.
How much more pollution is created at the electric plant when charging an electric car? As much as a gasoline car does driving down the road. Electric cars do not equal zero pollution. It's sad that most people don't understand this.
Which is why it would be cake to convert gas stations over to battery-charging stations where you could swap out for standardized batteries as one would for propane tanks at the hardware store (yeah, I pimped this concept in another article).
We'd need:
A generator that is optimized for maximum extraction per gallon of gas to charge their standardized bricks.
Standardized battery bricks.
Cars that are designed around a standard size.
OMG there is more bunk here that I care to mention.
Not only did the EV1 cost $80k but it cost 1 Billion, with a "B" to develop. It was also a slow 2 seater with poor range. Please.
And who mentioned that stupid Tesla thing. $100k and it barely eaks out 200 miles(probably less in the real world.) and it is a 2 seater too. That's nice for my 5th car, maybe. And that is ultra light with the best battery tech. And who said there will be 400 on the road? ooo, that's as many people that can afford to waist $100k. When you take it to the track how do you recharge it? Run a cord out your hotel window?
Electric is currently dead before it even starts. You need at least twice the longevity at 1/4th the price and I don't see that happening anytime soon.