ZAP announces mysterious high-performance electric car

ZAP (which stands for Zero Air Pollution) announced another new entry to its electric car stable, an as-yet-unnamed sedan that will apparently sell for $30,000. The California based company claims their new model will reach a top speed of 100 mph, and will have a 100-mile range between charges. But here's where this story gets really interesting: ZAP announced a different model back in January which still hasn't seen the light of day, and AutoblogGreen questions whether the company has been using press releases as a method of increasing their stock price for short term cash-flow. Competitors like Tesla have prototypes on the road, but no such luck with ZAP, which certainly raises a number of questions, and definitely gets you thinking about the word vaporware.

Read -- ZAP press release
Read -- AutoblogGreen's take on ZAP

[pwfletcher @ Jun 23rd 2007 11:46AM]

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 ...

[kai @ Jun 23rd 2007 11:59AM]

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?

[SuperQ @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:36PM]

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.

[TedC @ Jun 23rd 2007 2:15PM]

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.

[Brad @ Jun 23rd 2007 3:51PM]

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.

[Murc @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:02PM]

yeah, when I think of zap....its those ugly and wimpy 3 wheeled cars, kinda looks like steve erkel's ride.

[rkny @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:10PM]

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!

[Deluxe @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:29PM]

Clearly you don't understand the equation!

[ CONTENT ] [ ----------- ADS DISGUISED AS CONTENT -----------]

[DVD Guy @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:01PM]

There are ads on Engadget? Never noticed.

[idk @ Jun 23rd 2007 3:13PM]

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

[ethana2 @ Jun 23rd 2007 7:57PM]

What ads? Oops. Nevermind.

[Ian Jardine @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:12PM]

This is surely the Nascar "Car after Tomorrow" or "CaT", for short.

[james @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:34PM]

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.

[Siva @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:04PM]

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.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:23PM]

Nuff Said :^)...
http://www.teslamotors.com/

[t-bone @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:54PM]

That lens flare looks awefully familiar, like the one I frequently use in Photoshop on my renderings.

[North Coast Curmudegeon @ Jun 23rd 2007 2:04PM]

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

[Brad Hill @ Jun 23rd 2007 2:23PM]

I could see these things being used on the Game Grid.

[TedC @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:36PM]

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.

[Kent Beuchert @ Jun 23rd 2007 4:09PM]

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.

[dane @ Jun 23rd 2007 6:05PM]

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.

[UGN @ Jun 24th 2007 10:36AM]

High performance electric car with a top speed of 100 mph? ya.

[Sam Abuelsamid @ Jun 24th 2007 11:35AM]

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.

[Ron Hands @ Jun 24th 2007 1:00PM]

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.

[Darwin @ Jun 24th 2007 8:15PM]

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.

[chris fredette @ Jun 25th 2007 3:16PM]

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.