Vaporware and failed EV companies

[Toshi]

For amusement's (and disappointment's) sake, I'm going to waste a bit of time listing EV companies from the recent past who have offered up nothing but vaporware, or have folded completely with nothing to show. I fear charlatans and false promises have been more common than actual, shipping, viable products in this still-nascent field.

How I'm going to go about this is to go chronologically through my thread over on Ridemonkey.com, the alternative personal transportation thread, and then look up the current status of the companies about which I'd posted so glassy-eyed in the past.

First up:



Clever Cycles Stokemonkey. Current status: Out of production indefinitely as of 2011.

[Toshi]

Thunderstruck Jackal. Current status: Out of production. Thunderstruck EV itself is reduced to selling generic Chinese-sourced light EV motorcycles and scooters.

[Toshi]

Vectrix. Current status: Bankrupt in 2009 after booking more expenses per unit sold than revenues, then reborn in 2010 under new ownership? Or is it stillborn? Their press page has nothing since 2011...

[Toshi]

Aptera. Current status: Bankrupt as of December 2011.

[Toshi]

Nissan Cube Hybrid. Yes, a hybrid was originally promised. Current status: We get a Cube... with a standard ICE drivetrain yielding 27/31 mpg.

Also, where is my damn Nissan Land Glider already?

[Toshi]

Mercedes-Benz GLK Bluetec Vision Hybrid (diesel-electric). Current status: Vaporware through and through, although the GLK will get a non-hybrid Bluetec diesel for the 2013 model year... supposedly.

[Toshi]

GMC Holding Corp, which claimed to have 2nd-law-violating "free energy" technology. Current status: Prosecuted by the SEC in 2008 for fraud.

[Toshi]

ZAP Alias. While ZAP is apparently still in business importing Chinese crap at ludicrous markup rates, the Alias remains vaporware.

[Toshi]

Yamaha Electric Commuter EC-02. Current status: Briefly sold then discontinued in Japan, never for sale in the US in any form.

More concepts that never materialized from Yamaha:

[Toshi]

Mahindra Scorpio diesel-electric hybrid. Current status: Vaporware, as is the entire Mahindra lineup in the US. So much for even the small chance of having a compact pickup with a small diesel and a stick shift.

[Toshi]

iShoes. Current status: Out of business, apparently, with a dead domain name.

[Toshi]

Better Place. Current status: Vaporware outside of a Tokyo cab demonstration project, afaik.

[Toshi]

Green Vehicles TRIAC. Current status: Green Vehicles went bankrupt in 2011, in a particularly ugly case. The city of Salinas, in particular, is out $500k.

[Toshi]

Th!nk city. Current status: Th!nk Global went bankrupt in 2011.

[Toshi]

Toyota FCHV-adv, acting as proxy for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in general. Current status: The Honda FCX Clarity is available for lease in SoCal, where there exist one or two hydrogen fueling stations, but for everyone else in the world and every other marque fuel cell vehicles are still entirely vaporware.

[Toshi]

Toyota Prius PHEV. Current status: Originally promised to ship in 2010, it's shipping finally in 2012. Better late than never, I suppose. Same goes for Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf release dates, both of which were comically false.

[Brentis]

Not Vaporware as they did sell a few examples.
Maybe a few years ahead of their time.(early 00's)
The electric scoot that first caught my attention.
Voloci

Voloci.jpeg (9.21 KiB) Viewed 428 times

Voloci 1.jpg (15.52 KiB) Viewed 428 times

voloci-Rear Linkage Suspension..JPG (100.2 KiB) Viewed 428 times

Still has the ideal mechanical layout to my eye.

[Toshi]

Volvo C30 EV, Smart ED, Toyota/Scion iQ EV, birds of a feather. Current status: Vaporware from the consumer standpoint, with limited test runs available only for internal testing or testing in utility company fleets.

[Toshi]

VW "1 liter car", aka XL1. Current status: Vaporware, although at least [url=http://www.autoblog.com/2012/03/19/groundbreaking-pre-production-volkswagen-xl1-caught-testing-on-t/]VW seems to be continuing to test prototypes/a prototype[url]:

[Quajochem]

More more! Love this hehehe

[Toshi]

Saturn Vue PHEV. Current status: Dead as a doornail (as is Saturn itself) despite having been promised as a 2009 model.

[Toshi]

Toyota Winglet and Honda U3-X. Current status: Vaporware of the most ethereal kind.

[Brentis]

Failed EV company GM
With the EV1 they could have been ruling the road @ this point.

EV1's.jpeg (41.55 KiB) Viewed 427 times

Instead they collected & crushed there own future, for a couple more decades of pick em' up trucks.

[Toshi]

Tesla City Car. Current status: Promised for 2010, still vaporware. The Model S is in prototype form, at least, but the city car is years out even now, under the not-so-safe assumption that Tesla itself won't go belly-up.

[Toshi]

Mazda REEV. Current status: Rumored to be in development in 2008, vaporware to this date. Instead we get a crappily-outfitted CUV with "Skyactiv G" and a powertrain refresh for the Mazda3.