Hi All,
Well, to compliment my e-bike, I just got an electric vehicle as a second car to my regular gas Ford Focus, which will now be used very rarely. The new e-car is a 3 wheel pickup truck sold by Zap. I got mine on sale for around $12K from a brand new dealer that just opened in San Jose. It has a large 180W solar panel mounted above the truck bed as can be seen in the pics. It's rated to charge the battery pack enough for about 5 miles of driving during a sunny day, but I think even more important, a solar trickle charge will help slow battery degredation to extend cycle life of the lead acid batteries. The rest of the charge is obtained from plugging into a regular 110V extension cord for about 5 hours. The range and speed is limited to city driving: 40 miles max range 40 MPH max speed, but this is far better than the NEV Neighborhood vehicles that only go 25 MPH. My friend has a 25 MPH ZENN, and it's somewhat dangerous because you get a line of cars following you, and the drivers get angry. I have not had this happen to me with the Zap, at least not yet. I'm sure there will be a guy who wants to drive 65 on the city streets, and I will then be an impediment. So far, though, I've been getting tons of smiles and thumbs-ups, especially when I'm downtown where there are throngs of pedestrians who can really get a good look at my Zap.
This little truck is amazing. The tailgate folds down as with any pickup, but also both sides also fold down, so I can have a flatbed. Perfect for Home Depot runs to get 4 x 8 plywood or sheetrock, etc. The bed lifts up dumptruck style to allow battery access as can be seen in the pics. It came with little leather seats and an MP3/CD/FM stereo.
I'm most impressed with the onboard solar charging. I plan to mount additional smaller panels along the side of the existing factory-installed large one. They will fold down when I'm driving, and will be propped up to be horizontal when I park.
Google "Zap Cars" to see more of my truck along with the sedan 4 door version on the Zap website. At $12K, this is a not-so-bad entry point for anyone to get into an EV, even if it's really best suited as a second vehicle for non freeway city driving.
Anyway, This car is very fun, and a quick way to get a reasonable off the shelf entry-level EV w/o the need and possible headache to do a home conversion of a donor vehicle. I think with conversion parts cost, and the sizable time investment of doing a conversion, buying a new Zap may be a good value.
NOTE: Because it has 3 wheels, it gets registered as a motorcycle, but you don't need to get a motorcycle driving license nor need to wear a helmet. It is more stable than 3 wheels would suggest, probably due to the low slung very heavy batteries near the rear axle.
Well, to compliment my e-bike, I just got an electric vehicle as a second car to my regular gas Ford Focus, which will now be used very rarely. The new e-car is a 3 wheel pickup truck sold by Zap. I got mine on sale for around $12K from a brand new dealer that just opened in San Jose. It has a large 180W solar panel mounted above the truck bed as can be seen in the pics. It's rated to charge the battery pack enough for about 5 miles of driving during a sunny day, but I think even more important, a solar trickle charge will help slow battery degredation to extend cycle life of the lead acid batteries. The rest of the charge is obtained from plugging into a regular 110V extension cord for about 5 hours. The range and speed is limited to city driving: 40 miles max range 40 MPH max speed, but this is far better than the NEV Neighborhood vehicles that only go 25 MPH. My friend has a 25 MPH ZENN, and it's somewhat dangerous because you get a line of cars following you, and the drivers get angry. I have not had this happen to me with the Zap, at least not yet. I'm sure there will be a guy who wants to drive 65 on the city streets, and I will then be an impediment. So far, though, I've been getting tons of smiles and thumbs-ups, especially when I'm downtown where there are throngs of pedestrians who can really get a good look at my Zap.
This little truck is amazing. The tailgate folds down as with any pickup, but also both sides also fold down, so I can have a flatbed. Perfect for Home Depot runs to get 4 x 8 plywood or sheetrock, etc. The bed lifts up dumptruck style to allow battery access as can be seen in the pics. It came with little leather seats and an MP3/CD/FM stereo.
I'm most impressed with the onboard solar charging. I plan to mount additional smaller panels along the side of the existing factory-installed large one. They will fold down when I'm driving, and will be propped up to be horizontal when I park.
Google "Zap Cars" to see more of my truck along with the sedan 4 door version on the Zap website. At $12K, this is a not-so-bad entry point for anyone to get into an EV, even if it's really best suited as a second vehicle for non freeway city driving.
Anyway, This car is very fun, and a quick way to get a reasonable off the shelf entry-level EV w/o the need and possible headache to do a home conversion of a donor vehicle. I think with conversion parts cost, and the sizable time investment of doing a conversion, buying a new Zap may be a good value.
NOTE: Because it has 3 wheels, it gets registered as a motorcycle, but you don't need to get a motorcycle driving license nor need to wear a helmet. It is more stable than 3 wheels would suggest, probably due to the low slung very heavy batteries near the rear axle.
