[ausev] A Quandary

[Chris Robison]

Susan Whitaker wrote:

> 1) Purchase a "commercially-made" EV - The Zap Xebra
> PK is an option within my price range, but does not
> quite have the speed or range I would like (only 40
> mph top speed & 25 mile range). 

As far as these are concerned, buyer beware.

Ordinarily a vehicle of this variety would classify as an NEV 
(Neighborhood Electric Vehicle), a type of low-speed vehicle that is 
capable of a maximum of 25mph, and can only be driven legally in zones 
posted up to 30 mph. The idea is that the manufacturer can get electric 
vehicles on the road without having to pay the millions of dollars 
required for crash testing.

What Zap did to get around this restriction was to import cars with 3 
wheels (which is more common in other markets than it is here in the 
US). This means Zap can classify it as a "motorcycle", and so they can 
make it go as fast as they want without crash testing.

First, it's important to realize the reduced stability of a 3-wheeler 
with the single wheel forward (instead of in the rear). In an emergency 
situation when you're braking and swerving, this configuration is more 
likely to cause the vehicle to roll.

Second, the advertised top speed of the Xebra is basically fantasy; the 
reality is in the low 30s. Range is in the upper teens.

This review of the 2008 Xebras is pretty brutal, but amid the rhetoric 
there are some good points about Zap and their little Chinese cars:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/reviews/2008-zap-xebra-review/


I had the opportunity to chat with someone who worked for Zap back when 
they were about electric bicycles, and run by people whose hearts were 
in the right place. He was pretty upset by the management changes and 
subsequent directional changes in the company and ended up leaving. Of 
course today it's nothing at all like it used to be.

   --chris