ZAP (whose name stands for Zero Air Pollution) has made a couple recent announcements of interest: Cash for Clunkers is available for the ZAP Xebra, and they have secured new financing for up to $25 million. ZAP has over 15 years experience with selling electric vehicles, beginning in electric bicycles…
Among the programs in todays $2.4 billion grants program to jump start electric vehicle business in the U.S. is an entry for Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. which says “ETEC and its partner Nissan will demonstrate up to 5,000 Nissan electric vehicles with a 100 mile range and deploy up to…
Aerovironment is a technology R&D organization focusing on what’s now called green technology. They have long history in developing electric vehicles and related technology, including the original prototype vehicle (the Impact) which led to GM’s EV1. Today they announced development of a high speed high power electric vehicle charging system…
Today the Obama Administration announced $2.4 billion in grants meant to accelerate development of manufacturing capability for electric vehicles and electric vehicle batteries. The grants are funding 48 new battery and electric drive projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects were selected through a competitive…
Last weekend Nissan announced the LEAF (see Nissan announces the LEAF, an affordable zero-emissions electric car), an all-electric sedan slated to go on sale sometime between 2010 and 2012. Today the Auto Express is reporting that Renault (Nissan’s partner) seems to be preparing itself to only produce electric cars. They…
It’s risky to closely examine any product which isn’t going to be available until at least 1 year into the future. The manufacturer may change some things before finalizing the product. Still Nissan has published enough information about the LEAF to give us room to examine the details and do…
(part 1: Nissan announces the LEAF, an affordable zero-emissions electric car, part 2: Range anxiety and the new Nissan LEAF EV, part 4: Turning over the Nissan LEAF (to look inside)) Dimensions Length: 4445 mm / 175.0 in. Width: 1770 mm / 69.7 in. Height: 1550 mm / 61.0 in.…
Perhaps the greenest form of transportation is walking. We’re all born with the ability to walk (well, save for the few with birth defects) and it is a very low impact way to transport ourselves from place to place. Walking is good exercise, it promotes blood circulation, and can increase…
In the past electric vehicles have had a bit of fear attached to them: What if I run out of juice and can’t recharge? AAA can’t simply dispatch a truck with a gallon of electrons to refill the tank. The fear has enough of a grain of truth behind it…
Nissan today unveiled the Nissan LEAF, an affordable zero-emission electric car. It is an EV, not a hybrid car, meaning there is no engine, nor any of the other accoutrements associated with gasoline such as the gas tank and tail pipe. While it is an electric car, Nissan stresses that…
Over the weekend of July 24-26 history was made at the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. The TTXGP/eGrandPrix electric motorcycle racing series officially launched in the U.S. (see: part 1 of this report) Seven teams attended the event, four of whom rode a bike on the track. These were exhibition rides…
What happens when quiet clean electric motorcycles show up at an annual motorcycle get-together? While one might think the hard core bikers would shun electric bikes, there is a lot of interest among both riders and the general public. It’s a new and exciting technology which some think have a…
This is an interesting week bracketed by several electric vehicle races. You may be thinking electric vehicles are slow boring golf carts that can’t possibly be good at racing, and if so there are a number of EV fanatics working to destroy that stereotype. Fortunately for this cause the founders…
Details for Why Vectrix is teetering on bankruptcy, pt. I and Why Vectrix is teetering on bankruptcy, pt. II Losing money on each bike sold: The “cost of goods sold” is the expense a company pays in order to sell their product. Vectrix had about $6 million revenue in 2008…
Why Vectrix is teetering on bankruptcy, pt. I covered the general reasoning concerning the source of Vectrix’s corporate woes. Part II relates the story told by the financial filings, and part III goes into nitty gritty details. The Vectrix corporate financial reports tell an interesting story of expensive missteps and…
