ZAP Alias To Hit Production in '09
Electric car goes 0-60 in 5.7 sec.
ZAP might just be the most ambitious company you never heard of. ZAP (for Zero Air Pollution) is based in Santa Rosa, California, where they are trying to become players in the specialty electric car niche. This small segment is threatening to take away a great deal from the auto giants, who have seemingly dragged their feet over the years on R&D of electric vehicles. The ZAP Alias has received praise for being innovatively designed, and cost-effective, but the big question is "When will we see a production concept?"
It won't take long before the car companies like Toyota, GM, Ford, and Honda catch up to the likes of Tesla, Venturi, and ZAP. The newer all-electric automakers will have to release products within two years to take advantage of the growing sentiment that electric cars are more environmentally friendly, and cost less to use than petrol or diesel engines.
To try and speed things up, ZAP has created a joint venture with Chinese company China Youngman Automotive Group, with former Lotus Engineering CEO Albert Lam heading up the new venture.
"I am very excited to initiate this project," Lam said in a press release. "Looking at our initial project development plan and our discussion with a number of key engineering and technology partners, I believe we can go into production by the 2nd quarter of 2009. We will be using some of the existing facilities of Youngman to manufacture this vehicle."
No surprise, Lotus, which helped tremendously with the development of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, is also working with ZAP on the Alias. The Tesla Roadster is also built at the Lotus factory in England.
Early specs on the proposed Alias have the three-wheeler (two in the front, one in the back) hitting 0 - 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, with a top speed over 100 mph. The highway ready car is expected to have a range of about 150 miles. Power to the two seater comes from two in-wheel motors producing a total of 320 horsepower and 557.52 ft-lb of torque. Pricing for the car should be around $30,000, almost $69,000 less than the Tesla Roadster.
Buriend in the middle of the press release is a line stating that ZAP will "present its progress on the Alias" at the National Automobile Dealers Association conference, being held on February 9-12 in San Francisco. We're hoping ZAP well tell everybody exactly how they plan to have productin in place within 14 months.
You can reserve a ZAP Alias, or any number of other ZAP vehicles by going to their web site, www.zapworld.com.
ZAP Cooperates With Youngman on Zap Alias
Officials from ZAP (OTC BB:ZAAP.OB) and China Youngman Automotive Group announced their Joint Venture Company has initiated the RFQ (Request For Quotation) process for a vehicle project called the ZAP Alias(TM). The Joint Venture invites engineering and technology companies from all over the world interested in participating in the high performance electric vehicle project initiated in 2007.
The Joint Venture Company targets the Alias to retail at a price of $30,000 in a two-passenger vehicle with a top-speed of over 100 miles per hour and a range of at least 150 miles per charge. The goal is to bring an affordable, highway capable electric vehicle to market quickly to capitalize on surging interest for electric car technologies. There are also plans to offer options like fast charging and a hybrid range extender.
ZAP plans to present its progress on the Alias electric vehicle at North America's largest dealer conference, NADA, February 9-12 in
An affordable, highway electric car project between ZAP (OTCBB: ZAAP) and China Youngman Automotive Group initiated an RFQ (Request For Quotation) process for a vehicle called Alias(TM).
"Everyone who has seen the Alias says they want to buy one," said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider. "The performance goals are attainable because the pace of new technology is accelerating. We have worked with Lotus Engineering during the initial phase of the development project and shall again be looking forward to their support."
"I am very excited to initiate this project," said Mr. Albert Lam, Former CEO of Lotus Engineering, now Chairman of the Joint Venture Company. "Looking at our initial project development plan and our discussion with a number of key engineering and technology partners, I believe we can go into production by the 2nd quarter of 2009. We will be using some of the existing facilities of Youngman to manufacture this vehicle."
The ZAP Alias electric vehicle project was conceived via collaboration between ZAP and Lotus Engineering in 2007. The two companies carried out a feasibility study on next generation electric vehicle technologies and the Alias vehicle was announced along with a crossover SUV project called the ZAP-X, based on Lotus Engineering's Aluminum Performance Crossover (APX) demonstrator.
ZAP will distribute the Alias under a new brand name for the Joint Venture Company in
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