ZENN Motor Company

The ZENN Motor Company is a Canadian-based company that develops small, purely electric vehicles. Their initial focus was to develop cars suitable for the neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) market. This was to be a stepping stone for developing freeway-capable vehicles, which could not be mass produced at that time. The company currently produces the ZENN vehicle.

Founding and history

Ian Clifford, a professional photographer, found it difficult to purchase an electric vehicle for operation in Canada. With no success with either GM's EV1 or Toyota's RAV4 EV, he formed a small company whose goal was to combat the effects of climate change.

The company designed its first prototype vehicle, the Dauphine Electric, in the year 2000, based on the French economy-class combustion-based Renault Dauphine. By 2001 the all-electric prototype went on display at the Toronto International Auto Show.

To avoid creating vehicles from scratch, they decided to reuse the infrastructure developed by Microcar of Europe. Microcar manufactures a small, lightweight diesel-powered vehicle, suitable for inner-city excursions. They initially acquired 10 Microcar vehicles without any internal combustion components attached (called a "glider"). The glider was fitted with the appropriate electric components to create the NEV product.

However, the long-term goal of ZENN (to develop a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine) would not be met until a high-energy, solid-state battery could be produced. In 2001, EEStor was founded, completely independent of ZENN, to accomplish that very goal. A number of investors took interest in the technology developed by EEStor (including ZENN, Google, and Amazon). By 2008, EEStor was committed and poised to develop the keystone of the electric vehicle: a battery that offers electric vehicles 800 kilometres/497 miles per charge, with a three to five minute charge time, and millions of charges.

Vehicles

Their current main product is the ZENN low-speed vehicle.

However, they have recently mentioned a new vehicle that can drive at highway speeds called the CityZenn in a press release that stated "The cityZENN is planned to be a fully certified, highway capable vehicle with a top speed of 125 KPH/ 80 MPH and a range or 400 kilometres/250 miles. Powered by EEStor, the cityZENN will be rechargeable in less than 5 minutes, feature operating costs 1/10th of a typical internal combustion engine vehicle and be 100% emission-free! The Zero-Emission, No-Noise cityZENN will be designed to meet the transportation requirements of a large percentage of drivers worldwide." [ [http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=837653 ZENN Motor Company Details Plans for Highway Capable ZENN Powered by EEStor! ] ]

Showrooms

An electric-car showroom could be opening this year at Sacramento, California. Developer and parking magnate Aaron Zeff has acquired the glass-walled building at the southwest corner of 17th and I streets and is negotiating for a dealership with Zenn Motor Co., a Canadian manufacturer of low-speed electric cars. [ [http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=101846&topicId=104970025&docId=l:788745757 Error - LexisNexis® Publisher ] ]

On 2008-10-04th, ZMC will begin sales operations in Canada. The Official launch will take place at its manufacturing facility in Saint-Jerome, Quebec [http://www.zenncars.com/media/press_rel/09_08/Canadian_debut_date.pdf] .

References

External links

* [http://www.zenncars.com Official website]
* [http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/eestor_capacito_1.php EEStor capacitors]
* [http://media.cleantech.com/2031/zenn-electric-cars-are-cleared-for-canada ZENN electric cars cleared for Canada]
* [http://www.iwantazenn.com Support for legislation change in Canada to allow Zenn Cars to be sold here.]