Russ Steele
Last night I was reading the latest issue of Wired Magazine, enticed by the article on Apples Evil Genus, when I discovered this article on the failure of ZAP to deliver on it's promise of electric cars for the masses. Hype Machine: Searching for ZAP's Fleet of No-Show Green Cars.
Then this morning, this report from the San Diego Union-Tribune indicating CARB is backing down on the zero emission electric vehicles.
A staff report recommends that the board greatly reduce the required number of purely electric vehicles that automakers offer for sale and instead focus on more readily available and less expensive hybrids that would still cut pollution dramatically. It's a difference that would save the auto industry more than $2 billion through 2017.
Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said any new approach must reflect the limits of technology but at the same time steer automakers toward adding electric and fuel-cell-powered cars to their fleets.
It appears the ZAP cars imported from China have a few problems. The all-electric sedans did not come close to achieving the 40-mph speed and 40-mile range, and they stalled on steep hills and, worst of all only had a range of less than 20 miles. Buyer of these electric car were an unhappy lot.
Nevada City is buying electric cars in their quest to become green. It will be interesting to see how well these electric cars work in the steep hills of Nevada City, and if they have the advertised range. It is true the cars Nevada City is buy are not ZAP cars. Could it be that CARB realized that electric cars are flat land vehicles, and many of us live in the hills, thus a smaller market for electric vehicles? Or, could it be that 40 miles round trip range is not very practical in spread out California.
