There are a lot of ways to make an electric car. Greg Zanis decided his should eschew all traditional design ideas and built an EV that looks like something out of an '80s science fiction movie. As you can see in the picture to the right, the ZANIS 1 is a pyramid-shaped EV. Zanis must have made the vehicle road-legal, because he told the Kane County Chronicle he drives it about 10 miles a night. The car has neon lights rimming the bottom and bulletproof windows. The unusual shape isn't the only thing that sets this electric car apart - it's also heavy as heck, weighing four tons. Those 8,000 pounds come from 80 (!) batteries and four motors. Building the thing (and yes, I think thing is a good word for the ZANIS 1) cost Greg $60,000 and took 18 months. While the ZANIS 1 was based on pyramid RC cars, it is just a stepping stone to the ZANIS 480, another pyramid car that Zanis wants to build, this one with 480 batteries.
I'll let the Chronicle describe Zanis' plans for the 480:
Zanis envisions a pyramid car that could be parked in the base of a 65-foot-tall garage covered with solar panels with a cone-shaped windmill at the top.Is he for real? 65-feet-tall garages? 480 batteries weighing heaven know how much? I know the Tesla Roadster has like 6,000 batteries, but they're small. All I gotta say is that I want a ride in this thing.
Sun and wind power would charge the batteries that run the car.
His car would be safer, more energy efficient than others on the market, and would reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels, he said.
"They don't design cars to save a life, they just never have," Zanis said. "Build a car like a tank or a total road cage all the way around you. That's why it's a one-seater. It has pre-inflated air bags all around you. And also an air bubble in the nose cone ... It has half-inch thick bullet-proof glass that will withstand a freight train hitting it. So when you're in the car, you're already safer."
[Source: Kane County Chronicle via EVWorld]
1. This is just stupid.
Posted at 12:57AM on Feb 16th 2008 by Joe