Things may be looking up for the somewhat controversial electric vehicle company "ZAP" since Mr Al Yousuf took control of the company the other day. Just after the change at the top happened, the California Air Resource Board added two ZAP models to their list of vehicles eligible for a rebate. Actually, it's the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) who hands out the cash on their behalf, as we mentioned when we told you the Vectrix was on the list. The money pile for the program has shrunk somewhat since that post and as of this writing there remains only $468,900. The rebate is worth $1,000 off the purchase of a Xebra sedan or truck and we suggest you take one for a test drive before buying.

Also in the past few days, ZAP has "acquired an ownership interest" in an electric motor company. The name of the company isn't known but we think it may well be located in China as they had mentioned working with such a company before. They seem to specialize in-wheel motors and the press release states that they are "developing a 7000-watt wheel motor for larger vehicle applications." In a departure from past ZAP practices, no prototype sketches accompanied the news but we will let you know when if the motor debuts in a new product. Press releases are after the jump.

Currently, there are a few small manufacturers marketing in the small, three-wheeled vehicle segment. Obviously, ZAP comes to mind with their electric Xebra sedan and pickup truck. Bajaj sells small three-wheeled utility vehicles here as well. It looks like we can add Trifun to that list, as they reportedly plan to sell a few thousand three-wheeled vehicles this year in the U.S.

A high quality 1 liter four cylinder engine, manufactured by GM joint venture Wuling, powers pickup truck, sedan and surrey - basically a sedan with a removable canvas top - models. Each machine also features a 5-speed manual transmission and should be capable of highway speeds. These vehicles, all of which come equipped with air conditioning standard, are expected to start just under $10 grand, placing them a bit higher than the less-speedy Bajaj units but undercutting any traditional sedan available in the states.

[Source: Trifun via Jalopnik]

Paul Niedermeyer over at TTAC got the chance to drive a ZAP Xebra pickup and his review pretty much reads as you would expect. The car is poorly assembled, slow, short range and dangerous. He goes so far as to refer to it as a motorized wheelbarrow/hair-shirt - which, despite what you think of the car, is pretty funny. Was there anything that he did like about the Xebra? Nope.

We have had the opportunity to drive the Xebra, and we also found the machine to be a bit on the slow side. We also noted the small interior and poor build quality. We still maintain, though, that the vehicle is fine for what it is. If used as a vehicle to get to the grocery store, campus, library etc, it'll do fine. If you actually plan to drive the Xebra every day, or on high-speed or high traffic roads, you should look elsewhere.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

The video above shows singer Sting checking out one of Zap's electric vehicles at EMA, the Environmental Media Awards. Sting's wife Trudie Styler won a lifetime achievement EMA and Sting tagged along for support. Sting is not the only one interested in Zap's trucks. Below the fold is a video of UPS using 42 of Zap's electric truck, Xebra, which they leased recently for use in delivering packages. Way to go Zap!

[Source: YouTube]

If crowding a bunch of school children into a Zap Xebra (remember this video?) sounds like fun to you, then perhaps a new four-door version of the all-electric vehicle will be the site of your next endeavor. Even if you just want to use the car around, town, this news might be welcomed by you. The new Xebra has been approved for use on UK roads by the UK's Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). The approval means the three-wheeled EV can go up to 40 mph on UK streets and Zap CEO Steve Schneider reminds people it's available in either a sedan or truck version. Details from Zap after the break.

[Source: Zap]

In May, Zap announced that Domino's would use a three-wheeled, all-electric Xebra to deliver pizzas in Las Vegas. Today, Zero Air Pollution vehicles announced a much bigger delivery deal: UPS is leasing 42 Xebra cars and trucks to deliver packages in the city of Petaluma in Northern California. This is but one of UPS' attempts to get off the gas. You can read the details in the links listed below, but the most unusual of UPS' varied strategies is to save $600 million by favoring right hand turns.

As described in Zap's announcement, the Petaluma UPS branch will use the Xebras for small parcel deliveries and will be incorporating the electric vehicles into the tail end of the overall distribution chain, a decision that ZAP CEO Steve Schneider says is "the missing link for small package deliveries in congested areas. ... It's a perfect example of how green technology can help corporate America's bottom line." As our tipster Domenick says, someone is taking Zap seriously.

To see a slideshow of Zap/UPS photos, click here.

Related:

• UPS fleet adds 300+ CNG and propane trucks
• UPS has goals for reducing fuel use and emissions. How is it doing?
• Brown Goes Green: UPS adds 50 new HEV trucks to delivery fleet
• UPS expects to save $600 million by favoring right hand turns

[Source: Zap, h/t to Domenick]

I was just going in for some routine maintenance on my car, when I saw a line of scooters in front of the lobby of Jessup's Automotive in LaGrange Park, IL, the mechanic my family has been going to for seven years. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the Zap! logo and remembered that these guys were now a dealer for Zap!'s products. Containing my excitement and curiosity, I went in and got started with what I came there to do, then off-handedly asked how the interest in the Zap!s was going.

Apparently, very well. Jeff Jeffries said they have had a lot of people come in and check them out, and in fact, there was a woman out for a test drive right then. He then offered me my own, an offer I couldn't turn down, whether being a shade of green or not.

Continued after the jump.

Certainly, electric cars would be accepted by more people if the time it took to charge the vehicle were roughly the same as what it takes to fill your tank with gas. While this is rather difficult to achieve, AltairNano and others are working on just that. Perhaps the closest you can come to that with your electric vehicle right this minute may be this new charging system by ZAP for their Xebra line of vehicles.

From the press release: "This new charger can reduce your charge time from hours to minutes," said ZAP Chairman Gary Starr. "Now you can drive your electric car all day with just a few short stops. In the time it takes to eat lunch you can hook your XEBRA up to the charger and have a full charge in less than an hour. Think of it as putting your XEBRA out to graze."

Some details: It connects to a 240-volt, 60 amp circuit or 208-volt, 3-phase, 50 amp circuit. This means that it will work with a 220 volt outlet, like your stove or dryer might use. The press release also says it can function on a 110 volt outlet, although that would lessen the performance of the charger.

Think of this: Would a charger like this in your home allow you to use an electric vehicle with a smaller battery pack? What is your furthest average day-trip? Let's say, 20 miles. If you had roughly a 40 mile range, like what the Volt may offer, you could drive 20 miles somewhere and 20 miles back home. Then, recharge in an hour and be able to do it again ... never using the gas powered generator.

Click past the break for the complete press release from ZAP.

[Source: ZAP via Jalopnik]

The newspaper Inside Bay Area regularly features alternative car technologies and culture (like this article on Elon Musk of Tesla or this one fuel taxes) and, with the paper situated in a place where the population is likely to embrace NEVs – which is the focus of the paper's new article on the popularity of the new Xebra and a fourth dealership opening up in the area.

The thing that struck me about this article, and the words appear in both the main text and the photo caption, is that the all-electric Xebra has "almost zero emissions." Really? What emissions does it have, exactly? The driver's breath? Heat? I understand that, most likely, the method used to generate the electricity created emissions, but that's different emissions from the vehicle itself. So what's Janis Mara (or her editor) trying to say here?

It's odd to see this kind of error in the paper's EV reporting. Perhaps this is just the writer trying to hedge her bets against charges of "long tailpipe" emissions. Or am I missing something? I emailed her to find out. Stay tuned.

[Source: Janis Mara / Inside Bay Area]

The San Francisco International Auto Show starts tomorrow (and runs through November 26) at the Moscone Center and Zap! will be showing off their newest car. Zap! will be publicly introducing the Xebra Xero, their first electric car with solar charging. They have taken their existing plug-in EV Xebra, and bolted a panel of solar cells to the roof to allow the battery pack to be charged anytime the car is in outside during the daylight. Zap! is also offering a larger solar panel charger that customers can mount on their rooftop to charge the car while it's parked in the garage. It's great to see vehicles like this being developed, but it would sure help to attract more customers if the design looked a little more integrated, instead of like one of Bre Pettis's weekend projects (no disrespect to Bre, because I love trying his projects).

[Source: Zap]

ZAP wannabe-dealer Shock Value is hoping to sell an electric 3-wheeler pickup out of its Austin, Texas, location. Shock Value is still awaiting its state dealer license, but owner John Martin is a big ZAP fan and wanted to bring the vehicle to Texas. He says Austin is a ideal city for electric transportation. Martin, a supporter of Montessori schools in the Austin area, didn't own a car as a younster, preferring to tool around on his roller blades. The vehicle shown is the XEBRA PK, which can be used as a standard truck, flat-bed delivery or dump truck.

[Source: MarketWire]

Steve Palmer is the freshest owner of a Xebra electric vehicle after submitting the winning bid of $10,800 on a recent eBay auction. While the Xebra's actual retail price is under $10,000, the squat little EVs are only sold through authorized dealers and are not available everywhere right now. Palmer said his high bid would allow him to get the Xebra faster than through the standard channels. He claimed that he "really wanted the car so my family and I could enjoy this newest technology."

What I don't fully understand is Zap's press release announcing the auction. Zap sells the Xebra in the U.S. and claimed that Palmer outbid almost eight thousand other bidders to win the car. Excuse me? Eight thousand? Since the auction has ended, the details are no longer available on the auction site, but doesn't that seem like an awful lot of people to be bidding on one of these niche cars? I mean, the Reggie Bush exclusive NFL/Rebuild New Orleans merchandise items have between 24 and 51 bids as I write this. And that's the number of bids, not bidders. Something seems odd here. But if it's true, then Zap had better get a lot of the Xebras to market pronto, is all I'm saying. We'll let you know you if Zap clears things up.

[Source: Zapworld]

Santa Rosa, California based Zap! flipped on the switch September 23, 1994. Over the years they have built up their business building and selling battery powered vehicles. Currently they are offering a range of electrically powered ATVs, scooters, dirt-bikes and cars. One of their products is called the E-Pod (how long before Apple serves them with a cease and desist for that name?) that looks like a three wheeled recumbent bike with a full tear drop shaped body which runs $9,500. They also have a range of four wheeled vehicles including the Intimidator (although judging from it's size and appearance, I doubt even a squirrel would actually be intimidated) neighborhood electric car and their new three wheeled, four door Xebra. In 2004 they also began importing and distributing the smart fourtwo to the US market. The company went public in 1996 and over the past 12 years has delivered over 90,000 vehicles to customers in 75 different countries. Most of their products are definitely niche vehicles, but if your needs fit the niche, Zap may have the vehicle for you. Congratulations to the crew at Zap! for making it this far in a tough business

[Source: Zap! Cars]

ZAP will cut the ribbon on an electric car dealership Sept. 8 at 11 a.m. in Santa Rosa, California, followed by a weekend celebrating tthe success of the XEBRA.

Voltage Vehicles will be located on Fulton Road in Santa Rosa and is Sonoma County's first sales and service center for all electric cars from ZAP. The XEBRA will be available for test drives. Steven Schneider, CEO of ZAP, will be around to discuss his product line and dealership expansion. The XEBRA is already selling in many states. ZAP also markets electric bicycles, ATVs and scooters and is first U.S. distributor of the SMART.

[Source: MarketWire]

Small and nimble will win the next segment of the auto sales race. With most of the major auto manufacturers only slowly moving away from their once-insanely popular (but now seen as gas-guzzling burdens) large SUVs to smaller cars, independent small car makers are poised to dominate the new generation of cars says Gary Starr, who founded ZAP cars in 1994. The big car companies are coming a little to late to the party, he said. It's a little bit of history repeating itself. Starr told News.com that, "No covered wagon company became a major car company, and typewriter companies didn't take over the computer industry," except IBM, which made computers before the Selectric typewriter.

However the small car market shakes out in five or ten years, we can get a taste of small cars today. News.com says that ZAP's recently released Xebra is fun to drive, even if it does have a top speed of only 40 mph and "feels like a slightly souped-up golf cart". The Xebra has a range of 40 miles, costs $9,000 and is made in China. Next year, ZAP will debut the Obvio (what kind of name is that? The Xebra at least is decorated with stripes), an ethanol-powered small car that will go from 0-60 in five or six seconds and seats three. Cost will be around $14,000 and the car will be imported from Brazil.

[Source: News.com]