Electric Cars for sale at my local Ford dealer.

Did you notice on the bottom of the compliance sticker it had written "LOW SPEED VEHICLE"?
These things don't have to comply to the same standards as your Corolla.

 

They are ugly.
But it makes you think. If very small car company like Zenn can do it, imagine what a big car company like Toyota could do.

Ogo

 

sorry, NOT MADE IN USA...

built in factory just outside Toronto. i got a 2007 for $14,500 after $2000 in battery and motor upgrades because of discount program that was in place at the time. the 2008's are more powerful, more efficient with 50% greater range, but to be honest with ya, i probably would not have bought one for that price either.

otherwise, i have a 7 mile commute, have been driving it for 14 months, my total transportation costs have been about $115... so that makes my "gas" bill to be around $9 a month..., i know people who spend that much every other day

 

because big companies have many heads to make decisions and when you get right down to it, its easy to pick apart the EV option because they do have a long way to go....

Zenn is around because one man, Ian Clifford, made the decision to smooth the bleeding edge transition into where we HAVE TO GO. he (at the time anyways) had no board to sway, no stockholders to coddle, etc...

had he been in a big company, there would be no such vehicle

 

ya, still a bit backwards. Cali still limits them LEGALLY to 25 mph although most are modified to do 35 mph and more in some cases... but more and more states are allowing the 35 mph limit

 

This is maybe a little off topic, but I'm curious to know what kind of cell phone has camera resolution that good? Very nice pics.

 

Samsung Omnia has 5 MP.... but many pixels does not always mean a good pic will result. as far as the Omnia, i have read about it but have yet to see one in action

 

Seems these ZENN's and NEV's might make good cityshare vehicles.

I've seen one on University Ave in Palo Alto, few miles from Stanford. They like to keep it plugged while in the driveway. Pretty cool.

 

The criticisms you express, along with the experience of driving just 25 miles per hour on streets where other drivers expect you to surpass 30 make the price of the Zenn seem high. That's probably why the company's total sales to this month are just 350 cars.

Zenn called unsafe at low speed

YouTube - ZENN car crash test video at 40 kph barrier impact
(airbag deployment is conspicuously absent)

Alice Video - Microcar Crash Test, a video from freakingromeo. microcar, crash, test

Lebensgefahr: Microcar-Crash - Bilder - Auto aktuell - FOCUS Online

The company is just now able to sell in their home province of Ontario, so we might soon see how these vehicles behave for ourselves. They aren't trying very hard to get the maximum speeds increased, probably because of crash protection requirements for higher speed vehicles. A redesigned city car with higher speeds will eventually come along, with more safety features built in. Until then, I wouldn't put my loved ones in this aluminum and plastic shells and take them onto public roads.

 

its very possible that it was heavily modified by someone in the US, but the price suggests that it wasnt. $17,000 is about the current going price.

as far as the crash videos go. they are scary no doubt, but most crash videos are. but i am not sure i can base my transportation decision on a "worst case scenario"...

there is a very lengthy discussion on the Zenn Yahoo group about this both for and against. not many against simply because when its the 100% sole responsibility of a human to act responsibly, the risk increases dramatically. iow, we take our lives into our own hands every single time we choose to go somewhere on our public streets.

what we drive affects that risk to a much smaller degree than we would like to believe if the only variance is what we drive... iow, unless using transportation with a supposedly trained, skilled and tested driver, the BIGGEST DETERMINING FACTOR for risk is your ability, not the size of your vehicle.

now, there is a greater safety risk by anyone who drives a vehicle significantly lighter than other vehicles on the road, and i can say from experience that it can be riskier. (up to recently, most of the transportation in my life has been biclcyle or motorcycle. i have only probably gone to more than half car or truck within the last few years)

on my bike, i have been hit by a car twice and have had a million close calls. on my motorcycle, i have been hit by a car once and my own recklessness caused me to get into 3 other accidents. i am still here, so i survived although i did walk away from one accident i realistically had no right surviving.

anyway, back to test crash videos. it maybe a coincidence that the Zenn does a max of 35 mph and the test crashes were all done at that speed. so we must be assume from that that this happens with the Zenn driving full speed into an immovable object. ok...ya, well, i failed to mention that i have been in 4 car accidents, 3 while i was driving (ya i pay a fortune in car insurance!) but in all those accidents, never did i not have time to perform some sort of maneuver to lessen the impact.

now granted, if proceeding thru an intersection and someone runs a red light and smashes into me without braking or slowing down, that is another story and i am sure my Pri with the side curtain airbags would give me a much better chance of surviving. but i am willing to gamble and say that i dont think that will ever happen to me.

 

The Zenn is a modified French Microcar, a voiture sans permis, which means it doesn't require a driver's license in France. Microcar is actually a division of the Beneteau Sailboat Manufacturer. Engines are tiny, speeds are limited and they cannot exceed a certain volume or weight. Perfect for an electric conversion.
My concern has always been the limited safety features that engineers at mass-production auto companies such as crumple zones, collapsible steering columns, robust seats and those beams in doors that keep the other car in a T-bone crash away from the occupant's pelvis. I'm an anesthesiologist at a trauma hospital, and take it from me...you want that beam in your doors.
In pursuit of fuel economy, low carbon footprints and ecofriendly vehicles, we still need to be protected from trauma, and 350 worldwide ecofriendly owners of Zenns simply just aren't. They are cute, the appeal of the electric drive is there, the promise of the Eestor system is interesting, and it's a nice start at electrifying the automobile, but more engineering needs to be done for the passengers.

 

valid concerns, but questionable process to address the concerns.

instead of adding weight to the Zenn, what about reducing the weight of all other cars on the road? make em ALL plastic. bann POV's with weight over 3000 lbs.

remove all reckless drivers, institute a "no forgiveness" policy on drunk drivers, first time caught, no drivers license FOR LIFE.

ok?? sounds good...

as far as eestor, with the additional capacity for higher speeds will come addtional safety measures as well. the eestor Zenn intro cycle will go Europe, Asia, South America and finally us. mostly because of safety regulations...

in America, it seems, its much easier to regulate than it is to expect our citizens to act responsibly... so if you are worrying about job security, dont...

our stupidity will insure your financial future

 

Safety considerations aside they make "Golf Carts" that will do 25mph or better and are modified to be street legal. Not to mention its probably at least $10,000 cheaper than the Zenn. The Zenn might be a good choice for "Northern Climates" but further south the old reliable Golf Cart modified for the street and higher MPH makes a lot more sense.