Don't hold your breath for a Zap Alias in 2008
When Zap announced plans for a new high performance electric three wheeler called the Alias earlier this summer, they indicated that it would arrive before the even more vaporous Zap-X, sometime in 2008. If you were saving your pennies for this lithium ion-powered trike, it looks like you'll have some extra time to save up. One of the features that was touted on the Alias was in-wheel electric motors produced by PML Flightlink.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Zap included a copy of a purchase order for 10,000 of these PML motors. The delivery date is listed as April 2009 and at this point no price is even specified. Also no mention is made of the Alias on the Zap website, although they are taking pre-orders for the Zap-X and even have a link to where you can get financing of it. Make of all that what you will.
[Source: Securities and Exchange Commission]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex Campbell 5:30PM (2/07/2008)
Who said the ZAP-X would be available in 2008? If you took the time to contact ZAP to confirm your facts, you would have found out they shifted priority to the Alias to get a more cost-effective EV to market sooner.
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E Tiffany 4:58AM (8/30/2008)
ZAP won't be marketing the Alias. Instead.... a new company was formed.... or, rather, a renewed 100 year old company, DETROIT ELECTRIC... which made battery-powered electric cars..... for about a 3rd of a Century. They were the best in their time. Amazingly... I can remember seeing one in Spokane WA.... when I was still an infant. It was owned by a woman who was a banker.I think DETROIT ELECTRIC also plans to build and sell a bus. Oh.... by the way.... It's a California company.
A most fascinating new development, is that the CEO of Lotus Engineering resigned.... and joined DETROIT ELECTRIC as its CEO. That seems to suggest that the car may not turn out to be the vapor-ware that other prospectively cool ZAP electric cars have been. Just the same, I saw that ZAP has sold over 5 million dollars worth of the little things they do currently market.
Lotus Engineering is developing major elements of the car... as it did for the super hot (and super expensive) Tesla. And the fact that a major contract exists with a major China vehicle manufacturer inclines to indicate that it must be a real-deal. Eh? I certainly hope so. It's a fascinating car (though, technically, a motor-cycle) Speed is good... and so is the range. And the design is awesome. I want one. I really, really, want one.
EXPECTED DELIVERY IN 2009
Estimated MSRP: $32,500
Of course the car is not present at the ZAP web site.
The new Alias web sight is below (note, this is not ZAP!) :
http://detroit-electric.com/
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Domenick 9:57PM (9/08/2007)
Oh noes!
I think the Volvo recharge will be on the road before this thing.
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Manny 12:35AM (9/09/2007)
Looks like Zap and Obvio broke up. They don't show the Brazilian cars on the Zap website anymore...
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GreenGuy 2:05PM (9/11/2007)
The Obvio is back up on the website. The whole website has been re-done so I am sure it had something to do with that. Even if it is not done until 2009 2 years is not too long of a wait.
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Alex Campbell 2:09PM (9/24/2007)
ZAP just anounced a joint venture with China Youngman Automotive Group to make electric and hybrid passenger cars, trucks and buses, as well as vehicles like the ZAP-X. The Alias is expected sooner. Perhaps the relationship with China's largest luxury bus maker will be a good match for breaking the electric car price barrier and make more mainstream high performance EVs. Stay tuned.
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darrdarr 9:44AM (12/19/2007)
No where do I see the word "air conditioning" mentioned on any of the models. I can not imagine living in the Southwest and driving any of these cars or the enclosed motorcycles anywhere but to the hospital for heat exhaustion, unless you only want to use any of them in the winter before noon. A bit expensive to have in storage most of the year.
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Doc Rings 7:54PM (1/22/2008)
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0351096.htm
And also the Alias is on their website with $5,000 deposit requests...
http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-cars/zap-alias
Cheers,
Doc
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