Zotye electric SUV: $20,000, highway speed, 100-mile range and just 60 DAYS AWAY!
I was watching a new report about Arkansas' first electric car dealership, Electric Transportation of Arkansas (you can see it for yourself below the fold). Electric car dealerships that sell low speed electric vehicles you can legally drive around most neighborhoods aren't anything new in the U.S. I was almost not going to write about it ... until the newscaster says the ETA will sell a highway-speed electric SUV for $20,000 with 100-mile range!
The ETA site just has a pdf about the car but the Spark EV site says the SUV, called Zotye, is talking orders RIGHT NOW for delivery in just 60 DAYS. Even more unbelievable is that the Spark EV site says a "fuel cell" upgrade will be available this August. I looked for more information and only found another similar, recent news report about Electric Transportation of Arkansas and Zotye. The company that makes Zotye is apparently Chinese and got clearance to go on the highway.
If anyone knows anything else, please post it in comments or see our contact page. We're quite interested in anything you have on this one! If it's actually released, the Zotye will be a very important first.
Gallery: Zotye
[Source: Spark EV tipster tim mcleod]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BillO 8:12PM (2/05/2008)
You should go back to the Spark-EV web site. It has lots of information. This is a conversion, the car arrives in the US as a gas car. The battery is lithium, but like Tesla, it consists of thousands of small cells. Unlike Tesla, the cells are distributed throughout the car. Doesn't sound that great to me.
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Dave B 11:37AM (2/05/2008)
The website says "no new orders." What's the gimmick here folks? Moving coffin? Painted with lead paint? A remote controlled car?
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Mike 11:42AM (2/05/2008)
Zoyte only builds about 20K vehicles a year and most of their vehicles are "licensed" designs of other OEMs.
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Dave 11:57AM (2/05/2008)
From the some of the news I've heard and read China is on a very agressive ramp for PHEV's and EV's due to their high demand for vehicles in general and trying to stay away from further polluting the atmoshere. After seeing the scooter info yesterday and this today it looks like China is sneeking into our market with very agreesive products ahead of equivalents made in the U.S. Also, china's prducts are much more inexpensive that what the U.S. has in the pipe, it appears?
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jake 12:36PM (2/05/2008)
@Dave B:
Yep I think those things are things a buyer should be wary about when buying any car from China. Doesn't matter so much in an NEV, but it does in a highway vehicle. Still is fairly cheap for an EV, cheaper than any in the US have been able to offer, though you can say that a custom conversion might come up with a car safer and around the same price as this one.
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calebe 12:42PM (2/05/2008)
It's a licensed copy of a circa 2003 Diahatsu Terios.
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Lascelles Linton 12:59PM (2/05/2008)
Everyone, Writing a follow up :D Great story!
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Andrew 1:27PM (2/05/2008)
Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it, especially since all of their real life photos are still in china. What's interesting when you go to the other EV tab, they are just talking, I mean, they even think the Zenn is built in Brazil ahahahaha
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tim mcleod 1:11PM (2/05/2008)
trying to stay apolitical and acultural, if there are such words, i must say i believe the chinese and indians are coming into their time, economically speaking; still struggling to get airborne, but will be unstoppable forces when they do, by sheer numbers and determination
i've watched one particular woodworking tool company (say, one named after a type of bear) take ISO 900X standards over to inexpensive chinese labor and import unbelievable value in fairly high precision tools
whether you believe it's Spark/Zoyte, or some other combination, it's only a matter of time before they gain credible market share in worldwide EV's and the competition can only improve our choices
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jake 1:18PM (2/05/2008)
@tim mcleod
They already have many inexpensive models in the NEV market. But so far it's still pretty much a niche market. While no doubt india and china can compete on price, I think they still need to turn some focus on safety to be accepted in mainstream US. The recent press about China's dismal crash performance have already given them a bad rap. I think safety is probably the single most important thing holding them back, besides from that is the quality of the vehicles. If they can get over those hurdles I think they will have a good position in the market.
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tim mcleod 1:32PM (2/05/2008)
agreed, on all points, esp safety/quality stds
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tim mcleod 1:40PM (2/05/2008)
the zenn isn't in brazil; the (modified) zenn is out on the parking lot resting up - after yielding somewhere just north of the economic equivalent of 250 mpg and the 30-mile range needed for home/work/lunch/work/home, all at 35mph uphill, 42 flat, and 51 down on $12k investment; but still had to keep the tired 11-yr-old ICE in the garage for the monthly highway drive
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James Bowe 2:15PM (2/05/2008)
I almost believed this story, until you said they'd have a fuel cell out in August. I'm callin bullshit on this one...
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meme 2:21PM (2/05/2008)
Call me dubious that they can afford that much li-poly power on a $20k *conversion SUV*, even if everything comes from China.
I'd love to be proven wrong, but well, call me dubious.
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please 2:56PM (2/05/2008)
sure.. if it were true then there would've been much more hype like the Tesla but there is no news that it passed federal crash testing and safety regulations.
And if it was a viable EV vehicle why wouldn't you spread the news if it were becoming a production car. But I doubt it is.
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Mort 2:42PM (2/05/2008)
I won't even buy a power drill that is made in China, much less a $20k car.
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Tim 3:03PM (2/05/2008)
Here's a video of the gas powered version before conversion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYQTjI1loRM
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Oracle 3:03PM (2/05/2008)
I think this guy is blowing smoke. Has anyone actually seen a review of any of the products offered by Spark-EV? Seems like all Mr. Papp does is brag about his products, and down play the other legitimate EV startups. Until a reputable source can review one of these, then I will have to throw the BS flag on this one.
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Taser 3:10PM (2/05/2008)
Reading the website about the Zotye, they import the entire gasoline-powered car; remove the engine, tank, exhaust; and, then install the electric powertrain.
Perhaps the conversion vehicle has already been crash tested.
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Kent Beuchert 3:25PM (2/05/2008)
This is a $10,000 Chinese car that won't last beyond the first battery pack. Don't be decieved - cheap li ion batteries loike these deteriorate with age, regardless of how often used and probably won't last beyond 5 years. Whether you will still be able to buy these in five years, who knows. The Spark company in all likelihood will be gone by then. And what's the prupose of an SUV that can't reach any destinations over 45 miles away (don't pay attention to those mileage figures those quoted are the abdsolute max. Run the AC and lights, windshield wipers and you'll drop 35% of the range, limiting you to destinations less than 35 miles away. This car is thus NOT in any measure a valid alternative to a gas powered vehicle.It can't even handle long commutes. And does anyone really believe that the Chinese are building viable cars? A scam, in my view, until some INDEPENDENT (i.e. non-environmentally oriented) observer can provide some guidance and evaluation. All the Chinese cars I'm aware of are pure crap.
Getting excited over a vehicle just because it's electric is pretty dumb.
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