California Air Resources Board Offers EV Incentive for Agriculture, ZAP Electric ATV Qualifies

ZAP's all electric ATV is eligible for a 25% sales rebate from California

SANTA ROSA, California (October 22, 2010) – A new electric all terrain vehicle (ATV) from ZAP (OTC BB: ZAAP) is eligible for a 25 percent sales rebate from the State of California Air Resources Board, under a program to support the use of electric vehicles from agriculture. On September 16, 2010 the rebate amount increased from 15 percent to 25 percent of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Wired Winery - ZAP DUDE Electric ATV

ZAP’s DUDE all-electric ATV is ideal for agricultural operations, like wineries, dairies, farms, ranches, wholesale, nurseries, raising and harvesting of crops from soil, the raising of fowl or animals, logging and forestry operations.

The $1.1 million Zero-Emission Agricultural Utility Terrain Vehicle (Agricultural UTV) Rebate Project is intended to encourage and accelerate the use of zero-emission work vehicles for use in California agricultural operations, as defined by ARB’s Regulation for In-Use Off-Road Diesel Vehicles.  The program provides rebates for the purchase of new, eligible all terrain and utility vehicles on a first come, first serve basis. Rebates for these vehicles are now available through the Agricultural UTV Rebate Project and implemented statewide by the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD).

“ZAP’s participation in this rebate project is providing eligible California consumers with a clean technology option at a time when our state needs it most,” said Lucina Negrete, Manager Air Quality Implementation Section Mobile Source Control Division.

Eco-friendly yet powerful, the ZAP DUDE is a 4X2 designed to handle heavier jobs at an MSRP of $5,495.00.  The 4000 watt, 8 horsepower electric motor can tow up to 650 lbs. and drives the Dude up to 25 MPH. The entry-level Dude can travel up to 25 miles.  Range will vary significantly depending on hill grade, speed, rider weight and other factors.  The batteries can be recharged using the on-board charger at any standard outlet.  The Dude has a front and rear cargo rack capacity of 100 lbs. each and a rider weight capacity of 290 lbs. and uses rugged steel construction.

ZAP DUDE working at a dairy.

While the ZAP Dude is ideal for agrarian tasks and hunting/outdoor sports, it is also a handy, reduced-noise utility vehicle for parks, zoos, campuses, sports stadiums, facilities golf courses, maintenance, and security.  With reduced engine noise, the Dude allows hunters to more easily approach game.  Because it creates no tailpipe emissions, the ZAP electric ATVs can be used safely indoors as well.

Electric ATVs offset many of the objections leveled at gas models.  Electric motors produce substantially less noise than their gas counterparts.  They help save money with electricity costing about one cent per mile versus ten cents or more per mile for gasoline. Research shows that electric motors have less maintenance with fewer moving parts subject to wear and tear, with no oil changes, spark plugs or tune-ups required.

Electric ATVs operate at much lower temperatures compared to internal combustion models, so riders have little worry of burning their legs or sparking a brush fire. ZAP recommends riders always wear a helmet and use their ATVs only off-roads.

About ZAP

ZAP has been a leader in electric transportation since 1994, delivering over 117,000 vehicles to consumers in more than 75 countries. ZAP manufactures a line of electric vehicles, including electric city-cars and trucks, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, and ATVs. ZAP sells some of the only electric city-speed cars, trucks and vans in production today and is developing a freeway capable electric vehicle called the ZAP Alias. For product, dealer and investor information, visit http://www.zapworld.com.

Media Contact:

Alex Campbell, ZAP
+1-707-525-8658 x 241
acampbell@zapworld.com

Golf Course Maintenance.

SOURCE:

California Air Resources Board

Earth2Tech’s Green Overdrive Visits ZAP Electric Vehicles

Al Unser Jr. being interviewed at ZAP by Earth2Tech

A video production team from Earth2Tech Media’s Green Overdrive came out to ZAP on Monday to test drive our latest vehicles and meet ZAP Alias XPRIZE driver Al Unser Junior.  Katie Fehrenbacher and Chris Albrecht also caught up with ZAP CEO Steve Schneider and Founder Gary Starr.

Fehrenbacher acknowledged that ZAP is one of the oldest electric vehicle companies out there and asked Starr about ZAP’s initial approach.  Starr said ZAP started in 1994 by focusing on affordable electric vehicles, introducing electric bicycles, scooters, ATVs, trucks, then eventually cars.  During the segment Fehrenbacher has some fun on ZAP’s smallest EV, the wheel motor driven ZAPPY3 electric scooter.

ZAP also presented its new project with China’s Jonway Auto, an all electric SUV project launched a year ago.  Fehrenbacher brought up ZAP’s recent acquisition agreement to acquire a majority share in Jonway Auto with the right to acquire the rest by next year.  They went for a drive at freeway speeds in the ZAP Jonway all electric A380, a test drive eerily reminiscent of a video taken in December 2009.  Fehrenbacher asked how fast the electric SUV goes and ZAP engineer Joe Rajakaruna pointed out that they have never focused on top speeds, because for ZAP’s target market the focus is to comfortably travel freeway speeds, and indeed at minute 2:30 in the video Fehrenbacher estimates they easily reach 60 MPH.  The ZAP Jonway electric A380 is the official electric vehicle of the U.S. Pavilion at the World Fair in Shanghai.

Steve Schneider

Later Fehrenbacher caught up with CEO Steve Schneider, touching on media reports critical of ZAP’s “failures” in delivering electric vehicles, a question that completely ignores the fact that ZAP has delivered over 117,000 of a broad range of electric vehicles from bikes, to scooters, to trucks.

Q: Katie Fehrenbacher: You talk a little bit about being misconstrued as a marketing company and a little bit about some of ZAP’s failures – SS: Mis-categorized — in being able to scale up manufacturing wise and I think there’s been a variety of dates missed on commercial productions that’s been widely reported…”

A: Steve Schneider: And I don’t think if you looked at any other auto manufacturer that is introducing a vehicle, that the dates that we targeted, (and we’re not a manufacturer; we had the contracts but we had third parties to deal with besides ourselves, but I don’t think you could come up with a manufacturer that hasn’t come out with a product that has missed their target date and had control of their manufacturing), we never had control of our manufacturing, so we always gave the target dates that our contract manufacturers had given to us.  And so, because of those things and missing those target dates, we focused very heavily in the last 18 months to have our own manufacturing capacity so that we can control that.  We still might miss a target date like everyone else, but at least we’re in control of it, we were not in control of it before.

Despite the inquiry on ZAP’s ability to deliver electric vehicles, there is no mention in Green Overdrive’s video of its most popular EV currently, the ZAP XL electric truck.  ZAP recently sold a small fleet of electric trucks to the City of Riverside.  Likewise, there was no mention of ZAP’s engineering contract with the U.S. Postal Service to convert one of its Long Life Vehicles to run on electricity. Obviously there is much more going on at ZAP than you can cover in a 5 minute video.  You can watch a 30 minute tour of ZAP by Steve Schneider on YouTube that covers the XL truck and USPS contract.

Al Unser Jr. with the ZAP Alias electric car

Finally, Fehrenbacher interviewed Al Unser Jr., two-time winner of the Indy 500 and co-driver for the ZAP Alias team entered in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE.

Katie Fehrenbacher: So you’re doing this partly for environmental reasons, becoming a do-gooder after a lifetime of driving race cars.

Al Unser Jr.: I’m doing this mainly to develop the automobile in the area of alternative fuels and getting away from the addiction to the petroleum products.

KF: What do you think of it compared to a gas based car?

AU: I loved it , the major difference first and foremost is how quiet it is; there’s just no sound coming out of it. And it’s instant power, I noticed that the torque is very high on it, when you drive the car, it drives just like a regular car, except again for how quiet it is, it’s just super quiet.

KF: You think that’s a good thing, you don’t miss the big, booming engines?

AU: Not at all.

Learn more about the ZAP Alias Team entered in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE on their Team Blog.

See more at Earth2Tech’s Green Overdrive.