zap

Just how many electric car start-ups are there?

I woke up today ready to write a story on the three-wheeled electric cars coming from Venture Vehicles when a question dawned on me. How many electric car and plug-in start-ups are there in the world today?

I count 16. They are: Tesla Motors (sports cars), Wrightspeed (sports cars and plug-in drivetrains for trucks), Fisker Automotive (electric sedans), Zap (low-speed and sports cars), Miles Automotive (low speed), Zenn Motors (low speed), AC Propulsion (retrofitting Scions for electric), Phoenix Motorcars (SUVs), Aptera (three-wheelers), Porteon (low speed electrics), Lightning (sports cars in England), Reva (economy cars), Ultramotor (electric trishaws), Myers Motors (freakish … Read more

Electric town car's launch paved with $60 million more

Norway's Think Global has received $60 million more in advance of the launch of its electric town car later this fall.

The company hopes to resurrect an electric town car created and later abandoned by Ford. Ford spent over $50 million designing and testing the car. The company will release the car in Norway and England in the fall and perhaps bring it to the states in 2008.

Think already raised $25 million. New investors include Rockport Capital Partners and DFJ Element.

Think's car won't be for everyone. Although it can be driven at freeway speeds, it … Read more

Couchville: TV guide 2.0

Couchville is a new Web service from the folks at SnapStream Media that provides simple, no frills TV listings. Just give Couchville your ZIP code, and a few seconds later you've got the day's programming right in front of you.

What sets Couchville apart from its competitors is a really easy to use interface, which feels a lot like Google Maps. To go in any direction, just click on the guide and drag it. This feels totally natural when you want to see what's happening later in the day, but a little unwieldy for scrolling down the … Read more

Zap goes from golf cart cars to sports cars

Zap, which specializes in electric scooters and economy cars, is jumping into the sports car market.

The Santa Rosa, Calif.-based company will try to bring an electric sports car to the market by the end of 2008 built around the APX, a concept car developed by England's Lotus Engineering. Lotus designed the APX to accommodate a gas-powered V6.

Zap said its car will go 350 miles before a charge, significantly farther than either the Tesla Roadster or the car from Wrightspeed, two other electric cars.

The car will only cost $60,000, said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider. The … Read more