Comments on: Automaker aims to bring clean cars to the masses

Will ZAP's ethanol and electric minicars be a hit on the road? If anything, they are fun to drive.
Photos: ZAP cars scream green

[johndunk]

typo?

"and a gas car that gets 50 miles an hour, making it cleaner than other gas cars."

did you mean 50 mpg? And if so, why do you equate fuel efficiency with cleanliness?

[Macsaresafer]

mpg

Fuel efficiency does equate with cleanliness because the more fuel
burned to generate power, the more CO2 and other pollutants that
enter the atmosphere.

[sabot96]

Kings of Hype

I have watched Zap and over the last few years they seem to be nothing but the kings of hype. They come out with some special battery and then nothing. They talk about all these electric cars they have and then they come out with a car that is like a GEM neighborhood car.

I would recommend you no longer report what they are doing until they actually come out with something that is better than a scooter.

[jmdecombe]

Old Vision Finally Becoming Reality

Check out Bruce Weiner's magnificent Microcar Museum at http://
www.microcarmuseum.com/. These visionaries from Germany,
France, the US, Italy, and other places were way ahead of their time.

[btljooz]

Actually

Those concepts not only "were ahead of their time" but ahead of [u]petroleum power[/u]!!! The only reason our vehicles are mainly powered by petroleum products is that back at that time the technology didn't exist to make them as viable or as easily powered (and produced) as the petroleum powered vehicle. Of [b]cour$e[\b] M-O-N-E-Y played its part as well as it does today! :|

[BengalTigger]

Agree! Enough hype

It's unbelievable that with the technology and computing capability that we have today, that we never seen any fruition, just hype. You hear of working cloak technology, ultrasonic weaponry, they can take a clear photo of "a galaxy far, far away" and yet when it comes to energy, we are still burning fossil fuels.

[open-mind]

It needs to go 60MPH, and ...

...otherwise it won't feel/be safe during many people's
commutes.

The styling and name could also use some work. Some of the
models shown in the video are very very ugly, and "Zap" is not a
good name. Makes me think of being zapped by an SUV or
delivery truck. May as well call it "Squish".

How about "eCar" or "Charge" or "eLite" or "eGo" or "E4U" or
something like that?

But I like the concept.

[Jivedaddy]

I disagree, I love ZAP!

I disagree, I love ZAP. ZAP reminds me of electricity, which is what it runs on. I also like the acronym, Zero Air Pollution.

The names you suggessted remind me of Yugo, and Geo Metro, yuck.

IMHO

JD

[Jivedaddy]

I LOVE IT! Goodbye Gas Hogs!

I have multiple electric scooters and love them. I also have a new gas powered scooter which is very cool too.

These work great for running to the corner market, cruising the neighborhood, or zipping over to the lake near where I live.

I really hope ZAP cars take off, I'll buy one. I have a Scion xB right now, and a ZAP would look great sitting next to it. Who needs a Hummer!

JD

[theBike45]

Electrics spawn fraud

Like everyhting else, once the public gets som
idea in its head (in this case CO2 emissions) it
lays itself wide open to fraud. Asoide from the fact that the electricity that powers these electric cars is most definitely NOT GREEN, the biggest fraud are
thsoe that make economic claims, like so many
equivalent miles per gallon, carefully avoiding the
costs of batteries. Unless a new electric uses the
Altair Nanosafe lithium batteries, it is antique technology. That goes double for the hairbrained Tesla, which must incorporate a Rube Goldberg battery management system in an atempt to overcome
the limitations of the plain Jane lithium ion
batteries it uses (cost $20,000; lifespan - 750 recharges). Unfortunately those batteries cannot be rapidly charged like the Altair batteries(8 minutes versus Tesla's 4 hours) and be completely
safe and flow current 4 times faster and last for over 10,000 recharges. Any electric not using the new Altair batteries is a waste of money.

[MyRightEye]

Guess you've got shares in Altair!

Guess you've got shares in Altair!

[tommybed]

Electric cars

Tha gas pedal and brake are flip flop. What in blazes does that mean.??????????