The Electric Car Cometh, Maybe

I’ve written about electric cars before, but for a while now I’ve been following what I consider to be the most promising entry into this market. The current offering from Zenn Motors is little more than a glorified golf cart. Classified as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV), with limited range, and a top speed of 30mph, it is intended to fill a fairly small niche market.

However, their new car, dubbed the City, has the potential to be a game changer. The reasons, as I see it, are the price point (in the mid 20Ks) and the powertrain, which relies on some groundbreaking technology from a company called EEStor. The company’s name rarely appears without the obligatory adjective ‘secretive’ and they don’t even appear to have a web site. But I guess when you claim to be developing a new ultracapacitor that will revolutionize energy storage on the planet, rendering batteries virtually obsolete, there is some incentive to play your cards close to your vest. Either because you have trade secrets you want to protect, or because it’s an elaborate hoax.

I don’t want to believe it’s a hoax, and neither do Zenn Motors, since they have purchased a significant stake in the company and the future of their own company is riding on this. I want to believe they can do everything they say they are going to do. And I, for one, will be among the first in line to buy one of these new cars, if they ever come to market. How can you resist a car with a top speed of 80mph and a 250 mile range that recharges in under 10 minutes, and never needs gas? All for about the same price as a conventional gas-guzzler? I want one. Will it ever be a reality? Only time will tell…