Will Tesla soon have competition in the electric supercar market from Zap? They just might, if you believe the almost unbelievable statistics Zap! is claiming in their press release (a really big if). Information at this point leads us to believe that Zap!, like fellow electric carmaker Phoenix, will be using batteries purchased from Altairnano. Claims from Zap! indicate that their vehicle with these batteries will be able to travel 350 miles between charges, after a charge time of only 10 minutes. Phoenix claims a similarly short charge time for their vehicles with the Altairnano batteries.
Other interesting "green features" of the vehicle include solar charging from the vehicles glass. We have pondered the possibility of this before, and now it seems it may become a reality. Don't expect the solar charging to add a significant amount of drive time however, perhaps the vehicles accessories won't drain the batteries so fast. Don't expect a great deal of luggage space, however, the vehicle does have 4 doors, making it a more practical choice than some other potential electric vehicles. The dimensions of the vehicle indicate it will be slightly larger than the Toyota Prius. Here is one statistic that the Prius can't touch... how about up to 644 horsepower and a top speed of 155 mph? This performance would come with all-wheel-drive courtesy of a motor in each wheel.
Click for more about the vehicle, and another concept drawing.
Other interesting "green features" of the vehicle include solar charging from the vehicles glass. We have pondered the possibility of this before, and now it seems it may become a reality. Don't expect the solar charging to add a significant amount of drive time however, perhaps the vehicles accessories won't drain the batteries so fast. Don't expect a great deal of luggage space, however, the vehicle does have 4 doors, making it a more practical choice than some other potential electric vehicles. The dimensions of the vehicle indicate it will be slightly larger than the Toyota Prius. Here is one statistic that the Prius can't touch... how about up to 644 horsepower and a top speed of 155 mph? This performance would come with all-wheel-drive courtesy of a motor in each wheel.
Click for more about the vehicle, and another concept drawing.
[Source: ZAP via Insidegreentech]
More details of the vehicle center on the included built-in computer. The computer system, known as "carputer" to Zap! will support WiFi, bluetooth, USB2 and high definition video capabilities. As the pictures show, Zap! is collaborating with Lotus for the design of this vehicle, which can only be good news as far as I am concerned. Our gallery of the Lotus APX, on which this car is based is above.
If these specifications prove accurate, we may have a new high performance, all-wheel-drive supercar... uh, SUV to compete with the worlds most exotic cars. Zap! estimates that impending customers will need $60,000 to purchase one. Are you as interested in this possibility as we are? You'd better be! Thanks for the tip, Dallas!
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