Area 709

Is this all too good to be true? An electric car made in Quebec that you can't buy in Canada.


About The ZENN Car
http://www.zenncars.com/



What sets Zero Emission No Noise car apart from the crowd? Unlike other neighborhood electric vehicles, it has the form and features of a real car: it’s a fully-enclosed, three-door hatchback with a performance-proven, steel-reinforced body. That translates into a tremendous safety advantage.

ZENN not only looks like a car; it performs like one, too. Equipped with front-wheel drive, brisk acceleration and capable of achieving a regulated maximum speed of 25 mph (40 km/h), it keeps pace with traffic on local streets to get you where you’re going safely and in good time. And ZENN’s battery efficiency gives you the freedom to cover a lot of ground: approximately 35 miles per charge (56 kilometres).

At the same time, ZENN delivers the environmental advantages of an electric vehicle, generating zero greenhouse-gas emissions. Compare that to the 657 pounds of regulated tailpipe emissions produced by the typical gas-powered car every year.

And ZENN is protected by a comprehensive one-year warranty, the best on the market for its class. That warranty is backed by our commitment to fully support ZENN owners, day in and day out.

Here is a great clip from the Rick Mercer Report on this little car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M88k6Ipp3c

About It's Battery
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18086/

The company boldly claims that its system, a kind of battery-ultracapacitor hybrid based on barium-titanate powders, will dramatically outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market in terms of energy density, price, charge time, and safety. Pound for pound, it will also pack 10 times the punch of lead-acid batteries at half the cost and without the need for toxic materials or chemicals, according to the company.

There is a petition on the ZENN site to help make the vehicles legal to drive in Canada: http://www.zenncars.com/letsgo/

If they are safe, and keep up with urban traffic, I am all for them. And if they eventually make a highway speed vehicle, then that's great too, but if they can't keep up on the road then they could pose a safety risk. And if the battery technology lives up to it's claims, we could be looking at a massive revolution in the auto industry.