Any thoughts on the Zenn (plug-in-EV)?

I haven't tried to gather much information yet, but this is a plug-in-to-recharge electric vehicle, circa 35 mile cruising range between charges, max speed 25 mph. The brief article I read didn't give all the specs of the vehicle, but it did say 'able to transport a passenger', which sort of suggests to me that it has only one seat (i.e. no rear seating positions, probably).

Anyway, currently our 'newest' family vehicle is a '96 Corolla, with 165,000+ miles on it; and many of my trips are well within the 35 mile range -- grocery shopping, and transporting kids to/from school and activities. I realize I often transport only one child at a time. So, I'm at least turning over the possibilities in my mind.

Has anyone here had occasion to gather information about this type of vehicle yet? Specifically the issues involved with possibly installing a child restraint in it?

I believe the vehicle costs ~$13,000 so buying one would not be a casual decision. Gas prices keep going up, though. Any thoughts?

Katrin

great idea, but i think its only practical use is real urban environments, the kind where all your errands and places to go are within a few miles of your house. plus, i wonder what the crash ratings would be like.

southpawboston said:

great idea, but i think its only practical use is real urban environments, the kind where all your errands and places to go are within a few miles of your house. plus, i wonder what the crash ratings would be like.

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At least for safety, I'm thinking I'd rather have a Prius or Hybrid Civic that has been modded for plug-in use. Max speed 25mph seems to be unusually restrictive. Even if you just stay on smaller streets around here, you need to be able to do 45mph to avoid getting run over on the 35-40mph streets that actually take you someplace useful. I can't imagine being limited to 25mph in one of the many urban areas where it is expected to hold down the horn if someone in front of you is actually doing the speed limit, rather than 5-10mph over.

We're in a sort of suburban/rural area, and a vehicle like this might actually be OK for a lot of my short local trips (grocery store, school and preschool runs).

As an experiment, I have been driving 25 mph (and below) on some of my recent trips -- boy, is that frustrating. My normal speed on the same route is only about 35 mph (sometimes 40 mph on some stretches), but that's what I'm accustomed to at the moment, so slower is irritating. However, I think the slower speed is something I could probably get used to. I wonder how slow the Zenn gets when climbing a hill (I'm assuming the 25 mph max speed is on level ground). What to do when someone comes up behind you wanting to go faster is a puzzle though. I guess you go everywhere with your hazard blinkers on, and try to let people go by when possible?? And how safe is that? Most of my trips have at least a short stretch on a busier (40-45 mph) road, and I would certainly be slowing down other drivers there.

Obviously this thing wouldn't be able to replace a conventional vehicle, but it does seem to have a niche. However, it's really hard to swallow the price, for that niche application... if it was 1/3 to 1/2 the current price... maybe....

Does anyone know if an off-the-shelf wall-plug-in version of the Prius is being considered by the manufacturer? I know there are people out there revising the current vehicles to have a plug-in mode, but I don't know if that is likely to become more mainstream (i.e. sanctioned by the manufacturer)?

Katrin