Things are a little different in my neighborhood, in case you haven’t quite cottoned to that. If you call an electrician, he might well show up in this electric truck, and plug it in while he’s working on your house, assuming the power’s still on. And his partner will show up in an almost equally exotic work van; a Euro-spec VW T4 LWB TDI Transporter.
Yes, it’s a Zap. A company that essentially invented the word “green scam”; a notorious outfit that scalped a seemingly endless number of investors by hyping all kinds of future EVs, only to ever sell a pathetic little three-wheeler, the Xebra. I wrote a scathing review on one back in 2008, and I’d like to think it helped some with the inevitable demise of this outfit. In 2013, they were forced to recall and scrap every 2008 Xebra ever sold because the brakes were so feeble. The stock price is currently at $0.01, and their website has gone dead. Zapped!
This is the XL Truck, which replaced the crappy Xebra three-wheeler. It’s some obscure Chinese trucklet that runs on some 12V lead-acid batteries under the bed, and is limited to a top speed of 25 mph, under the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) rules. Its range quite limited; probably some 20 miles, if not less, especially once the batteries age. But that’s far enough to get this little van to the job, and get topped up while it awaits the trip home.
Here’s some of the batteries in their trays. The EV world has come a long way since 2009 or so. Tesla shattered all of the old conceptions of EV, and Zap along with it.
But it makes an adequate tool hauler, as long as its limitations are accepted. And one is prepared to buy new batteries every three or four years. But there’s essentially no fuel cost, especially when its being recharged on the job site. We’re talking nickels and dimes in any case.
The other van is one I’ve seen in my neighborhood for years, and probbaly have shown before. It’s a European (or possibly Canadian) VW T4 (1990-2003) Transporter, a long wheelbase version with a TDI engine and stick shift.
I’m not sure how it got registered here well before its 25th birthday, but I see all sorts of non-US spec cars here I could say the same thing about. Oregon must be pretty easy to game that way.
So what do the electricians drive in your neighborhood? Probably something a bit more conventional, I’m guessing.
I suspect the VW is Canadian-spec and certified for DOT/NHTSA/EPA requirements since Canadian ones tend to be similar. That leaves the chicken tax and can someone comment on how or if that would apply to a used truck?
I never knew the “big” ZAP! ever existed. It must’ve come just before the whole thing collapsed. The Ford dealer in Montpelier, VT took on ZAP! briefly and there were a few running around Burlington – one wonders how or if they made it the 35 miles on a single charge – but wow, they faded fast. The whole NEV era seems so odd in retrospect.
Nothing so unusual around our neighborhood, unfortunately. Years ago, however, a local handyman drove a Renault 18i wagon, the last one I ever saw moving. Presumably he was going with the “buy it cheap and run it into the ground” philosophy, but it was still an interesting choice.
“So what do the electricians drive in your neighborhood?”
What every tradesman in the midwest still drives – a Ford E series van or a Chevy Express. The big operators with fleets are moving to the newer generations of van, but the small timers are still running the old cheap stuff.
Those silly little trucks still show up occasionally.
Several years ago I was seeing electric delivery trucks on the road. They have pretty much all disappeared now. Presumably the cost of running them was not all they were hyped up to be, though it seems to me that local delivery would be one of the few areas for which they’d be a natural fit.
Even though it’s “nickels and dimes,” isn’t recharging the electric truck on your customer’s electric bill kind of like sending your customer to Lowe’s to buy the parts you need from your scribbled list, and drinking a beer or three while they’re away? And charging by the hour all the while?
Happens…a LOT.
Really, if some tradesman I was paying wanted to recharge his EV at my house the answer would be “no” (actually it would be “hell no”), unless he was willing to negotiate his bill down to reflect the cost of electricity used. Any reputable business would include the cost of vehicle operations into the amount they charge.
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? 🙂
Presumably he asked for permission. And as I said, topping up that truck probably didn’t exceed a buck. Given the hourly rates an electrician gets, you guys are classic “nickle and dimers”. And if you did say “hell no”, he could undoubtedly find ways to make you pay that many times over. Sometimes a bit of accommodation/generosity does pay off.
Given the cost involved, I wouldn’t have said, “HELL, no” but probably would have expressed surprise. But going out to buy his parts and supplies? While leaving the house unattended while the tradesman and apprentice charge by the hour and do whatever? HELL, no…and it is all part of the same ethics issue.
Well, if I was paying an electrician by the hour, and it was a matter of him going to get a part or me, I’d probably do it. It’s not an ethics issue; he presumably was offering you the opportunity to save some money.
But I should know better than to get into a debate on something so peripheral with you.
And the problem with that is?
Maybe it’s because I’ve found an excellent electrician who’s already handled the upgrade to my home service, set it up to hook in a generator for emergencies, wired up two drop in sheds on the back yard, and just finished the wiring of my second garage . . . . but I have absolutely no problem with leaving the work areas unlocked so he can come by and do the job while I’m at work. House stays locked, of course.
And yes, I’ve done the occasional parts run to Home Depot (1.5 miles from home) while he’s been working. I’ve got a good guy, I have no problems trusting him.
Excellent, sounds like the perfect use for the Zap and the operator is qualified to troubleshoot it.
I hate to nit pick but based on a quick look at the Oregon electricity mix it’s 50% zero emissions, and 50% remote emissions. But that’s still pretty good and I imagine that balance will continue to shift.
And for what ticketed tradespeople charge hourly the pennies to charge the truck seems like a non issue.
For anybody who has had to pay the basic service charge for an electrician to visit a home, I think that the cost of the electricity used to top up the batteries in a Zap Truck can best be summed up as ‘accounting dust’. Further I think this is a great use of an electric vehicle. Economical, environmental, efficient, interesting, and great advertising.
Having said that, I am pretty well convinced that the zenith of the pure electric car is approaching and that they will ultimately fade back to niche vehicles and fashion accessories. I simply can’t see any real advantage over a hybrid noting that there is plenty of oil to hold us for the next 30 or 40 years until the details of commercializing methane hydrate are worked out. I live in a reasonably decent neighborhood where “every home” has a two-car garage but I still see plenty of vehicles parked in driveways or at the curb. That detail alone speaks against mass acceptance. Running 30 feet of extension cord to charge your car every evening gets old.
I’ve had the same thoughts. I’m sure the Tesla Model 3 will sell like crazy the first year or two. But maintaining those sales may be difficult as reality sets in. I’d love an electric vehicle, but we are a two car family. I’d never want one as my only car.
The irony of successful EV production and sales (including any vehicles with the highest fuel economy as a whole) is the less fossil fuel that is used greatly contributes to the decline of oil (and overall energy) prices. Of course, the lower price of fuel also results in higher sales of less fuel efficient gas-guzzlers.
EVs are here to stay but I agree that curbside charging is a problem. Some Oregon office buildings including mine have free charging stations. Quick charging will be necessary. Eventually Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts will offer both kinds of quick charge, caffeine and electric.
I read a very good article that posited that mainstream EV usage will dramatically alter the whole ‘refueling’ scenario. The time required to recharge an EV, although it will almost certainly be reduced over time as the technology improves, will never be as quick as refilling a gas tank where the operator can just idly stand by for a minute or two. You won’t be seeing EV charging stations added to gas stations, except…
…if the gas stations are near locations where people will spend time performing some type of activity (Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are good examples). Further, at the current low electricity rates, smart businesses will install free charging stations as a ‘value-added’ proposition. From what I can gather, the real cost of installing a 240v charger is akin to running an outdoor clothes dryer electrical hookup. Of course, higher voltages would cost more, but I can’t imagine it being exponentially more expensive.
In fact, given the variance in charging rates depending on the charger, it’s conceivable that businesses could manipulate their chargers to actually ‘lengthen’ the charging time so EV owners will have to spend more time there and, theoretically, spend more money. This would be particularly appropriate for, say, motels in order for an EV to be used for any kind of long distance travel.
FWIW, not too long ago, Evon Musk of Tesla had a demonstration video where the entire traction battery of one of his vehicles was changed in five minutes in a garage-type, drive-in/drive-out scenario. It’s a clever idea but doesn’t seem all that feasible, particularly considering warranty-type claims where someone else’s battery was installed.
The bottom line is EVs aren’t going away; they’ll just be recharged in a different way from refueling ICE vehicles.
We’ve already got a well-respected service garage (Mac’s Service Center) in downtown Ashland, VA who’s done that: Along with the double service bay and two gas pump islands, he’s put in two charging stations right on the street edge of his lot.
His location is excellent for the service: He’s right on England Street (VA route 54) which is the east-west axis of the town, three blocks west of US1, one of the major strip malls is right across the street. The entirety of traditional shopping in Ashland is within three blocks of the stations (the mall district is between US1 and I-95 to the east).
Oh, and it’s free.
While writing this, I pulled up plugshare.com to double check my information, and discovered that there’s three other chargers recently added, same setup, within three blocks of Mac’s. Definitely owning a Leaf as a commuter car would work quite well, even if I didn’t finishing hooking in my 230v wiring in the new garage.
Actually, the only holdup to my buying a used Leaf is that my Yamaha Zuma 125 scooter is doing the same job, for pretty much the same cost (80mpg). And I still prefer running around on two wheels over four.
I’m going to suggest that the two biggest issues with ‘value-added’ EV chargers will be greed and connector type. The cost to charge is so low, and the return so great by EV owners patronizing businesses that supply them, it’s baffling to see pay chargers, anywhere. What’s worse is the cynical way some of the suppliers manipulate the charging scheme to make it seem like paying to use the charger is actually cheaper than filling up at a gas station. When the amount of distance an EV will travel on a specific level of charge is compared with the cost of an ICE on a gallon of gas, I’ve yet to see where paying to charge is cost-effective. Of course, if you’re desperate to get enough of a charge to get back home, they’ve got you by the short and curlies.
Honestly, the really smart businesses could utilize some sort of low-cost charging method similar to having a parking ticket validated. You could drive up in your EV, plug-in, and receive a ticket to take to the business. Once inside, you make your purchase, provide your charger ticket, and the clerk turns on the charger.
Then there’s the connectors. Some time ago, Costco put in free chargers in many of their stores. Unfortunately, the style of connector was some kind of weird paddle thing that I can’t even recall which EVs used them. Needless to say, they went virtually unused and Costco, in one of the most short-sighted business decisions, ever, rather than upgrading to more commonly used connectors, simply had all their chargers removed.
The point is, I’m not sure that the connection port for all EVs are universal to this day. OTOH, I rather doubt that changing out an old-style EV connector for a newer one is all that expensive or difficult.
“So what do the electricians drive in your neighborhood?”
Here in Daytona Beach (The land of NASCAR, inbreeding, IQ’s below 100 and requisite beer coolers in every pickup bed) the answer would be, “The biggest, most gas guzzling, over-customized, impractical monstrosity available. I’ve actually seen contractors show up to jobsites in LIFTED late model quad cab pickups with all the latest goodies, complete with ladder racks….that anyone under 8′ tall would require a LADDER to get the ladders off of.
Lately I’m on a constant rant about the ridiculous numbers of new Suburbans, Tahoes, etc.
“The biggest, most gas guzzling, over-customized, impractical monstrosity available. I’ve actually seen contractors show up to jobsites in LIFTED late model quad cab pickups with all the latest goodies, complete with ladder racks….that anyone under 8′ tall would require a LADDER to get the ladders off of.”
I always thought that these were stupid also. Although not an electrician I worked repairing fire or water damaged houses and was a general contractor for a few years. I for years drove a 1972 Dodge Camper 9000 with a 14′ cabover box I built myself. Hauled all my tools in it, could do anything from foundation to finish without have to run to get more tools and they stayed clean and dry. Also besides the tools it had a cargo space of 4’x10’x 6′(longer with the door open) which was nice. Used to get more wows and compliments on it from others in the trades and even homeowners. It was a bit thirsty on gas but it was worth it.
Electricians around here use about what you’d expect–Econolines, Sprinters, and Transit Connects primarily, with a smaller number of Express, “big” Transits, and ProMasters. Nothing too exotic.
About 10 years ago a service station near my old job made the regrettable decision of expanding into Zap Xebra sales and service. I’d always figured that investment did not pan out the way they had hoped…
Is that “Zap” van a ‘knockoff’ of the Toyota Liteace pickup? It sure looks like one.
IIRC, the Zap! line-up wasn’t much more than an electric golf-cart with a very bad, enclosed plastic body. The worst thing about them was the bad reputation they gave to EVs.
Electricians who work for the bigger firms tend to use company vans – the usual mix of older Econoline/Express and newer Transit Connects and ProMaster City along with a few of the bigger Euro-style vans.
Independents tend to go for pickups with caps, usually 150(0) extended-cabs bought used. They’ve been stuck in the mid-00s for a while because people stopped buying them new as lifestyle accessories for a while, but with the first leases since gas got crazy cheap now ending that’s starting to change.
The electricians in my neck of the woods mostly drive mid-size panel vans. Currently those are: the VW Transporter (T6 now), Ford Transit Custom, Mercedes-Benz Vito, Renault Trafic, Opel Vivaro, Nissan NV300, Fiat Talento, Peugeot Expert, Citroën Jumpy, Toyota Proace and the Hyundai H300.
Nice catch! Of course the VW T4 TDI is still a very common sight around here.
Just the regular late model trucks and vans here.
Love the ‘free’ fuel cost myth, Electric cars are advertised here as costing the equivalent of 30c per litre of gas to run. We dont have free 240v, wish we did but having 90% renewable energy production is far from free.
My local electrician (now retired) had an old LWB Land Rover Defender station wagon with the rear side windows replaced with hatches opening into the load area. Equipped to go anywhere and wire anything!
Considering how worked up people got over what I intended to be a light-hearted comment it is probably a good thing I deleted a long post I had written about the autonomous vehicles post. Peace, out, word to your mama and them.
Yeah, I do not get the vehemence against battery powered vehicles. To hear some of the comments, often posted repeatedly by the same inviduals, you’d think that there’s an army of greenies out there ready to take away your Mustang (jacked up 4×4, Ferrari, Panther, whatever your beloved traditional car is) and replace with with a two seat electric mobility pod . . . . at gunpoint if necessary.
Ain’t gonna happen, folks. Chill out. There are some of us who can see the value of electric cars. And a rare few of us who have seen that value for the past forty years – in my case, from doing a lot of commuting in a Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar. Even those POS had some serious value back in the day.
Could a good electrician do any shade-tree mods that would improve the performance (either range or speed) of the Zap?
Probably.
Replace the batteries with something better than lead acid, purchase a solid state off-the-shelf controller, and you could probably pick up some serious range. If you want more speed, you’d need to figure out replacing the motors with something that’s commercially off the shelf available.
I figure it can’t be any more difficult than the guy that showed up at work yesterday driving a Ferrari 412 (my favorite Ferrari where style is concerned) with the original V-12 replaced with a Pontiac GTO engine and transmission (the 21st century version).
I’ve always had that dream in the back of my head. Pick up a Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar, replace the batteries and that primitive relay-based controller with something 21st century, and show up at the local Cars and Coffee Richmond with it. The event has a serious electric car section every meet, primarily Teslas and Leafs, of course. I’d be happy with the 35mph top speed, my reason for the upgrades would be to guarantee I could get back home without recharging at the site (15 mile trip each way).
In both the S-V and the Zap, the big mechanical worry is incredibly weak brakes, which were prone to self-destruct in the former and had like problems in the latter.
Paul
Do you know of any 150AH batteries that would fit in the ZAP?
No. That’s well outside of my knowledge base. But undoubtedly folks have adapted some to newer batteries. Or not?