June 2009, Focus: Green Business
A moment of ZENN
Green Autos of Janesville, the state’s only dealer for the ZENN neighborhood electric vehicle, hopes a boost from Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, government incentives for buying new cars, warm weather, increasing gas prices and a new marketing approach will put more people in the drivers’ seats of its tiny cars.
Since opening in the summer of 2007, owner Tim Thompson, 61, and his son, Chris, 36, the general manager of Green Autos, have sold about 30 of the tiny cars. Unlike hybrids, which have both electric and gasoline power systems, neighborhood electric vehicles run completely on electric batteries. Because of their low speed and lack of air bags and some other safety features, federal law confines neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) to roads where the speed limit is 35 mph or less.
ZENN (which stands for zero emission, no noise) cars are made in Canada by a firm that takes the steel-reinforced bodies of the 81-inch wheelbase autos produced in France, and inserts engines powered by six 12-volt batteries.
ZENN has sold more than 20,000 vehicles in California, but they’ve been slower to catch on here. A hurdle, Chris Thompson says, is the Wisconsin law that requires each municipality to approve an enabling ordinance before NEVs are allowed on the city’s streets. To date some 50 municipalities have passed those laws.
However, in about 45 other states, a statewide law permits neighborhood electric vehicles on any road with a speed limit of 35 mph or less. This is where Lawton comes in. As part of her Green Economy Agenda, she’s backing a statewide enabling law for NEVs in Wisconsin.
A federal tax credit and deduction that can save $3,300 from the cost of a new ZENN could help sales, Chris says, but that credit also reduces the costs for a conventional car.
Chris is happy about warmer weather. “Ninety-five percent of our sales are between April and October,” he adds.
The fully enclosed cars do have heaters.
Four-dollar gas prices last summer brought a lot of interest in ZENNs, Chris adds. But the drop in gas prices to around $2 a gallon has hurt, just as it has for sales across the country of gas-thrifty, conventional cars.
The Thompsons plan to focus marketing efforts on selling the cars for fleets, such as a utility’s meter readers. The constant stop-and-go driving in residential areas would be perfect for the NEVs, Chris says.
The two-passenger cars are capable of going up to 50 miles between charges. They’re fully recharged by plugging them into a 110-volt outlet for eight hours. Chris says recharging adds a “few dollars a month” to the electric bill, but the NEVs cost only about one-and-a half cents per mile to operate compared to more than 10 cents a mile for conventional cars. ZENNs get the equivalent of 280 miles per gallon of gasoline, he adds. And there’s no emission from a tailpipe, compared to the 657 pounds of emissions annually spewed into the air by a conventional car.
Asked about safety, Chris says, ZENNs meet European standards for crash tests and have crumple zones to limit impacts. He even claims a driver of the 1,300-pound NEV walked away unscathed from a collision with an SUV.
One of Green Autos satisfied customers is Dennis Erovick of Cedarburg. Erovick says the ZENN fits his lifestyle.“My travel is within a two-mile radius,” he says. “I live three blocks from work, three blocks from my kids’ school and go one mile to the grocery store.” His family also owns a conventional vehicle.
Erovick adds that the 13 cubic feet of cargo space of the NEV is large enough to haul plenty of groceries for his family with two teenage sons.
If you drive a ZENN, be prepared for a lot of questions, Erovick warns. “The first question is always: ‘Is this an electric car,’ even though the word ‘electric’ is on the car’s side.”
You can contact John Hill by e-mail at jhoythill@sbcglobal.net.