Canadian feds moving to block NEV's from public roads (also: hilarious ZENN vid)

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Peakster

Yikes. I just realized that the ZENN cars are limited to only 25-mph!

Spending $12,000 on a car that seats 4, uses no gas, and charges in as little as 4 hours seems like a no brainer, but the 25-mph limit REALLY hampers the car's appeal to the general masses.

I wonder why the company didn't press the envelope further to make it comply to 'normal' car specifications, so they could go faster than an R/C car?

I think it has to do with regulatory issues. If the top speed is 25 mph they don't have to meet all the DOT safety requirements and crash testing.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Peakster

but the 25-mph limit REALLY hampers the car's appeal to the general masses.

Which is just one more point to make you wonder why the feds are so up in arms against them. The truth is: they're not going to sell a lot of these.

However, nothing's stopping you from buying or making a conversion, based on a regular car (and bypassing the LSV regs and speed limitation). This company, for example, specializes in pickups, and will do a conversion for about the same price as a ZENN (you supply the donor truck).

But if I only need NEV performance, I don't want to be driving around in a big, heavy, inefficient (relatively speaking) converted pickup. Right tool for the right job!