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In 1995, founder of Zenn cars, Ian Clifford, was a Canadian photographer who had an interest in electric vehicles, and they weren’t available in Canada. He found an enthusiast In Connecticut who was selling a Henry Kilowatt car made by the Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Company 50 years ago, and he bought it. When he got it home, he realized what he thought all along, that an electric vehicle would not only take him on his daily trips, but was fun to drive and unbelievably quiet. At some point, the vehicle needed repairs, so he was able to find a forklift repairman to fix it, and took him as a partner and formed Feel Good Cars.
They started out by trying to convert a gas powered French Renault Dauphine, into an electric vehicle. By 2000, they had a prototype, took it to the Toronto Auto Show in 2001, and soon orders starting coming in, for the fuel efficient, fun to drive vehicle. The timing was right. With year-round smog and high gas prices in Canada, they decided they needed a way to mass-produce and the NEV was born. The NEV, Neighborhood Electric Car classification was available in the United States and Canada, and allowed low-speed, under 25 mph, vehicles to be street-legal without the same safety restrictions and equipment required on higher speed gas powered motor vehicles.
In 2000, Ian Clifford met the founder of another company, EEStor,
who had developed the EESU, which was a high-powered “super” battery,
the boost the company needed when the partnership was formed. Both new
companies needed funding to take the electric vehicles on a mass
production level and to produce the “super battery”. Feel Good Cars
went public in 2006, and they started fine-tuning their plans to start
selling a vehicle in the NEV class.
The ZENN car has come quite
a ways since those beginning days; it now offers what it touts as the
only luxury NEV on the market. With added features, and roominess, in
addition to it’s quick recharge time and battery storage ability, with
it’s EESTOR, “super” energy efficient storage unit, (EESU). The
neighborhood electric vehicle has become more readily available, not
only from Zenn, but other manufacturers, as the race is on to take them
into mass production, on a global scale.
European and Asian countries have been working on the battery storage components, and high technology capacitors for longer than the North American continent. Some of the leading electronics being sold today, such as Ipods, Iphones, and other electronic playtoys, are being imported from China and Korea in masses. Other car companies are using technology from overseas, while Zenn and EESTOR are working to produce the cars and “super” batteries on the North American stage. It now has 30 retailers in 20 States offering the Zenn.
The new Zenn has features no other NEV can claim, a sunroof can be added, they come in Silver, Green and Blue, you can add air conditioning. It comes as front wheel drive, with keyless entry, heat, power windows, rear window defrost, many other features and touting 280 mile per gallon, at a base price of $16,000, (add $2,000 for air conditioning). The Zenn uses roughly the equivalent of 30 horsepower to obtain the 25-mpg speed in the same time as a comparable gas powered motor, and uses the equivalent of 7 horsepower to maintain speed. They offer a 1-year bumper-to-bumper warranty and a 3-year warranty on the optional sunroof.
The Zenn is great for most crowded, city-dwelling trips and 90% of travel comprise this market. You can use the Zenn inside since there are no emissions, so it makes it perfect to drive in a fleet of a large manufacturing plant or sports arena or municipal auditorium. Many of the fleet customers are these types of customers, in addition to military bases, airports, and government facilities.
The Zenn, (Zero Emission No Noise) electric car, is becoming more popular as fossil fuel prices have steadily increased and the government is pushing for alternative transportation methods. Many individuals purchase the Zenn NEV as a second or third vehicle, just to drive around town, because not only are they a great way to save fuel and maintenance expense on your gas power vehicle, but they are just fun to drive. Ian Clifford’s original motivations for building the Zenn are still hold true today.