ZAP Shows Off Electric SUV Concept

ZAP, an electric-car company since 1994, just released sketches of its ZAP-X crossover SUV. The concept will be developed with Lotus Engineering and will cost around $60,000 when it debuts sometime in the future. No, there isn’t a more specific time frame.

ZAP is claiming that whenever it does make it to market its “fast-charging” lithium battery will recharge in 10 minutes. Pardon the skepticism, but those of us with MP3 players, cell phones, etc. haven’t seen that charge time for dinky gadgets, let alone an SUV.

The thought of a 644-hp, 155-mph-capable gas-free vehicle with a 350-mile range is a really nice one, though.

Source: Zap!

Comments

I have to say, I share your skepticism. We've heard of a number of these fast charge, long range, high power all electrics lately. These are all kind of mutually exclusive charecteristics, unless you come up with some new technology, if you improve one, either one, or both of the others will become worse. Just a few years ago, it seemed that getting any of these three properties was a nearly insurmountable problem. Did technology really make a quantum leap recently? If so, why hasn't it made major headlines? And if somehow we just all missed it, why are we even bothering with hybrids, diesel, CNG, fuel cell, etc? Something sounds fishy. But, here's to hoping!

The energy density of gasoline is somewhat under 9 kWh/l, say about 35 kWh/USg. Let's also say a full tank is 15 US gallons, so that's 525 kWh/tank. You can stick that lot in on a pump in about 2 minutes.

Now, let's try to get that much electricity into the car in 10 minutes.

Let's assume 240 volts, so 525 kWh in one hour would require about 2,200 amps. Do that in ten minutes and you need 13,200 amps instead. Even if you use 1,000 volts, you are going to need over 3,000 amps.

Unless my maths is totally screwed up (quite possible), there's no way this much energy can be jammed into the car in 10 minutes with anything resembling current technology.

Haven't had a chance to read the entire news release, BUT if ZAP is gearing toward a 644hp/155mph electric vehicle...man, that's what utterly WRONG with the electio/hybrid/environmental friendly concept. Look, we don't need LOTUS to help develop a performance electric vehicle; we need anybody (incl. Lotus if they can help with the R&D at minimal costs to it) that don't charge a premium on the R&D to make this technology affordable to anyone (hence everyone can afford it, and no more "doubt" - or whatever they call it - among the non-believer of green technology). Who the heck needs to drive a 644 hp vehicle anyway? Not in the streets of any metropolitan city ON THIS PLANET, where most of the population of humankind lives! Once we can have affordable green vehicles, THEN this is sthg that we can play around with...

Graham, but will it be possible if you split the battery into 3,4, 5 or more batteries, each with its own charger, and so you'll need mulitple power outlets at (your or any) house to charge the X number of batteries simultaneously? These batteries can work together, however, when the vehicle is in use? Kinda like conecting in series or parallel, I guess...

Then again, wouldn't it be self-defeating to lie to your consumers so blatantly?

I don't see why you would need to charge it in 10 minutes if it can go 350 miles between charges.

It's supposed to be able to accelerate form 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. By comparison, the Tesla roadster supposedly only needs 4 seconds flat even though it can only produce one third as much power. That makes me think this car is about as heavy as an Escalade. Additionally, the wheel hub motors add unsprung weight to ensure that it will handle like a bus.

I still want one.

Amuro Ray, it doesn't really matter how many batteries you break it up into, you've still got to get that much power there at once. This is as much power as a few hundred homes will draw most of the time.

In response to why it needs to charge quickly "even with" a 350 mile range: My 1995 Toyota Corolla has a 350 mile range, gets 33 mpg, and takes about 2 minutes to fill its 10 gallon gas tank. I don't have to reorganize my whole schedule to buy gas- I just stop at a gas station, get in line, and 5 minutes later, I'm done. With an electric car, even one that goes 350 miles, if it takes 6 hours to recharge, I'd have to rework my whole schedule to make sure I'm home or at my destination in time before the charge runs out so the car can sit and charge overnight or all day.

I understand the convenience of a ten minute charge, I just think it's of little consequence unless you drive further than the car's range in a day. If you want to charge the car in ten minutes I think you'll be disappointed.

A home power source can reasonably output 55A at 220V. Ten minutes of this yields about 7.3MJ of energy. That's roughly 5.5% as much energy as a gallon of gas contains. However since electric motors are twice as efficient as gasoline engines the ten minute charge is like putting 0.11 gallons of gas in you car.

The question does arise, why not just do interchangeable batteries? Have a system at the gas station similar to the propane tank exchange already in place. Have a stack of batteries sit there and charge for 2 days, and when you pull up, they remove yours (probably with a machine), put it on the charger, put in a charged one, and off you go. 5 minutes at the station, no need for cable melting current, or vacuum ionizing voltages.

because of the nature of a vehicle the batteries have to be sized to fit each vehicle, so the battery packs won't be universally shaped from one manufacturer to the next. Plus it would probably cost more to have them easily accessible and with a carriage to pop in and out too. All more parts, more opportunities for theft, damage, user error etc.

Everybody is failing to mention the little quirk about batteries, no matter how technologically advanced they are, batteries will have to be replaced much sooner then internal-combustion engines, not to mention where one would put these batteries. If anybody decides to fuss about what I said (whether its true or not) sorry I hurt your easily broken egos.

No fussin' here. Zap claims the batteries are good for 9000 life cycles with a 350 mile life cycle. That's 3.15 million miles before the batteries need to be replaced! Note that a life cycle is a full discharge; ten 10% discharges is essentially the same thing as one full discharge. So your recharging habits don't really matter. Of course Zap's numbers must be greatly exaggerated.

The calculations Graham and I made above aren't quite valid. The math is correct but electric vehicles don't use as much energy as gas powered vehicles. The Tesla roadster for example only has a 56kWh battery. Energy-wise that's roughly equivalent to 1.5 gallons of gas.

Electric forklifts in warehouses have the big swappable battery sets in them. Charge one set while using another, then switch them out when it runs low. Big hassle, though. I'm really suspicious of ZAP's numbers and claims. It just don't add up.

I'm also suspicious. How can you run at 155 mph for 350 miles, and recharge (fully I assume) that battery in less that 10 mins?

Hi everyone. Interesting comments.

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Minimum standards for performance are: 60mph and 60 miles range. Some of the cars do a bit better, some do a whole lot better!

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For a few thousand more, upgrades to well over 150 miles range and MUCH higher top speeds are available. For a few thousand more yet, you can get a screaming machine with a 300 mile range and 0-60 in under 5 seconds.

But that shouldn't be necessary. For commuting to work, or traveling within state, these vehicles not only get the job done, they do so splendidly. Electricity will cost you about $2-$3/day if driven to capacity every day.

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