The sad story of my Enertia + order

[Shinysideup]

And 64 year old Wham-O got its name from its slingshots which I always envied as a kid with my homemade ones. Now, of course, they make frisbees and hackysacks, and swim fins and boogie boards. Bet the lawyers wouldn't let 'em market slingshots.

Ah, the things we write about whilst waiting and waiting...

[Richard230]

As I recall those Wham-O slingshots were pretty deadly devices.  I believe they used steel ball bearings as shot.   

Another dangerous toy from my early years was the Flexi Flyer. It was a toboggan made for the street. You laid flat, face first, on the hardwood body and the rolled down the street at 20 mph, with only a couple of metal spoons that could be twisted against the front wheels to slow you down.  They were great for shooting across an intersection as the cross-traffic whizzed by.  Being only about 6 inches off the ground meant that it was only a matter of time before you got stuck under the body of a passing Ford sedan and really went for a ride.  Even in those days, it didn't take too long for the public to realize that the herd was being culled a little too fast for that product to stay on the market for more than a couple of years.

[protomech]

The 2013 Zero FX would be the Enertia Plus alternative with a LOT more power. Just fit some road tires and you're done...

XU 5.7:
* 5.0? kWh, 76/48/59 miles city/hwy 55 mph/combined range
* street styling
* 21 kW
* $10500

Enertia Plus:
* 6.2 kWh, 80 miles city range (guessing ~50 miles 55 mph range, so 80/50/62 city/hwy 55/combined)
* street styling
* 13 kW
* $11000

FX 5.7:
* 5.0? kWh, 70/44/54 miles city/hwy 55 mph/combined range
* dirt styling
* 33 kW
* $12000

By price, styling, power, and range .. the Enertia Plus is closer to the XU than to the FX IMO.

XU 5.7 vs Enertia Plus is an interesting matchup. TBD : )

[oml]

I did something like that too once, with an ordinary skateboard. 15m heigh difference in speed, and in the end there was a stone. My mom said my last words before I blacked out were "like a space shuttle" which was, in her eyes, a very accurate description.

Such wonderfull days back then

(dont worry, no permamental damage - the scars went away a few years later)

[FrankH]

XU 5.7:
* 5.7 kWh, 76/48/59 miles city/hwy 55 mph/combined range
* street styling
* 21 kW
* $10500

Enertia Plus:
* 6.2 kWh, 80 miles city range (guessing ~50 miles 55 mph range, so 80/50/62 city/hwy 55/combined)
* street styling
* 13 kW
* $11000

By price, styling, power, and range .. the Enertia Plus is closer to the XU than to the FX IMO.

XU 5.7 vs Enertia Plus is an interesting matchup. TBD : )

That's what I was thinking. And thanks for getting back on topic

Top speed of the XU is 124km/h (77mph) which is a lot quicker than the Enertia. And Zero manages to get a lot more kW's out of those batteries.

[protomech]

Keep in mind that Zero rates their battery pack with maximum capacity. Brammo rates their battery with nominal capacity .. and for the Empulse, both nominal and maximum.

Zero defines maximum capacity to be equal to the maximum battery voltage (upper cutoff for charging) times capacity. the ZF2.7 module is 102V max 28 Ah.. probably 24 * 4.2V. Nominal voltage is closer to the average voltage the battery pack will see near the midpoint SOC, typically 3.7V for lithium-ion (24 * 3.7 = 88.8V).

Speculatively, Zero's ZF5.7 battery pack is 88.8V nominal 56 Ah (4.97 kWh nominal). Enertia Plus is 88.8V nominal 70 Ah (6.22 kWh nominal). Zero's range specifications indicate the XU gets very nearly the same range with a much smaller pack.

Zero allows up to 8C discharge (ZF2.7 2.5 kWh 20 kW motor in XU, ZF5.4 5.0 kWh 40 kW motor in MX). Zero is working the batteries much harder than the Enertia Plus, which are ~2C @ 13 kW.

[Kelly Olsen]

".....electric cars not selling in the U.S."

Not exactly the case. They are not selling as of yet as many as they predicted or hoped but Volts (which most owners drive in electric mode most of the time, racking up well over 1 million miles on pure EV mode) have been selling steadily with an increase each month.

The LEAF has not done well yet, but it has been in limited rollout and there has been a lot of negative press about EVs in general and much of it politically motivated and not completely truthful.

The new LEAF plant in the U.S will be producing more in a few months and it will cost less which may entice more customers.

While they are not exactly flying off the showroom floors, they EVs are getting out there more and more. In fact, the Volt is selling more than many gas models.

This is from a story that was done recently.

"With 13,497 sales through August, the Volt is selling faster compared to any other variety of vehicles in the market which includes the Subaru WRX, the Chevrolet Corvette, the Mazda2, and the Nissan Altima Hybrid. The Volt is placed 133rd in ranking ahead of industry stalwarts like the Audi A6, BMW 7-Series, Porsche Cayenne and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and it has also outsold nearly all hybrids with the inclusion of Toyota Prius plug-in, Kia Optima, Honda Civic, Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX 450h."

Hope this helps put EV sales and adoption in some perspective.