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Electric Car Faster than a Porsche
Written by Chris 
For those of you who want an eco-friendly car for your conscience, but a superfast car for the cool factor, you no longer have to be conflicted.
Photo:
Image from ZAP website
ZAP and Lotus Motors are teaming up to bring you the ZAP Alias, a three-wheeled electric car that does 0-60 in 5.7 seconds and boasts a top speed of 156 miles an hour. The car manufacturers brag that the vehicle will be faster than a Porsche.
Not only that, but the car is fairly inexpensive. The Alias will sell for around £15,000($30,000). The car is currently in the late stages of development and could go on sale by next year, although many people believe that the official launch of the car will be pushed back.
The car’s speed comes from its unique design. Unlike previous three-wheeled designs, which were widely derided as looking ridiculous and being fairly useless, the car sports two front wheels and has its single wheel in the back.
The car is powered by two electric motors, one powering each of the car’s two front wheels. The two engines’ combined horsepower tops out at 321 hp. This bests many traditional and more expensive sports cars, including cars like a Porsche 911 Carrera.
ZAP stands for Zero Air Pollution. The California company specializes in eco-friendly transportation technology, and has been around since 1994. They currently sell several other electric cars, including an SUV, in its 50 dealer network across the U.S. They’re hardly a major company, however, having sold only 100,000 units worldwide since its launch 14 years ago.
A ZAP spokesman said: "The ZAP Alias is unlike anything ever seen or driven on the planet. The Alias will redefine driving like no other vehicle in history."
ZAP CEO Steve Schneider said: "Everyone who has seen the Alias says they want to buy one. We have worked with Lotus Engineering during the initial phase of the development project and shall again be looking forward to their support."
Info from Daily Mail
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Comments
Maria (not verified) says:
Mar 29th, 2008 at 10am
Finally we have fast Electric cars,after porsche it's time for others to tighten their seat belts,ZAP and alike are here to give them a tough competition.. visit zapworld.com for more speed !
K (not verified) says:
Feb 8th, 2008 at 9pm
Horsepower has nothing to do with electric motors, an electric motor's power simply cannot be measured in horsepowers, you measure it in kilowatts... it's a selling strategy to brag about the HP, but it has absolutely no value here.
Otherwise nice concept, but I'm more interested in the Aptera.
Claydigity (not verified) says:
Feb 8th, 2008 at 9pm
“Modern cars - they all look like electric shavers.” -- Marv
Jimmski (not verified) says:
Feb 9th, 2008 at 12am
Ha ha! No! Even the basic 996 does 0-60 in under 5 secs and has a top speed of 170+.
Also - what's the range? I bet a Porker could even outdo it on that too.
Douglessness (not verified) says:
Feb 9th, 2008 at 1am
Check out Tesla Motors. They already are selling a car faster then this one that has four wheels and doesn't look like an electric razor.
John (not verified) says:
Feb 9th, 2008 at 2am
Hmm...neat looking, sounds sexy, probably has a weaker range than standard electric cars.
Rineru (not verified) says:
Feb 9th, 2008 at 2am
Umm... How long does it run with a full charge?
Isn't that what really matters, who cares if it's fast when it only lasts 1 hour.
morphovar (not verified) says:
Feb 12th, 2008 at 12am
A car that does 0-60 in 5.7 seconds does not sound so eco-friendly to me. All that electricity has to be produced by some other form of energy, no?
Alohamora says:
Nov 25th, 2010 at 5am
Wow! That's really awesome news! The only problem however would be that of recharging the Electric cars and like issues..If they could devise an affordable way of recharging the vehicle, it would mean a great deal to those seeking environment friendly vehicles..
jon (not verified) says:
Actually since horsepower and watts are both units of power the do in fact equate. 321 horsepower is equal to 239.4 kilowatts. they just use horsepower because it is a more familiar unit of measurement than kilowatts.