TAKE A DEMONSTRATION RIDE

We offer demonstration rides at our Test Site near Pittsburgh, Pa and Northern WV or at dealers around the world.  If you drive or fly to come and test, we pay for your travel if you buy a ZEV.

DARE TO COMPARE

SCOOTER AND MOTORCYCLE BRANDS AND SPECIFICATIONS.

Please excuse us if we brag a little and provide you the buyer with tips on how to get the best bike for your hard earned money while comparing our vehicles to the "competition".

Before you buy from any company, look closely at the specifications.  Make sure you are not overpaying for a given performance.  Make sure that the vehicle that you are purchasing does not have "toy" performance not usuable in the real world.  Buying a less expensive  vehicle will not be a deal if it will not climb a hill, cannot keep up with the traffic, and runs out of energy half way home.

COMPARE TO THE OTHER ELECTRIC SCOOTERS AND ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES

SIZE- The ZEV is a full sized, large motorscooter.  Not a  toy that is confined to side streets and parking lots or a small bike with a choppy ride, too small for two people.   The rider shown below is a 5 ft. 10 in. 140 lb rider for comparison.

PASSENGER CARRYING / GROSS WEIGHT - The ZEV is build to carry a load. Make sure the bike you are considering has a gross weight that is sufficient to carry your weight.  Deduct the bike curb weight from the gross to see the load carrying ability.  Beware - It is a rare motor scooter that can carry two full sized people.  ZEV are tested with 50% over  their rated load in weight.

Chinese motor scooters cannot carry the weight of two Western people safely. 

The expensive USA made electric motorcycles like Zero and Brammo Enertia cannot carry two normal sized people in the real world. First they only have a single seat.  Next - they just cannot carry the weight.  Zero states on their site that the combined load of all riders and load cannot exceed 302 lbs.  Two riders could not weigh more than 151 lbs each.  Brammo states that the two riders combined weight cannot be more than only 276 lbs.

POWER- To compare - Do not look for unusable peak or max torque statements.  Look for Continous torque figures.  

The $4428 (after tax credit) ZEV4100 has a maximum usable torque of 164 Nm.  Compare it to the $10,495 or    the $8795 Vectrix with their advertised maximum torque of 65 Nm.  The $14,000 EnertiaBike has only a 38 Nm peak torque.

It is the continous torque that counts.  The continous torque of the Vectrix is listed at only 23 Nm.  The $14,995 EnertiaBike lists peak current at 240 Amps but only 80 Amps continous-a drop of 66%.  That would indicate only 12.66 Nm on a continous basis. 

The EnertiaBike claims a peak motor power of 13 Kw.  But after derating to 80 Amps only 4.33 Kw continous would  be indicated - nearly the same as the 1/3rd the price ZEV4100 with 4.10 Kw.  The performance is the same.

Watch out for "misleading" statements like that of the XM scooters claiming up to 180 Nm.  What they writing of is the Nm available only a 0 to about 70 wheel rpm until  the controller starts to work.  At best this power is momentary until the motor gets hot.

Look at the ZEV5100 and ZEV6100 with 5100 and 6100 watts of power respectively. Clearly they outpower any and all of the electric scooters including the 3800 watt, $10,000 Vectrix on a continous power basis.

All  ZEV competitors have big drops from their peak  (and often advertised) power down to the continous or available on the steet power.   Only ZEV has taken the extra steps to cool controllers and motors to prevent heat induced loss of power.  A more thermally efficient motor wastes less input power, results in a higher continous torque, and lengthens the motor life. 

Compare the exceptionally deep heat shedding fins on our controllers and our extra cost Military Spec heat shedding coating to any other  controller on any other bike. 

Only ZEV has an aerospace background with electronic controllers that must be the ultimate in reliability.  The Zehrbach Engineering Corporation engineers that designed the power train build high altitude aircraft and military drones. 

Ask any other company about how they get the heat    from the electrical components to the heat shedding outer  shell, or ask them about the oil cooling in the ZEV hub motors (that also stops corrosion).  You will get silence. 

We are the only company in the world with an oil inside the hub motors.  This innovation helps cooling, stops the corrosion that plagues other companies hub motors, and lubricates the motor. 

Value- One easy comparison is watts of power versus price.  As an example - other companies offer Chinese 3500 watt scooters  at $4900.  ZEV offers its 4100 watt   bike at $4920 (less 10% tax credit) or $4428 after the tax credit.  So a ZEV offers 600 more watts at only $20 more.  All ZEV bikes have Regenerative Braking.  Almost no one else does.  All ZEV bikes have dual piston front and rear brakes.  Almost no one else does. Only ZEV has a two  year warranty.  Most others are so short the warranty expires only about 30 days after you receive the bike.

RANGE- It is the combination of very low weight, our innovative "Electronic Transmission", and our extra efficient controllers and motors that allow us to get such high range.  Consider our 6100 Trail bike with a 5.04 Kwh battery pack with range to 80 miles in daily driving and up to 100 miles in low speed steady running.  No one else gets even close in a production bike.

Feed back from customers show that they get about 1 mile per 75 watt hrs in daily traffic commuting.  This compares to what we get in steady state on an undulating Interstate test of about 1 mile per 55 watt hrs.  We have to do our tests in accordance with the Motorcycle Industry or government guidelines and state those results.  The customer results are in varying conditions, not flat. 

ZEV uses an innovative "Electronic Transmission" with a minimum of 3 amp settings that lets the rider run high amps for hill climbing, but then set the controller for reduced 60 amps for high cruise, or only even more reduction for in town or extreme range extension running.  All at the touch of a button. No other company in the world offers this range extending feature.

The ZEV are very light in comparison to all others.  Consider that a ZEV is 200 lbs. lighter than a Vectrix.

Most electric bikes have a range of about 30 miles like the Zap scooter.  Compare - the ZEV3600 range of 60 miles to the Vectrix range of 35-55 miles to the EnertiaBike's 35 to 45 miles. Customers who drive this model bike daily are reporting driving 45 miles before charging at in traffic speeds.  The ZEV5100 has a range of 75 miles.   The XM scooter uses 80 amps to obtain the torque ZEV gets at 60 amps.  The result is less range for the XM.

The hotter a motor gets, the less efficient that it runs.  Our motors run colder than anyone else in the industry at equal power levels.

WEIGHT VERSUS POWER- The ZEV line of bikes weigh 285 lbs to 305 lbs.  The Vectrix weighs 515 lbs. It takes more power to move more weight. That extra 210 lb. of Vectrix weight cuts range and acceleration while making the bike harder to handle and slower stopping.

SPEED- The ZEV3600 will run 50 mph.  The ZEV6100 will run 64 mph.  Compare to the ZAP scooter claims of "about 30 mph".  The $7,995 EnertiaBike will run "60+mph".  Only the Vectrix claims a faster "62 mph" top speed than these models.  But that is still not fast enough to keep up with the far faster+75 mph  ZEV7100  (about 26% less than the price of a Vectrix or the same price as the slower, less range, EnertiaBike).

RECHARGE TIME- The ZEV bikes will recharge in 2 hours with 75% depletion of the battery at start on 120 volts..  Compare to the "3-5 hours" of the twice as expensive Vectrix.  But it is really much better as the lithium ZEV bikes will charge approximately 75% in only 30 minutes.  220 Volt chargers reduce charging time to approximately half of that for 120 volt chargers.

EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED - The ZEV scooters have all parts included in the price that you need to operate.  This includes the battery charger. No hidden extra costs - like the extra charge for a center stand on the $8,700 Vectrix.

BRAKES- Compare to the XM Scooter or any others.   The dual piston front calipers and dual piston rear calipers   of the ZEV coupled with its up to 230 lbs lighter weight make it the braking champion. The XM only has one front piston for 50% less front brake friction surface. Additionally, the ZEV bikes have the largest diameter disks for 20% more swept area of braking.

WARRANTY- Compare the ZEV two year warranty to: XM 30 days. Zap or Zapino 6 months. Only the $10,000 Vectrix has a comparable warranty.  If the company will not trust their product enough to warranty it, why should you trust it?  This matches our Durability below.

DURABILITY-We have customers with + 10,000 miles on their bikes with all of the original drive line parts and tires in place.  Zero trips to the gas station and the repair shop.

COST OF REPAIR PARTS - No one can match ZEV for low replacement parts cost. New frame $500, Motor Controller $395, Complete painted bodywork ready to install $540. You can get the parts you need at a price you can afford.

MANUALS - Only the $8700 Vectrix has a manual that is the equal of the ZEV. All of the Chinese based bikes , like XM have only an operators manual written in error riddled garbled "Chinglish". Put them to the test before buying. Ask for a wiring diagram or a written instruction on how to replace crash damaged bodywork. Most of the Internet based retailers have no clue of how to repair anything.

ACCURACY OF REPRESENTATIONS- XM said it best about themselves on their web site "We do not make make any claims as to the accuracy of the specifications listed on this site". ZEV is the manufacturer. Our claims are accurate. Some manufacturers show "one off" bikes running high speeds to lure customers in, but then say their production bikes are detuned to slower speeds. The speeds we publish are speeds that have been obtained by samples from the production line.

OUR VEHICLES ARE LEGAL- We have the EPA designator of ZEV. Our bikes are fully NHTSA and DOT compliant.

NO ONE MATCHES OUR QUALITY OF BUILD- Stainless steel fasteners are used where ever possible. Our frame is plated in a dip tank to prevent corrosion. Our controllers are Military Spec hard anodized to withstand 1000 hour salt spray tests.  Our electrical connections are sealed and waterproof.  No one else bothers.

Only ZEV offers industrial use motor scooters for the police, postal delivery, and hauling freight - and then uses the same heavy duty frame and parts in their regular customer bikes.  Look at the size of the big frame tubes on the Trail model (they can be seen without removing bodywork) to get an idea of how strong our frame is. 

TO COMPARE TO THE GASOLINE SCOOTERS OF EQUAL PRICE

 POWER- To calculate power 1 hp is 746 watts. 

To compare electric scooters a 3800 watt Vectrix has 5.09 hp.  A ZEV6100 has 60% more power at 8.18 hp.

A ZEV 4100 has performance on par with a 125 to 150 cc gas motor scooters.    A ZEV5100 has 6.7 hp. 

DARE TO COMPARE - AND YOU WILL SEE THE OVERWHELMING PERFORMANCE VALUE OF A ZEV.