Kentucky Goes After Electric Cars: Is ZAP Hype?

ZAP (Zero Air Pollution) is an electric car company currently based in California. The company now makes electric cars in China and wants to locate a facility in America. Contenders for the American plant include Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

That brings me to this....

On Monday evening, August 11, Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky visited my backyard for a town hall meeting at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Kentucky. Among the many questions and comments from the audience was one from a man, who thanked Mr. Beshear for signing an executive order in early August, allowing electric vehicles on some state roads. The man said he and his wife have been using their electric vehicles, and the savings over gasoline are simply something to shout about.

The electric car can go as fast as 45 miles per hour, and are now permitted to travel on Kentucky roads with speed limit of 45MPH or slower.

With this executive order, the Governor hopes to lure ZAP to choose Kentucky for a 200-acre plant that could eventually employ more than 2,000 workers.

So, what will these electric cars cost Kentuckians? A 4-passenger ZAP car will cost around $11,700; a ZAP truck costs about $12,400. Not bad, ahn? Also, ZAP would like for the state to offer every buyer of a ZAP vehicle a $1,000 tax credit. Gov. Beshear is open to that option.

But not so fast! There is one huge problem with all this electricity before it strikes Kentucky roads en masse. Here is how the Lexington Herald Leader phrased the ZAP loophole:

“Some independent auto analysts say ZAP has a reputation of overpromising and under-delivering. Aaron Bragman, an auto industry analyst with the economic forecasting group Global Insight, said last month that 'Kentucky politicians should proceed with caution with ZAP. ZAP often makes very big promises in press releases and news conferences but has yet to prove they can deliver all they say they can. They've shown us a great concept, but not a good business model.'”

Okay, ZAP's big talk aside, one thing seems certain: Electric cars have become part of the cure to the world's addiction to petroleum. And for those hypersensitive souls on environmental concerns, electric cars with zero CO2 emission may just deliver the energy Nirvana the world needs. Right?

O yea, it's a good feeling knowing that Kentucky may actually be known for something other than champion of tobacco, leader in smoking and cigarette-related diseases, and all the other dusty trophies that bad news journalists enjoy robbing in our faces. At last, the Commonwealth of Kentucky can be a leader in the new energy revolution.

If we don't land the new energy reputation with zero-air-pollution cars, perhaps we could find in clean coal technology? Or may be it's bio-fuel something that will redeem the Commonwealth's good name. I'm ready. Anything but four-buck gas for my V8 petro guzzler.