Wednesday, July 22, 2009


I have been an electric vehicle enthusiast for many years. My first EV was an E-bike. It was very well built, but was not quiet. The motor made a lot of noise, and people would look to see what the heck was coming.

My next ev was another bike. This one was more powerful and totally quiet. It was truly a joy to ride. It could reach speeds of 30MPH, although that is a bit scary on a bicycle.

My third ev was a ZENN neighborhood electric vehicle. I had it converted to AC so it would have more power, and go 35MPH in stead of 25MPH. From day one it was a disappointment, and continued to disappoint me from when I bought it until now. Many people have had the same problems as me (charger, and pac failures ). It is great when it works, the problem is it only works about 40% of the time. The reason I say 40% is because every time it would fail it would be anywhere from 1 to 3 months to get it fixed. Support has been the biggest problem.
I have about 10,000 miles on it now and it has gone through 3 battery pac's, and had the charger replaced twice. If it was not under warranty it would have cost me approx $9,000 in repairs just for the parts.

My next vehicle is the Triac three wheeler. it seats two, has lithium batteries, and can go 80MPH. It is suppose to have a range of 100 miles @ 45MPH. I am not sure what the range is @ freeway speeds.
I have been waiting for my Triac EV for over a year now. There have been MANY delays, but I feel confident it is very close to becoming a reality. As with many new technologies, and companies there are many delays. They have been rigorously testing the prototypes, disassembling it, checking for wear, and making corrections. Most resent problem was a bearing failure. They have replaced it with a much stronger, and more reliable one.


I am estimating that I should get it around the second week in September. The photo attached has a picture of the Triac that I photo shopped in front of my house just for fun.

No comments:

Post a Comment