Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Gary Hoover initially called himself a handyman, but quickly adjusted his profession to “sustainable household helper.” For years, Hoover traveled by pedal power—the bicycle kind—until towing a few hundred pounds of tools and lumber around started to bother his knees and hips.

Casting about for another way to move throughout the city simply and efficiently, he settled upon a Zap! three-wheeled electric truck. He had this parked at a little block party yesterday at 48th and Chicago. While vehicles designed to be as small as possible to handle daily duties, rather than as large as possible, are nothing new in Europe and Asia, a little tot of a truck like this plunked down in a major U.S. city brings folks up for a chat.

Hoover’s been a Zap owner since December, so he’s experienced our winter and summer. The tricycle truck runs 20-35 miles on a 40-cent charge, depending on variables like temperature and cargo, and takes 6-8 hours to charge from a standard 120-volt outlet. (The low mileage end is from extreme cold and he says he’s looking into a battery warmer for this winter.) He says that amount of juice costs him 40 cents–batteries must be replaced every several years, so this is not the total operating cost. This truck’ll do about 40 miles per hour; he says additional battery power can boost top speed up to 50-plus.

The flat surface high above the bed is a solar panel, which provides a claimed 3 miles a day from sunshine alone, however Hoover has no way to test its independent contribution to his mileage. At the state fair, he met some sustainable energy folks who told him of much more efficient panels—satellite grade—but they’re a lot more expensive. We mused that someday the entire exterior “skin” of an electric vehicle will be taking in and transforming direct and reflected sunlight.

I asked if it felt tippy–like the 3-wheeled ATV Honda ran into trouble with in the late 1970s, but he said the engine sits low behind the rear wheels and the batteries are arrayed just in front of them. Keeping a healthy part of the weight at the rear corners keeps the-little-truck-that-could planted. Hoover is a big enough believer in the technology that he’s helping dealer Edina Bike and Sport to promote the Zap! around town. His visit here was as much in that vein as to take in the parade and gathering, which mostly rained out. Initially he offered me a ride, but then said, why don’t you drive? So I did.

I piloted the hauling curiosity maybe ten blocks, hitting speeds of about 30 miles per hour. It never felt unstable–the driver (and passenger) provide enough weight up front to make steering feel confident. This is not like a regular car or truck, however–it’s more spartan—and has the road feel of a small, light vehicle, rather than a heavy, smooth one. It feels like a really nice golf cart. It’s silent when stopped, but when you push the “gas” pedal, it comes to life. It “chunked” a bit with each acceleration from a stop; Hoover says he’s driven other Zaps that don’t do that.

Driving a vehicle that makes my MG seem big is a fresh experience. You feel a bit like a Disney character and I thought if I were a chimney sweep, I’d get one of these and play it up somehow, like ’Lectro-Sweep.

Although badged Solar Electric Vehicle, people have their doubts. One woman kept asking him what kind of gas it took. Finally she pointed to the filler door toward the back of the cab. Hoover swung it open to reveal an electrical plug and the woman was speechless. For the $12,500 he paid, Hoover’s happy. Just looking at this thing makes people smile.

Is it the future? As they say in some sci-fi movie, it’s one possible future.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 8:17 am and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.