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It’s from the company in France that claims to be the leader in microcars and ‘Zenn’ stands for ‘zero emissions no noise’.
The car has been developed in collaboration with Canada’s Feel Good Cars and is being launched in the UK. The plant where the Microcar Zenn is manufactured is in western France and is around a 30-minute drive from Nantes.
Microcar SA is a member of the Bénéteau group which has interests that go from the manufacturing of leisure products to yacht construction, with emphasis on the racing ones.
This electric car is available both in the 2-seater as well as the 4-seater versions and has a rather cute French styling. The car won the Michelin Challenge Bibendum Gold Medal at the 2006 Bibendum Challenge in Paris in the Urban Vehicle category.
No, this is not your usual speedy roadster and it has a 60 mile range at full charge. However, considering that you rarely do more than 40 miles a day when it’s urban driving, the fact that you can do it in this 100% electric car is great. To top up, all you need is a power supply point.
The new models come with their own chargers. There is no pollution, no parking hassles, no road tax and in cities like London, no congestion charges. True, the speeds are at 25 mph, but do urban speeds really exceed 20 mph at most hours? And it is available at below £8000 in the UK.
What is different in the Microcar Zenn is the fact that for the first time, you get optional lithium ion battery power and regenerative braking in a lower-priced electric car, both features having undergone extensive testing before the car was launched.
Just 120” in length, the Microcar Zenn has most things you get in a regular car – you have your defroster, your gauge cluster, your seatbelts – and while it isn’t really made to rip around the countryside on an open highway, it sure is great for urban getting around.
The Microcar Zenn is a combination of good raw material usage as well as fuel efficiency. It is built on a lightweight but very strong aluminum structure which is then done over with polycarbonate panels. It is a fully enclosed car and the standard version includes headlights, seat belts, the gauge cluster and a defroster.
For the US market, Feel Good Cars, Toronto will ship these cars to many dealers across the country. What they have done is take the diesel-powered MC2 car sold in Europe, put in a 5 hp engine and make it an all-electric car. All this at approximately $10,000.
Sure, it’s been accused of being a glorified golf cart but for city traffic, there’s nothing to beat electric cars like this which keep the air clean for us and all those around.