Zenn ditches plans .. bets the farm on eestor.

zod · 26-09-2009 2:58pm #1

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/18924

Zenn now makes low-speed electric vehicles, but in an apparent shift in strategy, Zenn Chief Executive Ian Clifford said on Tuesday the company no longer plans to distribute or sell its own highway-capable electric vehicle, partly due to an increasingly competitive market.

"The way things have really changed over the last year -- there have been such dramatic shifts and focus on electric vehicles -- it doesn't make a lot of business sense for us to go into the distribution and sale of the vehicle," he said.

Instead, Zenn thinks it has a better crack at mass markets by supplying auto equipment makers with an electric car drivetrain, which generates and delivers power.

http://planetark.org/wen/54782

probe · 26-09-2009 6:15pm

zod wrote: »

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/18924

Instead, Zenn thinks it has a better crack at mass markets by supplying auto equipment makers with an electric car drivetrain, which generates and delivers power.

It makes sense - in a few years Zenn won't be able to compete with volume car manufacturers. They are lucky to have the agreement with EEstor (assuming it works as planned), and they can peddle a ready-made technology to existing car brands. Mercedes Benz bought a shareholding in Tesla Motors to get their hands on the Tesla technology. Big car manufacturers have deep pockets to pay for an inside track into new technologies.

zod · 06-10-2009 8:13pm

''We are looking at developing what we are calling an applied R&D facility for our (trademark) Zennergy drive system, which is a breakthrough ... system,'' said Clifford, one of yesterday's speakers at the Plug-In Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Conference and Trade Show under way in Montreal.

Key to the system is energy-storage technology developed by EEStor Inc., a privately-held company based in Austin, Tex. Zenn has certain exclusive rights to the technology and has a 10.5-per-cent stake in the company.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Zenn+Motor+seeking+site+facility/2045147/story.html