This link gives a detailed story of the history of ZAP.
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-04/ff_zapped?currentPage=all
I'm so disappointed but not surprised.
I was also rooting for zap and bought their stock when I heard about their Smart cars a few years ago. When I heard Daimler didn't want to deal with ZAP, I had thought it was another case of the giant auto industry snuffing out the small guys.
But since then, I've seen too many of ZAP's announcements end up with nothing but vapor so I already knew not to believe every claim the company puts out.
I remember a ZAP sales rep posting enthusiastic announcements a while back but can't find that thread, I'm curious how he's doing now?
I'm so disappointed, and want to do something to stop these companies that do give a bad name to the EV industry. Letting people know the history is the first step.
Sorry I missed that this was already posted by rikiman.
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3190-hype-machine-searching-zap039s-fleet-noshow-green-cars
But I'm still angry. When someone is unethical and scamming people, I don't care if they're making the best EV, they should be stopped. Besides, ZAP and the EV industry will do much better in the hands of an honest management. If ZAP was honest, maybe Daimler would have dealt with them. If ZAP was forthright, maybe the deal with GEM would have gone through.
Who's the actual oem that builds the new nice Zapinos? It's definitly not Starr or Schneider that was responsible for it. It's the hard working engineers, product managers, and assembly works that made it a quality product. We should get together to form a large enough importer/distributor and sell to the many eco dealers that are popping up around the country. That was the HESC (Hypothetical Electric Scooter Co) that was started last year but sputtered.