Triac tryouts to begin this October, deliveries in November - Page 2

When is the Triac going to be available or any other 100% electric vehical.

Rich from NJ

 Here is a new one to me: http://www.eliomotors.com/   Zaps and Zenns are 100% electric, along with velomobiles and they are available now.  Or Miles, Elektric Kurrent, GEM, or something like a used Think.  Depends where you live- I wanted a newer City-el which came from Denmark but when the company sold to Germany; the US imports stopped.  Th!nk (made in Norway) is  trying to get in the US.

Outstanding number of electric vehicles available but some are hard to find (or are taking their sweet time getting here)!

About the eliomotors - the 7500 USD price tag is not realistic.

When something is too good to be true - remember that old saying and beware of a scam.

The web site is nothing more than a photo and an email chip at type of thing.

HaHaHa!  My exact thought!  But Eco, Elio, Alius, VentureOne, Comet, or whatever, just might fool us and jump right out of the rendering phase!
You never know!  The latest news from from EEStor / Zenn appeared tonight:
 http://www.tonic.com/article/eestor-ultracapacitor-potentially-close-to-market/
but I just don't know if that unchanged Zenn frame can handle much more of anything!  

This summer a GEM is in and out of a shop here due to frame problems, and that 2003 Zap PU (last one here I think) vanished.  I E-mailed for location and further info about that Eio - I hope I don't get an E-I-E-I-O response .

 I received an immediate reply from Elio motors.  Searching for a location in the US is the main problem.  No details (measurements, interior, power supply); but I don't think it will begin mass production for a while!

 Have they even done the Triac tryouts at all? The OP here was over a year ago.   Boppster, did you get yours?

No I have not got mine yet. I am still hoping that I will get it by the end of October, although that is getting here very fast.

I went to the "Green Car Co" in Bellevue Wa. this weekend, and there it was the Triac in the flesh, or should I say fiberglass. To my surprise it was not proudly on display with the other ev's in the display room. Almost as if they were ashamed of it. The Triac was through a large opening into the shop where they repair cars, and had dust all over it from the shop.

The car was sent up from Green Vehicles for the "Beyond Oil conference". They were told that it is a prototype, and there’s was not ready yet. I am a little skeptical though. The prototype I am used to seeing is the older body style with the center headlight. This one clearly looked like one of the 7 that were shipped here from China two months ago.
Green car co was so disappointed in the quality of the car that they did not even take it to the conference. I did see some things that clearly were not good quality in the interior panels. One of the indentations in the plastic near the cup holders was so thin there was a hole in it big enough to stick a couple of fingers in. There were also a couple of places where two panels come together that the black plastic was rough, and had white showing where it was either cut , or the black had just been rubbed off.
I was able to sit in it and one of my fears turned out true. My head hits the roof :(. I am not sure what can be done about that. The seats sit in contact with the battery box, so they can not be lowered. It might be possible to adjust the seat position and angle to get around the problem. No one was there that knew anything about it.
I am anxious to here what Ehab from Green Vehicles has to say about there car as well as mine.

Oh boy, I hope yours arrives in better condition Boppster, and that the head room isn't a big problem.

There are two ways I can think of to fix the head room issue. One would be to remove the sliding mechanism under the seat, and bolt it directly to the box. That would give me at least an inch more head room, although the seat would not go forward and back. not a big issue since I will be the only one driving it.
The other would be to look into the possibility of raising the car up by modifying the suspension, and lowering the battery box. this would be a big job, and only used as a last resort. The amount raised would not make a noticeable difference on performance.
I can not really make any kind of decision until I get mine and really see if there is a problem with the head room.

 Not a very good idea to mess with the alignment by raising the car.  Lowriders here lower their cars usually 3" and practically ruin the alignment! The sane might be true raising the car.  One possibility is reclining the seat back until your head doesn't touch.

 I am so sorry to hear about the questionable Triac.  I am wondering about quality of Eco Motors Commuter 3-wheel car now.  It is not electric (650cc gas, I think) but has power everything and air conditioning to boot.  It too is going to be a China built vehicle.  How I wish the US would design and build (in large numbers)  a 3-wheel car on our own soil!

Thanks for the input Chris, I am only considering altering the suspension as a last resort. I believe adjusting the seat might work, but if not I think removing the sliding mechanism under the seat will be adequate.

The problem with tilting the seat back is that the top slopes down. I tried this in the prototype, and it did not do much good. Untill I get mine I will not be able to play with the seat positions. By the way, i just got an email telling me mine will ship by Nov 6th

 This was a pleasant surprise: Green Vehicles   is moving assembly to Salinas:
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091027/NEWS01/910270309&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
Picture of a Triac.  I heard about building an EV on Salinas TV, but I don't know if they will build or assemble.

 Surprising- already the negative e-mail about EVs flowed into the Salinas AM radio station!  In one day!  This will be a very difficult move for Green Vehicles!  And I thought Santa Cruz was  more "negative anything"!  

 Wrong string probably, but since I mentioned this vehicle above; I thought I would put the latest news here:
ECO Motor CompanyChina trip was a success! Look for the EMC3 at the Seattle International Auto Show Nov 11-15, 2009 at the Qwest Field Events Center. See, feel, touch and smell

Geez that sucks Boppster.  It's just delay after delay after delay, and the fake VIN is bizarre.  Green Vehicles needs to get their act together and realize that the first step is to get the already sold vehicles delivered!  Pissing off your first customers is not a good way for a company to get started.  And I agree, I don't see why working out the details for a move to a new production facility would slow the existing vehicle production.  Green Vehicles needs to shape up.

This discussion is entitled 'deliveris in November'.  That was of 2008, so they're already over a year behind schedule.  It's a year and a half now since they ran their ad claiming the Triac was "now available".  Sorry, but to me that's just unacceptable. 
Edited by dana1981 - 11/11/09 at 8:58am

Hah well at least that's a bit of good news (other than the nightmare!).  Fingers crossed that Green Vehicles finally shapes up!

 That sounds as bad as Zap treated a Santa Cruz dealer: lawsuit proceedings, Zaps only EV experienced mechanic left, and Zap is pretty much banned here.  I was hoping Triac would make it where Zap didn't.  Green Vehicles does not seem popular in Salinas; but time will tell.  Just taking way too long!  I would be chewing nails by now.  The only EV available here is a 25 mph Zenn.

That Salinas radio station has been announcing all weekend how terrible electric cars are for the environment compared to SUVs; show will be Nov. 16.  I am afraid Green Vehicles just hit another wall!  To each their own.... I sure wonder how anything gets done with ClearChannel against it!  

What?!  That's insane.  In other words, if the Triac performs terribly, Green Vehicles doesn't want anybody to know about it.  You're also not allowed to say anything if the vehicle performs great, which basically means it won't.

That is a massively huge red flag.  Good luck to you Boppster, but my opinion of Green Vehicles has gone into the toilet through this process.  To have a year and a half of delays and then not allow customers to discuss the car's performance is just insane.

 What an unfair business shocker Boppster.  I am so sorry.  The talk show this morning commented about "electric cars being all hokum" and only "that type of transportation is only for coal burning idiots" but without real-life experience from people like us this type of getting around will be very one sided to almost everyone.  Most likely this excellent type of vehicle will have a very difficult time.

Zap faded away here, GEM and Zenn vehicles still in town have aluminum frame problems, Aptera is still "pie in the sky". and Tesla is rarely seen.  Pretty confusing time in the EV world!

Dana said it all and very correctly. This seems to be trying to sweep something under the carpet even before it is spilled (delivered).

Best of luck to the Bopster - think he needs it. 

It still seems weird to me that they won't let you comment on the vehicle performance as part of this program.  If you said "'x' went wrong and Green Vehicles did 'y' to fix it", that would be good information for a potential customer to know.  I don't see what the value is in keeping this information secret.

 Green Vehicles in Salinas is very mysterious to me.  An assembly line photo was shown on the TV news of an unannounced 4-wheel vehicle.  A Green Vehicles line?  Who knows!  What vehicle is that?  Who knows!  Being so candid perks my curiosity, but after a while sends me elsewhere.  I just can't understand the secrecy!  But Ford Motors can thank them. :D  Ford was *here/now* so I bought one.  

I have had my Triac for almost three weeks and it is such a treat to drive over my ZENN. It is such a difference having Lithium over Lead Acid batteries. I have gone on several round trips of about 50 miles, with the lights on, and heater running full bore. The temps have been in the low 40’s, and the range was good. I think the range of 100 miles looks to be accurate at 45 MPH with out the heater, although the heater does not seem to affect it much. I have not done a full range test yet.
I am having a little difficulty with the state of charge meter though. Green vehicles is working the issue. They have been WONDERFULL to deal with as far as support. If I had a problem with my ZENN it would be a minimum of 1 month to get it fixed, and on average probably 6 weeks. At times It felt like the ZENN was down about 50% of the time I had it in the first year.

The head room in the Triac is fine. I had originally thought there would be a problem, but I was wrong. Driving an electric stick shift is very different though. Not in a bad way, just different. You have to use the clutch to change gears when you are moving unlike what people have been telling me. You do not have to put in the clutch when stopping. You simply come to a stop in what ever gear you are in, and then shift it into 1st or 2nd. I usually start in 2nd if it is on level ground. If there is a hill I will start in 1st. Because the motor is so quiet you do not know exactly when to shift. That took some getting used to. I use the speedometer to give me an idea of when to shift. Following is my general rule of when to shift. This is based on trying to keep my amps down to increase range.

I found that I stay in 1st gear until I get to 10MPH, then I shift to 2nd. I stay in 2nd until I get to 20MPH, then I shift to 3rd. I stay in 3rd until I get to 30MPH, then I shift to 4th. I stay in 4th until I get to 40MPH, then I shift to 5th. I use 5th for above 40.

The fastest I have gone is about 65MPH, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was thinking there would be a lot more vibration, and it might wander a little. I was surprised to find that it road the same as if I was going 25MPH. I felt no difference. I can let go of the steering wheel, and it goes perfectly straight, no wandering.
The charge time with 110 is a bit lengthy though. A 50 mile trip usually takes me about 10-12 hours to charge. I just got my 220 cord and am looking forward to charging in much less time. I am told that if the batteries are down all the way it will only take about 5 hours to charge with 220
Everyone seams to really like the look of it though. I was thinking people would find it to be odd looking.