These are good developments, but why don't you post some on electric bicycles as well?

How long until a company builds an affordable, 45mph Electric Scooter that ppl will actually buy?

1-2 yrs?

I've not seen them in person, nor do I know the manufacturer, but JV Bike in Vancouver, Canada is offering these:

http://www.jvbike.com/scooters/EVT168.htm
and http://www.jvbike.com/scooters/EVT4000.htm
At a reasonable enough price. They also offer electric bicyles and kits.

You can hardly call Honda and Yamaha's models alternative options - they are both just prototypes.

Congratulations to Zap for actually delivering the product to the market.

I found a 45mph one at EVT America. http://www.evtamerica.com/
It seems like it's not quite ready to sell them though . However, if you get on the waiting list the price is only $2,000. And there are two styles to choose from.

They do have a couple with Zapino-like performance available now from Alien Scooter. http://www.alienscooters.com/

I test-rode the ZAPINO on 07 25 07 in Santa Rosa,CA and can tell you that it performs incredibly well. It is, much like my own E-MAX scooter limited to 30 mpH but can easily reach higher speeds if the onboard controller can be "de-regulated".
The acceleration, as I tested it, and make, are far superior to my E-MAX Sport 2006 Scooter, and I will find out what the CA price point is.

Very very recommendable!

Just go and get one. How cool is it to be able to make a huge difference, have more fun AND SAVE MONEY at the save time! Of course, get the big extra mirrors (I added them to my scooter) to learn and stay away from the crazy ICE drivers ;-)

The future is gas/electric hybrid scooters. Long range, high efficiency. Noiseless operation when needed.

Which, frankly, isn't that difficult to make.

What's taking so long? Honda announced one in 2004.

It's just silly, these prototypes. So what if you have a prototype. It takes you four+ years to bring it to market?

It's like the company that cried wolf. I see prototypes and just laugh. It's an advertising ploy to come off as being forward thinking. But a guy in his garage can build a prototype.

BFD, Honda. Get moving.

I just posted about the EVTAmerica z-20 and r-20 on another article, but I thought I'd post a short comment here, too. The EVT 4000e and EVT 168 mentioned above being sold by JV Bike are produced or distributed (I'm not exactly sure which) by EVT America, which is also mentioned above. These bikes also go 30mph, but use a 1500-watt motor. The Zapino uses a 3000-watt motor, but also only goes 30mph. I also went to zapworld.com and it says "reservation" 2,995. Does this mean they are generally available yet?

In any case, before I found out about the Zapino I already put a deposit down for an R-20 from EVTAmerica, which is also not available yet, but they keep saying it is going to be really soon. The Z-20 and R-20 are supposed to go up to 45mph. But they use a 2500-watt motor. I'm not quite sure what all that means, but there's my two bits. Anyway, I think R-20 looks cool, so I can't wait.

When you read the fine print on EVT's website, their claims of "45" miles to a charge are totally weak. Read the disclaimer down the bottom that says:

"A fully charged EVT Electric Scooter battery pack can provide an approximate distance of up to 45 miles operated at a constant speed of approximately 15mph with a single person on board and a maximum rider weight of 150lbs. while operating the vehicle on flat hard surface terrain over the length of the total distance traveled."

Why would you even make that claim, when you know it's is completely unrealistic. Who is actually going to ride 15 mph for 45 miles on flat ground only?! It's totally misleading, and makes me question everything else they're claiming.

I was looking at the Zapino, and ZAP seems to actually be under-claiming their specs for whatever reason. They claim the Zapino only goes 30 miles to a charge, but my friend bought one, and on his first ride out of their warehouse he took it 39 miles over the foothills of the Sonoma Mountains. Also their claims of 30 mph seem to be short too, because there was a speed boost switch that made it go 41mph.
It also has regenerative braking and silicon gel batteries, which are way better than lead acid. We'll see about the lithium ion upgrade....I talked to ZAP, and they said it's going cost about $2000 just for the battery pack, and I doubt they'll actually come out any time soon. At $2995, the Zapino is a bit more expensive than the z-20, but if I'm dropping over $2000 anyways, I would rather pay a little more and get the state of the art. It is kind of weird that ZAP hasn't put more marketing into the Zapino...their website barely mentions it, and most people I've talked to don't know much about it. It's like they just happened to come out with this totally amazing bike, but they don't want anyone to know.

ZAP, EVT America Z 20 ?

LOL

You all have MUCH to learn your jedi.

Zap is made by Mountain Chen, he is half of ERATO that made the XM-2000 (ERATO-04) that is sold by X-Treme. It is 2,000 watt and will go 41.5 mph.
ERATO is gone, the other half of ERATO is Mountains brother, they had a spat and now Moutains brother is EFUN, they still make the XM type scooters but also have a true 45 mph scooter that uses a beefed up frame and new body style and has lithium.

Mountain is supplying Zap, there may be good reason they do not push the Zap too much as they determine where the weaknesses are, Mountain has quite a reputation for doin the bizarre, specifiying thin plate UPS silicone batteries in the ERATO bikes against the recommendations of the battery maker and using their deep cycle EBIKE silicone instead, result, batteries last two weeks.

Mountain is a rep for many companies in China and hard to say that HE actually does anything except rep this guy or that guy for export, he also reps a Nike ripoff for export.

His latest creation, the 3,000 watt hi torque 6 phase motor, used in the Zap, has less performance than the 2,000 watt hub shifting smaller diameter and lighter motor previously used in the ERATO, and now used by EFUN (his brother).

EVT America, well, let me just say thay 2 years in they have taken deposits, delivered nothing and are unloading a bike that is technologically obsolete before it get on the ships to America. They did this on the cheap, so they sourced the bike parts themselves so no real R&D or factory, they have a guy, he starter a factory In September, they hired monkeys and trained them and now supposedly the bikes are done and created and Walmat has taken all the ships for XMAS so there is no way to get the bikes out of China to those that put down money on them. Of course, you could pick it up in China and drive it back.

Three cheers for Zap! Companies like Zap, Tesla Motors, Phoenix Motorcars, ect. are the future. I'm probably not going to get the Zapino, I'm saving my pennies for the Zap X or maybe the next release from Tesla.

A few months ago I test drove Zap Zapino electric scooter in norther California at 'Voltage Vehicles' in Fulton, CA. I considered a Vespa before settling. The turn-ons for me included lack of noise and smoke, and other than that the units stack up closely. I found the pickup and go to be better on the zapino electric, but for longer hauls and high speed range the vespa was solid. I wouldn't drive either on a highway, I just don't have the guts (or lack of brains). No problems of any type yet. It has a good quality 'feel' to it which i find reassuring considering its made in china.
I have also test driven the zap ATVs but was not overly impressed with them as they had a short range and very small turning radius. Overall a great buy, I recommend the zapino for scooter newbies and aficionados alike.