Well there are already some beautiful and I do mean beautiful green cars from smaller companies, like Coda, Velozzi, Exagon and more. I’ll write about that separately because they deserve an article all to themselves. I’ll shove Toyota and Chrysler in here somewhere– Only joking. You might not have heard of CT&T United, a South Korean company, that’s ready to take on parking lots, parks, and low mileage roads one sub-compact electric car at a time. They don’t go very fast but they are hoping to hit the business sector. One day, you might climb into one of these at the mall, when you can’t remember where you parked your car.
There’s the e-Zone EV from the South Korean company CT&T United, which will be premiering at a store near you, if you reside in Hawaii that is. CT&T United will be building an assembly plant, possibly on Oahu, which will deploy at least 10,000 vehicles annually, within the next 2 years. The e-Zone looks something like a tiny bug, a cute bug at only 103 inches long; it has a nimble 12 foot turn radius. It holds a 72-volt AC motor. It has a battery range of 35 miles. There is an optional lithium-polymer battery which ranges from 45 to 75 miles. The speed is limited to 25 miles per hour, yes it’s slow but it still counts as a user friendly true to lifestyle electric vehicle because after all were talking about Islands here.
This car is cute and indeed sub-compact. You have a choice of three styles of door; without a door like a golf cart, an e-Zone Bar or a typical door. With its beetle type headlamps and its Off Road rear-guard protector and pull down tailgate back, it doesn’t look claustrophobic, it doesn’t look ugly. The colors also help, unlike the iMiEV which has those almond alien shaped headlamps and not so color coordinated exterior or interior. The e-Zone has an electronic dashboard which looks like analog dials. The interior matches the exterior; Red on red and Yellow on yellow. I only wish the CD player and stereo system was a bit more advanced. It looks a lot like my mother’s dashboard anti theft Sony radio player without CD. I don’t know why anyone would want to steal it.
I can’t even get $25 for my original IPod. There is a multi-functional switch which controls the light indicator and the headlamps. There is no push start here just a regular key. This car is beginning to remind me of my old Celica, oh how I loved that thing, what am I talking about, it was banana yellow but I had some fond memories riding around in it. 600,000 miles, say what you will about not being able to break, but you can’t say anything bad about Toyotas durability. The e-Zone looks solid. Most of all it looks fun and young, but not age restricted. I can see the old and young riding around in this and smiling. The e-Zone EV s has already been shipped to Fiji and may soon find its way to New Zealand and Australia. T3 Motion has contracted with CT&T United to purchase 4000 vehicles to the US, to be used by public safety and private security markets.
