California-based electric vehicle maker ZAP is reporting record sales in August, the most since the company’s Xebra line of sedans and trucks launched in 2006. According to a news release, unaudited sales for ZAP vehicles surged to $737,000 in August versus $392,000 in the same month last year.
ZAP officials attribute the jump in sales to a combination of gas prices and that the company has one of the few affordable, street-legal, city-speed electric vehicles in production. In contrast, the company points to conventional auto industry sales in the U.S. falling in double-digit percentages
Construction crews recently started work in Simpson County, Kentucky to make way for a million-square-foot plant to make ZAP electric vehicles. The facility - which will sit on more than 200 acres at the Wilkey North Industrial Park - is a joint venture between ZAP and Shepherdsville, Kentucky-based Integrity Automotive. Initial figures put the plant's cost at $84 million, but a new statement from ZAP now cites the cost at $100 million.
In an August interview with Manufacturing & Technology eJournal, Integrity Automotive Chief Executive Randall Waldman said the plant would be online in just a year. He expects an initial workforce of about 1,250, hired 30 to 60 days before production starts. Waldman and Zap officials say it will take about four years to ramp up to 4,000 workers. Waldman also owns Integrity Manufacturing in Shepherdsville. That company - which started in Feb 2007 and has grown to 400 workers - will be a Tier I supplier to the new plant and will open a support facility there to do all stamping as well as frame construction, Waldman said.
The state of Kentucky helped secure the facility by pledging up to $48 million in tax incentives and signing a new law allowing drivers of electric vehicles on roads with speed limits under 45. Company officials also say the city of Franklin is also preparing $76 million in industrial revenue bonds.
MSRPs on ZAP’s Xebra line of vehicles run from $11,700 for the sedan to $12,500 for the truck, according to the company. Xebras can travel up to 40 MPH.
For more information on ZAP call (707) 525-8658 or visit their Web site at http://www.zapworld.com. For more information on Integrity Manufacturing call 502-957-0219 or visit their Web site at http://www.integrity-manufacturing.com.
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