Zapping high fuel costs

July 28, 2010 By TIFFANY RAY

Expanding electric car company gains a dealership in the Inland Empire

Electric vehicles are on their way to Riverside with the opening of the Inland region's first Zap dealership.

Ramon Alvarez C., owner of Alvarez Jaguar and Alvarez Lincoln-Mercury in the Riverside Auto Center, has opened Alvarez Zap alongside his other businesses with plans to market the company's existing lineup of low-speed vehicles primarily to commercial buyers, and to be a part of Zap's next step into the consumer market.

"I've always wanted to expand my business, and I've been watching Zap for the last 15 years," Alvarez said. "It's a growing company."

With the new dealership, Alvarez becomes the Zap distributor for the Inland region, parts of Los Angeles County, and Mexico, said Jeff Gettys, a district manager for Zap in Laguna Niguel. 

The dealership officially opened about a week ago, Alvarez said. 

So far, there are few telltale signs of its presence, save for a row of small, gleaming white trucks lining one wall at the back of Alvarez' existing dealership. But Zap has already landed its first customer -- the city of Riverside, which has purchased a half dozen electric Zaptruck XL vehicles. The city will take delivery during a grand-opening ceremony Thursday at the dealership. 

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge said the new Zap trucks would join the city's increasingly fuel-efficient fleet. 

"We want to be a place where electric vehicles are used, both in terms of fleets and in terms of customer choice," he said Santa Rosa-based Zap began in 1994 as a manufacturer of electric bicycle kits in Sebastopol and today sells electric vehicles around the world. There are about 60 Zap dealerships around the U.S., Gettys said. Alvarez Zap is the 15th California location. 

In addition to the Zaptruck XL, the company offers a shuttle van, a three-wheeled scooter and two-wheeled motorbike and an electric ATV they call "The Dude." The products retail for anywhere from about $400 to $15,000.

The company also is in the process of purchasing a majority stake in Jonway, the China-based manufacturer of Zap vehicles.

Economic troubles have taken a huge toll on the auto industry in recent years, but for Zap, Alvarez said, "I think the future is wide open.

The whole auto industry wants to be more environmentally responsible, and you're hearing a lot of that in the media. 

The difference is that Zap is producing cars right now." 

In addition to helping to reduce air pollution, electric vehicles cost only 2 cents per mile to fuel, he said. "Clearly, there is a demand in the consumer base for these types of cars." 

Alvarez is expecting a new shipment of vehicles next week and plans to reconfigure his existing dealerships to make space for a Zap showroom. 

Karl Brauer, a senior analyst for Edmunds.com, said electric vehicles have been a niche product for a long time, but have gotten more attention in recent years, and the major manufacturers are taking notice. 

"I just don't think you can deny the desire to have a car like that," he said. 

"We're at the very beginning of this process, but I think it's going to move more quickly in the next five years than in the past 25."