Read more: Local, State, Environment, Automotive, Chuck Turney, Gary Starr, Zapmobile, Zap Car, Zapworld
TOLEDO, OHIO -- A man with few words and lots of engineering talent, Chuck Turney took a small prototype and turned it into a stylish little sports car that runs on electricity.
"This car actually glows in the dark," says Gary Starr.
The sky is the limit for guys like Starr. He is a California man with a dream. He shared that dream with a Toledo man and now that dream is becoming a reality. Starr is the co-founder of
ZapWorld of Transportation and he found the right guy to help him build an electric car, right here in the Glass City, Chuck Turney.
“Chuck is one of those people,” says Starr, “who’s been working for the big 3 all of his life, he jumped at the opportunity to help us build the car of the future.”
“Our batteries are all mounted in a sealed box that bolts into the lower portion of the vehicle, protected by the frame for safety,” says Turney.
This is the fifth generation of prototype and is customized for racing. They are testing this design at tracks like Toledo Speedway and
Michigan International Speedway for experts in the new technology field. Most recently, they took the Zap Alias to MIS for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize Competition to win $10 million.
Eric Cahill, of Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, says “I think the whole paradigm for the auto making is starting to change. There is a real opportunity for new entrants to jump in.”
That’s what the X Prize Competition does; puts a spotlight on this technology to put consumers behind the wheel of electric cars. The Zap may be complex under the hood and is packed with a high voltage system powered by lithium batteries and a complex computer controller. But it is simple to drive and very efficient.
“This thing only uses about three cents of electricity per mile,” says Gary Starr. “So you can totally fill it up for a couple of bucks.
Even their driver, Al Unser, Jr., loves driving this zippy race car. “When they clocked it here at MIS, we went 7.55 seconds in 0-60 miles per hour,” says Starr. “Now that’ll beat my conventional gas car, so it gets up and goes!”
Turney says, “We’ve really proven a lot of technology at the X Prize here that these cars can be efficient, that they can be produced. We have every intention of building this vehicle and they are fun to drive,” he says with a smile.
Zap Alias fell short at the MIS competition and didn’t win millions of dollars, but the team will push forward to get this car ready for production. “These aren’t like futuristic concept cars that are 10-20 years away,” says Cahill. “The way this competition is designed, is to really target for the near and medium term and accelerate the time table to market sooner, rather than later.”
“This car is ready for production right now,” says Starr. “In fact, as soon as this race, our job is to build final molds so that by next ear you can actually get one! Even one that glows in the dark!
