i’ve been car free for a couple years and now need some kind
of basic transportation to help me with the high level MFA style
studio art project i do for homeless and other marginalized people
in Hollywood (yep, home of record contracts!). my last project
went ten years in Skid Row. (less record contracts, but equally loveable
once you get to know everyone).

thinking of getting a 2008 zenn that’s for sale in the area and then
maybe buying a $4000 lithium battery pack that Smart Battery or
equiv might offer.

what do you think is the downsiee of going into a lower capacity
lithium battery set up than the one you went with?

obviously range and all, but just thought i’d hear your words on ithe
matter.

i work, basically, for free, so all of this represents a major investment.

i could get the Zenn car for maybe $3500 and the battery pack for $3000,
plus who-knows-what, and that’s getting to be a pretty serious investment
for me. maybe impossible.

so i’m nervous.

not too many hills here except to drive up the hollywood sign or griffith park
observatory which i can live without i guess.

mainly just finding los angeles streets where the 35mph top speed zenn
car i’m looking at would drive.

any thoughts?

if not, just wanted to give you a thumbs up for your amazing
work communicating, in the face of much negativity, the viability
of going electric.

blessings
Rory
http://www.facebook.com/ARTWORKSproject
A Project of Housing Works
Sponsored by Aileen GEtty

Love your Little ZENN Car song. Play it a lot!

I am inspired by your story and your 2008 ZENN. I have been looking for one for several months, and hopefully I too will have 2008 ZENN! It is in Michigan and will be transported to Missouri in the next few weeks. Thanks for the song and encouragement.

Your post was forwarded to me through the Town & Country / Central Markets website. Thank you very much for the kind words of support. You are right about the local humanely raised meats. We have a large variety of local products in all of the departments.

Unfortunately, I have a correction to your post. The butcher paper is not compostable. We and our suppliers are constantly looking to find alternatives to this paper, which is a laminate of paper and plastic. We haven’t found an alternative that prevents moisture from leaking though the package. The confusion comes about because “waxed” paper is coated with a plastic component that has a weak molecular bond. That type of paper is compostable in a commercial system, like Cedar Grove, the compost handler for the city of Seattle. The sturdier laminate of paper and plastic doesn’t break down in compost.

There is one other bit of good news though. The meat and seafood that we cut and package is wrapped in a non-Styrofoam, compostable tray. It is easy to identify by its light tan color. We even have found a supplier that makes a compostable soaker pad. We are currently working with them on getting the quantities that we need for all five of our stores.

Please feel free to contact me by email or phone any time.

Sincerely,

Tony D’Onofrio
Sustainability Director
Town & Country and Central Markets
206-948-8601

To answer your questions I will start with the general and move to the specifics:

Lead acid to lithium conversions cost between $7500 to $13,000 DEPENDING ON
a VARIETY of factors:

1. The condition of the car to be converted
2. What size battery pack you want (I chose 100 amp hr pack)
3. Whether or not you want to upgrade the charger (I did)
4. Whether or not you want to upgrade the wiring (I did)
5. Which brand of lithium battery you want (I opted for KALB)
6. What kind/which brand of battery management system you want (I chose the Rudman Regulators)
7. Whether you are content with the original ZENN “fuel gauge” or not (I wasn’t )
8. Whether you want any extra battery State of Charge display readout gizmos (I did)
9. Labor charges
10. Whether you want additional upgrades such as having the car be able to use 220v public chargers as well as the regular 110v or just stick with 110v.

Thus said, I went the expensive route for $12,000.00 using Manzanita Micro in Kingston WA’ because I really, really wanted all the bells and whistles.

So, In short: you REALLY need to figure out EXACTLY what you do and don’t want ahead of time and then do some serious shopping around in your area.

As for electrical problems prior: no, she didn’t have any…thank goodness!

The wiring upgrade was not because the old wiring didn’t work, it is because it needed to be beefed up to work compatibly with the Manzanita Micro charger, which is twice the size as the Delta Q (it is mounted  in the cargo space of the car as opposed to upfront in the motor compartment…you’ll have to go to the FLICKR URL to see that photo)

Good luck with your upgrade!

hope that answered some of your questions!

Good luck!

Thanksmfor visiting DebGoes Green!

- Deb Seymour (&Zoe ZENN Car, of course!)

Do you mind me asking how much it cost to do the conversion? Were you having any electrical problems with the car prior to the work?

I drove 10,000 miles on my Zenn between Miamiand Fort Lauderdale, but after about 18 months had an electrical problem that prevented it from going in drive. (Tried replacing the micro switches which worked at first but then it didn’t seem to do the trick). A frind of mine is an electrical engineer and electric car enthusiast, so I am hoping he will be able to take a look at it, was curious if you experienced similar problems in the past though and if so what was the solution?

Thanks again for your contribution to ZENN society!

– Robert

~Tonia

Ah! Sounds so nice!