The Z Electric Vehicle Corporation is an electric vehicle manufacturing and design company that achieved several industry firsts. Its USA operations are incorporated as a Nevada company. There are additional operations in the UK, Germany, and the Far East but what is done at these sites is not stated in the company publications. Testing and final assembly facilities are in Waynesburg, PA for all western distribution. The company has received attention in the recent due to its aggressive marketing strategies that include challenging competitors to races for pink slips, as well as its claims to have the world's fastest and longest range production electric motor scooters.

Origin

The company was started in 2006 as a spinoff from an aircraft engineering business as an engineering company doing design and manufacturing oversight for other companies in the gas and electric motor scooter and motorcycle industry in China. Design and engineering work was and still is all done from the USA.

Innovations

• ZEV is the first electric scooter company to produce a production model that runs more than 120 kpm (74 mph), allowing for highway driving.
• ZEV has bikes capable of running 100 miles on a charge, this combined with their speed makes electric commuting actually feasible.
• The company uses an unusual "electric transmission" that allows users to essentially change gears by changing the amps. In lower "gears" the bike travels farther but has reduced power. In higher "gears" it has more power but less range.
• ZEV claims to have 14 production models which is far different from mainstream companies like Vectrix and Brammo who only have one model.
• ZEV has an electric trail bike which is rare in this industry.

Controversy

• ZEV uses in your face marketing techniques like challenging competitors to races for titles and comparing opponents technical specs in their press releases.
• ZEV claims to have the fastest, longest range, and cheapest for their power scooters on the market. They have openly declared their frustration that many companies make this claim and have challenged that "there can only be one". To date no one has openly answered their challenge.
• Of ZEV's 14 models there are only two body styles (Road and Trail) indicating more that they have two bikes and 12 variants.

Noteworthy models

• Trail 6100- The Trail 6100 is unusual in its design for an electric scooter for several reasons. Firstly it is designed as a dirt road motor scooter which is rare in the infantile electric vehicle industry. As an electric scooter it has several advantages over combustion engines in the wilderness. Electrics do not have hot exhaust so there is no risk of setting vegetation on fire. Also because they do not have an exhaust pipe as long as the electric components are sealed in a water tight compartment they can be fully submerged to drive through rivers. Secondly the 6100 has an unprecedented range, up to one hundred miles in long range configurations. This makes the 6100 the longest range electric production scooter in the world.