The ZENN, made by Canada's ZENN Motor Company, made something of a splash when it debuted in 2006. It was a small EV, made for short urban trips, and there was much optimism associated with its launch. Eleven years later, here's what the ZENN has come to: a parking space among the discarded Accords and Sephias, in the imports section of a big San Francisco Bay Area self-service wrecking yard.
ZENN stood for "Zero Emission, No Noise," and it would go 40 miles on a charge. With the top speed governed at 25 mph, it wasn't highway-capable, but made sense for urban trips. Of course, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV came out a few years later, and it had both air conditioning and a highway-legal cruising speed.
While I have seen lots of Priuses and a few first-generation Insights in these yards, this is the first discarded 21st-century EV I have spotted. I have seen a 1988 Sprint Electric Sport, a 1995 EVolvo Electrics Geo Metro, and this one-off electric Ford Ranger during the last few years.
This 30-horsepower electric motor with axles would be a fun swap for, say, a Barbie Power Wheels Jeep. Let's hope some junkyard shopper buys this assembly for such a project.
