ZENN Motor Company was a Canadian-based company that previously developed small lead-acid

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

s that were suitable for the neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) market. The company name is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for Zero Emissions No Noise. Zenn produced its last vehicle in 2010. Since then, the company has changed its name to

EEStor FuelPositive Corporation (formerly EEStor) is a company based in Cedar Park, Texas, United States that claims to have developed a solid state polymer capacitor for electricity storage. The company claims the device stores more energy than lithium ...

Corporation and no longer builds or produces vehicles.

History and Status

Ian Clifford is a professional photographer and a co-founder, along with Marek Warunkiewicz (creative and art director) of digIT Interactive (1993–2000). After digIT was sold, Ian, Marek and Probyn "Bunny" Gayle founded Feel Good Cars, which was later renamed to ZENN Motor Company. The first prototype, a Dauphine Electric was based on the French economy-class combustion-based

Renault Dauphine The Renault Dauphine () is a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive four-door economy car, economy sedan (car), sedan with three-box styling, manufactured and marketed by Renault from 1956 to 1967 across a single generation. Along with such cars as the C ...

. By 2001 the all-electric prototype went on display at the

Toronto International Auto Show The Canadian International AutoShow (CIAS) is Canada's largest auto show. This event has been held in Toronto, Ontario, since 1974 and is staged annually in February at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It draws an average of 300,000 visitor ...

. They began using the body of a small, lightweight diesel-powered mini-car from

Microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...

. They initially acquired 10 Microcar vehicles without any internal combustion components attached (called a "glider"). The glider was fitted with lead-acid batteries and an electric motor to create a NEV product. For the fiscals years 2008 and 2009, ZENN sold 360 ZENN NEVs at a company-wide cost of $65,000 for each $15,000 NEV sold. In 2004, ZENN signed an agreement with

who was seeking investment to produce ultra-capacitors that could replace batteries and revolutionize the EV industry. The well-known venture capital firm

KPCB Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs ...

invested $3 million in EEStor in 2005 for approximately 20% ownership. EEStor is a private company, so the KPCB investment resulted in public investors being more interested in ZENN as a way to invest in the EEStor technology. Amendments to the 2004 agreement and a milestone in 2007 resulted in ZENN acquiring a 3.8% ownership of

for $2.5 million. Exclusive rights to the technology in small vehicles were also acquired. EEStor stated delivery of the first units to ZENN would occur by the end of 2007 (see

article). Delivery was also scheduled for 2008 and 2009. In 2007, 2008, and 2009, ZENN received $34 million from stock offerings and paid $10 million to EEStor in accordance with their 2007 agreement. ZENN now has a 10.7% ownership of EEStor stock. As of August 1, 2010, ZENN has not received a prototype from EEStor. In 2009 and 2010, ZENN canceled production of their vehicles and released employees to conserve cash. ZENN's remaining business is focused on the EEStor technology and their rights to it. In April 2012, the company raised CAN$2 million from investors primarily on the promise of EEstor's technology. In 2013, KPCB sold much or all of its remaining stake in EEStor to ZENN. In 2015, ZENN changed its name to EESTor Corporation.

References

{{commons category Companies formerly listed on the TSX Venture Exchange Car manufacturers of Canada Companies based in Quebec Electric vehicle manufacturers of Canada