ZAP , an automotive company incorporated in California and headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, jointly with Jonway Auto, its subsidiary in Zhejiang, China, unveils the smallest family in their EV product line – the Urban EV, “Urbee,” a city utility fleet EV targeting Chinese city municipal vehicles and local city commuters at the China Electric Motor Vehicle Exhibition show held in early March in Zhejiang, China. This new mini Urbee opens up a whole new channel of dealerships and agents that addresses vertical markets for utility government vehicles and specializes in targeting city drivers for the urban markets in secondary cities. Designed for stability and comfort, Urbee is economically priced to attract the aging population in smaller cities where there is a growing demand for economical safe compact vehicles for everyday errands.
Fighting air pollution is now a national imperative and a top priority as declared by China’s President XI Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Caps on pollution indices for the top cities are being set by the central government, and any cities exceeding their thresholds will result in fines for the local governments. Of the violators, Beijing is not the worst offender. There are many more secondary cities in China that are suffering far greater pollution that must reduce auto emissions to address air pollution. More enforcement is being put in place to compel auto users to adopt EVs, such as requiring that all government vehicles with emissions to be taken off the roads on days when the pollution indices are exceeded. Government municipals are now urgently buying EV fleets as the only economic and ecological alternative.
Urbee completes a full range of EVs targeting the escalating EV market for ZAP Jonway; from the SUV, to Jonway’s minivan to the recently announced SPARKEE, and now extending to the mini Urbee. Urbee is designed and manufactured with auto safety chassis, power assisted steering and optional HVAC. The team at Jonway Auto produced this design anticipating the growing demand in China’s secondary cities where pollution and gas prices are driving the need and interests. Its 150Km range and city driving speeds is ideal for daily errands and well positioned as a utility and delivery vehicle for city government and institutions.
