Electric Avenue

Like many EVs, ZENN cars feature regenerative braking, although its ability to extend range is only a couple percent with chemical batteries. “When you suddenly throw a lot of energy back at batteries, it takes some time for the chemical reaction to reverse,” he says. “You absorb some of energy, but not all of it.”

Bergeron says what regenerative braking does address is handling issues. “You can do all kinds of neat programming by monitoring the brake pedal,” he says. “And obviously, you’re going to look at ways of configuring to enhance safety,” such as light brake response at very low speeds.

Trying different battery configurations has been a challenge because of the corresponding changes in weight distribution that in turn affect the suspension. The largest difference, however, between traditional automotive engineering and what Bergeron does is probably the demand for fast cycle time to address on-going customer feedback.

“One of the big issues for EVs is none of us are used to them because we don’t drive them,” he says. “Our sales and marketing folks are constantly looking at the market, trying to understand what people want and what’s preventing them from getting in a battery EV; that gets fed back, and we have to produce that for the vehicle.”

For example, Bergeron says in an EV’s no-motor-noise environment, customers often complain about the level of noise from outside the vehicle, especially while driving on rough terrain. Another recent feedback issue involved modifying the car’s charging port so that commercial customers can recharge at higher speed during lunch hour. The company also recently finished a project that incorporated an air conditioner.

“The market is still evolving, so there’s a little bit of perception of what people want versus reality,” Bergeron observes. “So we end up trying something and then we get feedback that we have to change it.” He says a lot of the feedback concerns car performance. “We’ll get ‘Gee, the acceleration’s great, but when I go to back up, it backs up too slowly,’ or ‘When I go into a corner, it does this’ … The interesting thing about that is you ask ten people, you’ll get ten different opinions, so we’re often in a position of trying to find the best of everything.”

The overriding challenge at ZENN right now, however, is creating a highway-capable model, which must meet much higher standards and possess features like power braking and steering. “There’s a whole host of things you get into with a fully functioning EV,” Bergeron says. “And there are solutions out there. It’s not rocket science, but the number of things you have to change just starts increasing. The faster the vehicle goes, there’s more function that you need to convert over. As with anything, there’s always seven different ways of doing it, and you’ve got to figure out the most effective way to do that, taking into account the amount of energy.”