Green Vehicles inc. Bang or Bust?
Click the article to read the source on GreenVehicles.com web site.Date: 09/23/08
|
We took a drive up to Green vehicles inc. to see the Buckshot above. While I was not allowed to drive it as it is there prototype I did get to ride in it. The truck seem to perform very well. It has a real bed to hold cargo and stands about six feet top of cab. This is an AC powered system coupled to a Transmission. So it has a Low gear for climbing hills and pulling a load. Construction is similar to the ZAP line in that this is a Chinese car that has been retrofitted to be electric by Green Vehicles inc. So the fit and finish is really about the same. Not great but not good either.
We will see if Green Vehicles inc actually does improve this. As a work truck this thing has serious potential. My reservations now are more about the Company itself. Green Vehicles seems to be allot of talk. When I visited them they had recently within the last few months moved into there new location. But my first thought was. If your going to have EV cars arriving here in late October And November shouldn’t you be setting up your warehouse? Where is all the stuff you need to set up and PDI your cars?
I left with more question than I came with. One would hope that a potential investor and reseller interested in the factory would at least leave with some paper work telling me when to expect the vehicles to arrive and be shippable. And when to send my Techs for training. etc.. But these details don’t seem to exist yet. Thus my feeling that maybe they are talking a very big game?
They certainly might have a better product in the Buckshot than the ZAP PK.
The Triac also seems nice but again it was just a prototype sitting in the room. Nice Leather covering the cheep China interior. But its a prototype.
I am keeping my fingers crossed about Green Vehicles inc, While they did not really impress me with my visit if they deliver in a few months then its simply because they are new. But in order for all of us to feel confident and secure that any new company can deliver real electric cars to us they will need much better customer service skills. Perhaps they have yet to bring those people on staff. The Buckshot shows promise with a real cargo capacity and a real American sized cab for “Joe Sixpack” sized Americans.
——————————————————————————————————————
Update: 10/28/2008
Flabbergasted, yes I said flabbergasted... We have been expecting to hear back form Green Vehicles INC. for a month. We have been actively working with the Owner Ehab Youssef, to set up our Green Vehicle Dealership here in Santa Barbara. Unfortunate I must say I am so unimpressed that I will instead focus on ZAP. While ZAP has its problems it seems as though Green Vehicles is even better at the smoke and mirror tricks than ZAP. The Founder of Green Vehicles claims he started his company because of his frustration with ZAP. Well imagine my frustration with Green Vehicles. After courting them for over 2 months, sitting on a sizable amount of cash to invest into Green Vehicles INC, we still have not even received a return phone call.
Our Last conversation with Ehab was about our dealership set up, we should have heard back over 3 weeks ago. But instead we hear nothing. We are expected to secure a retail location, pay rent and wait for no one to call us back? My biggest beef with ZAP is there lack of a Dealer Network. It would appear that Green Vehicles INC. has even bigger issues. Lack of communication with their interested dealers!
Even after we drove 6 hours to visit them, only to find a partially empty warehouse with lots of electric bicycles in it. Their representative tried to get me into selling those instead. We could see only a “Prototype” Buckshot. Our host did not even know we were there as potential dealers!!. Do they communicate with each other at Green Vehicles? They don’t want to communicate with us. It is shocking to me that we could show so much interest in Green Vehicles INC. and even try to help promote there products all to be ignored!. In this rotten economy it looks to me like Ehab’s lack of business skills will kill Green Vehicles INC. even before it gets started!
All I can say right now is be extremely cautious with Green Vehicles INC. they may tell taller tales than ZAP.
In fact we are extremely happy with our ZAP PK now that we have modified it some. Once ZAP gets its Dealer Network in place you should see lots more of them, After all ZAP is the only Car Co. to-date that is mass producing electric cars.
Beware of the Electric Car Company Green Vehicles INC.
At least until they go Bankrupt…
Update: 1/05/2009
Over this last week we have now received a few emails from Green Vehicles. Seems they noticed our post on there blogs asking when, where etc.. since we have been waiting from November for our Cars that we put a deposit down on to be delivered. As we had not heard anything we were happy to hear from them. However they informed us that the Cars are now not scheduled to be delivered until March!. While the time frame is not important what is important is the communication. Up until this week Green Vehicles has been Silent. After we requested our Money back they did indeed send us the Deposit funds back. I do believe that Green Vehicles has a great product, but they need lots of help in the customer service area.. When they actually have Electric Cars ready for Sale. We will be happy to buy and promote them .. Until then we wish Green Vehicles the best of luck.
Tags: Buckshot, Ehab Youssef Green Vehicles INC, Electric Cars, Electric Truck, Green Vehicles, Green Vehicles INC. Investors, GreenVehicles Hype, Greenvehicles.com
October 28th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Green Vehicles inc Update above.
Not very good. We have given up on this flaky Company and will move on. Read our update above.
November 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Does anyone know if green vehicles even has an inventory of anything but web pages and one-off prototypes? Until a boat load of something arrives and a banker wants to sell it why worry? So far electric vehicles seem to be fix what you can find to buy. I still find them a lot of trouble compared to buying a gas burner, but that isn’t the only issue is it. If a person understands the technology of a golf cart and lives near town EVs could be a good thing, especially if it is down hill all the way home.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
L.A. Car Show electric vehicles show Mini-E and others coming down the pike. These start up EV companies better get some credibility or stop talking. Stop teasing and give me something I can drive now. This is the same old “you can try it but you can’t really have it”.
November 29th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I also went to San Jose to visit Green Vehicles (fully expecting to be disappointed after reading DepotEco’s post). I’ve been waiting to test drive the Triac for several months, and thought I might be wasting my time. But, I have to say I was very impressed with the way it performed and found the people I spoke with to be pretty helpful. The acceleration was peppy, handling felt smooth, and the interior was comfortable. True, the rather large warehouse was pretty near empty, but maybe they’re just getting started. Isn’t this the company’s first production round?
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Casey, glad you stopped by. Sorry I wanted to responded sooner but got swamped with Cyber Monday.. !
I agree with your opinion that they are new. And indeed I really like the Buckshot and the Triac. MY issues here are with the Company’s lack of response. Unlike you I did not get to test drive the Triac just look at it. Also only got to ride in the Buckshot. Now I understand they have pushed the ship date back to the end of December. All of this I have to find out via Google.. But Wait.. I gave them a deposit for both cars. Also we have been actively working with them to start a dealership here in Santa Barbara. All of that and we still have yet the hear back from them. No phone calls no letter telling me the cars you have order are going to be delayed another month.
I don’t care how long it takes as long as they keep us all in the loop. But they are not. I have to force information from them like prying a candy from a kids hands. It seems they are simply unprepared and talk a big game. I keep saying that and hope that they will at least pick up the phone and call us back…
So, Like you I love the Triac and the Buckshot, I just don’t like fast talkers.
I hope Green Vehicles can survive the drop in Gas prices and the fact that very soon you can get a Electric Mini cooper from BMW.
With the 3 Major Car Company’s taking a hit. It is only logical that they will retool and knock Green Vehicles and Zap out of the Game.. Green Vehicles should be able to use this Lull in the Big 3’s monopoly to their benefit!!!
Unfortunately not talking to your Customers, Dealers, and Investors is not the way to accomplish it.
Please do share any info you may have about them.