Fossil Fuels

June Gas Prices in the SF Bay Area
This is a real camera phone picture sent to us yesterday by a friend of ZAP here in the San Francisco Bay Area. People are really hurting from rising gasoline prices. But if you are in the USA, consider yourself lucky. A gentleman from Ireland called last month inquiring about ZAP vehicles and reminded me that people in Europe are paying much more for gasoline relative to the United States. After we finished converting pounds to dollars and liters to gallons, I started understanding what he means.

Below is a recent summary of the highest gas prices in the world and the USA is no where near the top:

Highest Gas Prices Ranked by Country

Needed: A Plug-In HummerWho's getting rich off $4-a-gallon gas--and who's feeling the pain? This is a question that Forbes Magazine asked in their Special Investment Guide Issue that hit newstands this June. The article "Needed: A Plug-In Hummer" is an entertaining, yet serious look at the repurcussions of high gas prices. You know times are changing when Forbes gives a nod to the smaller, indpendent car companies like ZAP. The article shows a computer model of the ZAP Alias, an electric sports car being developed by ZAP, and taps ZAP as one of the WINNERS, saying the vehicles "...are looking sexier with every uptick in gas prices." Other winners? Plug-in hybrid kit makers. Losers?

UPDATE: June 24, 2008 - Hear an interview with Guy Mannino, Click Here. - QuickTime File

ROME, Georgia (June 5, 2008) -- Guy Mannino, former president and CEO of Pirelli Tire North America (PTNA), at least agrees with the current presidential candidates on one thing... it's time for a change. In his own words, Mannino is "calling on all retired and current CEOs of corporate America to join with me and just stop talking 'green' and start driving 'green'!"

"Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem unprecedented in our history. With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly.

It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century.

We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and grandchildren.

We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.

UPDATED June 18, 2008: SACRAMENTO, CA -- May 29, 2008 -- The California Air Resources Board is offering a $1,000 rebate towards the purchase of a Xebra electric car and truck from ZAP (OTC BB:ZAAP.OB).