ZENN recently announced that they will not be mass producing the highway capable cityZENN and instead will focus on developing their ZENNergy Drive Systems, which incorporates EEStor technology. The change probably means an exit from the LSV manufacturing business as well. Management notes competition from a large number of well-funded new and existing automotive OEMs that have now entered the electric vehicle market as a factor in the decision to become more of a supplier to vehicle OEMs rather than a vehicle OEM itself.
This strategy plays into ZENN’s technology advantage arising from their relationship with EEStor, of which ZENN owns 10.7%. Of course this relies on EEStor delivering on their promised technological advancements. With regards to the viability of EEStor’s technology, ZENN CEO Ian Clifford states,
EEStor has publicly stated that they expect to complete initial component testing in September 2009 and deliver functional technology to ZMC by the end of the year.