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[rotoiti]

I just ordered my 2012 Zero DS ZF9 Dealer told me it should be there Saturday!

[craigq]

Congrats! Order on a Thursday and get the bike on a Satuday. It must be nice to live in CA, relatively close to the factory 

[protomech]

Heh, yeah.

Actually, my bike shipped pretty quickly. I think it left California on friday, and arrived in Alabama wednesday morning.

[blake]

hey, congrats. I hope you love it. I rode the DS today (Zero Canada brought free demo ride program to my local dealer).  I don't care much for the riding position or the stuff suspension or the styling, but that's ok because it only made me feel better for preferring the S all along.

Seems to be some movement on the insurance front here finally, so assuming I get good news on Monday I may be riding a new all-black 2012 S-ZF9 by the end of the week...

blake

[rotoiti]

It gets even better -- the dealer called me today the bike has arrived. My afternoon meetings got canceled so I was able to go and pick it up today!

I rode it back home and I am loving it. 32 miles of El Camino Real travel (40 mph max, eco mode, frequent stopping due to traffic lights) and used only 3 bars of "fuel"! Awesome - that is very close to advertised 110 miles range.

[trikester]

Ah you "johnny come lately's" have it so easy. I waited two years and one week for my first 2010 DS!!

Explanation: I rode one of the very early X's but I needed to have a street legal dirt bike. So I gave them a $500 deposit and said that deposit is for a dual-sport whenever you guys design it and get it into production. So next came MX and then the S, then they finally did the DS but that was in 2009 and they told me they were redesigning (motor overheating) and I should wait for the 2010 model.. I didn't realize when I put down the deposit that the DS was at the bottom of the ZERO design priority list  However, once it went into production (after the 09 design change) they got got to me pretty fast.

I must say that my 2012 DS came to me much faster 

[rotoiti]

Ah you "johnny come lately's" have it so easy.

Hahaha, I hear ya

[rotoiti]

And to close this thread off, I received the CA rebate check yesterday, so it took them about 4 weeks to process the rebate (I have sent all the required info on 4/26).

Meanwhile, I have put over 1,900 miles on my bike during those 6 weeks...

[protomech]

Very nice.

Alabama has zip for rebates. On the one hand.. I'm somewhat philosophically opposed to government subsidies (either of EVs or oil extracters / gas refiners). On the other hand.. if rebates were available I'd absolutely make use of them.

[Lipo423]

Good for you!

Enjoy as much as you can 

[CliC]

Very nice.

Alabama has zip for rebates. On the one hand.. I'm somewhat philosophically opposed to government subsidies (either of EVs or oil extracters / gas refiners). On the other hand.. if rebates were available I'd absolutely make use of them.

Same with Texas, where oil is at least a knight, if not king. And while I agree with your philosophy on government subsidies, I'd gladly take a rebate/tax credit, too.

Interestingly, I was talking with a Prius owner the other day. While she still likes it, she told me that with prices now reflecting actual cost to manufacture, and mileage not being much if at all better than the most fuel-efficient ICE cars, she wouldn't buy another. I then wondered what effect the rebates have on electric vehicle sales overall?

[protomech]

Depends on how you drive.. 2010+ Prius gets high 40s mpg in the same highway driving small modern ICE-only cars touch 40. In the city, they're getting high 40s / low 50s where small ICE-only get ~30.

20% improvement in highway driving, 60%+ improvement in city driving. That's not terrible, but the if you drive mostly on the highway and you're only interested in price, it's hard to justify a Prius over something like a Cruze Eco.

Worth noting too, though: Cruze Eco MSRP starts at $19325, Prius C MSRP starts at $18950.

[rotoiti]

Interestingly enough, Ford just eliminated their Escape hybrid, reportedly because their new EcoBoost engine delivers better power and the same or slightly better fuel economy than their old hybrid version.

[CliC]

True, hybrids offer more mileage advantage in stop-and-go driving, where regen braking and ICE cutoff and auto-start can help. Where we live, "in-town" driving can involve significant 50-mph stretches and not very much sitting in traffic, so I can see her point about mileage.

And of course hybrids are augmenting the ICE, rather than replacing it, to avoid the 100%-electric range and cost issues, but also not fully realizing the electric benefits.

I'm not sure I'd get a small hybrid. The reduced complexity of either an all-electric or all-ICE approach appeals to me (right tool for the job and all that). For larger vehicles, I'm still watching with interest. It doesn't appear that GM has had much success with its hybrid pickups.

[Lipo423]

Interesting discussion...funny enough you may buy a Cruze in Spain at 12.600 Euros, while in the US MSRP is $16.800 (one of the few times you see real exchange rate applied).
In Spain you pay 14.000 Euros for a Zero ZF9, which is around $18K...(if you are lucky you may get 25% back from the government)

Today's Hybrids are "half way" cars (except Opel Ampera), I would expect 100% electric wehicles. At the moment PSA Group, Renault, and Nissan offer these vehicles, but autonomy is still not good enough...