Zero Motorcycles Meets with California Governor on ‘Drive the Dream’ Initiative
OutdoorHub 09.20.13
Zero Motorcycles has announced its next level of commitment to the electric vehicle (EV) market in a meeting with Governor Jerry Brown, California’s Plug In Electric Vehicle Collaborative and other California corporate leaders. Hosted at the Exploratorium, the “Drive the Dream” initiative further positions California as a global leader in the plug-in vehicle market with a three-part program built upon increased investments in workplace charging, EV fleet purchases and corporate incentives, as well as international exports of California-developed technology.
“Zero is proud to design and build our high performance, zero emissions electric motorcycles right here in California. With the recent expansion of our factory, we have substantially increased our workplace charging infrastructure for both employees and customers,” said Richard Walker, CEO for Zero Motorcycles. “It was gratifying to be able to share our thoughts with Governor Brown on accelerating the EV market in California and beyond.”
Zero is making a series of key investments to the Drive the Dream initiative, including expanding Zero’s corporate fleet, which already hosts more than 40 company-owned EVs used for a wide variety of activities. Zero is now the largest manufacturer of electric police motorcycles in the world and has deployed electric police fleet motorcycles to more than a dozen California municipalities and agencies, including Monterey, Scotts Valley, Sebastopol and San Jose State University, along with hundreds purchased for fleet use by international agencies in London, Hong Kong and Bogota, Colombia.
While Zero Motorcycles can charge at almost any outlet anywhere, Zero has Level 1 and Level 2 charging stations available at its Scotts Valley headquarters and has just implemented a CHAdeMO DC fast charger, which can be used to charge Zero Motorcycles equipped with CHAdeMO charging inlets, as well as Nissan Leafs and Mitsubishi iMievs. As part of the Drive the Dream initiative, Zero is committed to triple available charging infrastructure and dedicate charging spaces for employees and customers. Zero has also been actively working with its dealer network in California to roll out workplace and customer charging opportunities.
In addition, Zero has implemented a workplace incentive purchasing program providing Zero employees significant discounts to purchase Zero electric motorcycles. To date, more than 10 percent of Zero employees own EVs, both cars and motorcycles, and the company estimates that more than 25 percent ride or drive EVs on a daily basis via Zero’s test rider program.
