Zero Sports: Zero Profit

It’s not all progress and flashy tech in the world of EV (electric vehicle) start ups. Much as the “Dot Com” boom of the late 90s and early 2000s created a plethora of ideas but only a few came to survive and grow into viable businesses, so the heady world of EV and low emissions start ups is also a world where only the fittest survive, and for every Tesla there is a Zero Sports.

Zero Sports is a venture based in Gifu Prefecture in Japan that has just filed for bankruptcy with over 10 million USD of red ink. Although Zero seemed to be on a roll last August when it won a contract from the Japanese Post Office to provide 1,000 electric delivery vehicles, delays in delivery caused the Post Office to revoke the contract and seek over 7 million USD in penalty paymens, resulting in Zero’s ultimate demise.

I suspect we will see more of these situations in this fast-developing sector as new start ups spring up, promising much and then disappearing as cash disperses and development proves more difficult than initially expected. On the other hand, without the daring of entrepreneurs like these, I suspect we would all probably be driving SUVs and pickup trucks still in 2030.

Source: TBS News (Japanese language)