2006 Other Makes Other

Xebra Sedan

Unspecified

Unspecified

LAEMB24636G017312

Clear

Electric

Electric

Stop Burning Oil 2006 Xebra Sedan All Electric Background: Originally purchased in November of 2006, this is a one-owner electric vehicle. Don't believe everything you've read about this vehicle, but it is a useful piece of transportation in the right conditions. We've owned it for more than 6500 miles and there's probably another 3500 miles left in the pack, IF you treat it properly. Use: My wife used this vehicle to get to and from work on a daily basis, about thirteen miles round trip, on flat terrain. It registers as a motorcycle in Florida and in many other states, and may require a motorcycle endorsement in order to operate it within the laws of your state. My wife was able, in this vehicle, to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course to qualify for her endorsement. She now drives a Rav4EV, which is like a limousine in comparison. Range: You'll see published figures of up to 40 miles range for Xebra. Yes, that's possible, if you don't mind drawing your battery pack to virtually zero capacity and risk destroying the pack. Realistically, our Xebra will travel 15 miles with a fifty percent depth of discharge, on flat ground. If you get desperate, you might stretch it to 20 miles, if you're gentle on the pedal. On the other hand, when you stop somewhere, plug in for an hour and get another five to ten miles increase in your range. I've done more than 50 miles in one day, using three intermediate stops to charge. If you need more than 15 miles per charge, consider to change the battery pack from lead-acid to lithium iron phosphate and spend thousands of dollars doing so. Charging: It charges from any 20 amp outlet, although it draws only 11-12 amps, and should work okay on a healthy 15 amp circuit. A full charge takes about 6-8 hours, but an 80 percent charge is accomplished in 2-3 hours. Cost per full charge is about a quarter in Florida, your electric rates may vary. After getting the Xebra, we barely used the gasoline powered vehicles and had to refuel them about once every three months. Click on any image for larger version. Fuel Cap for charging cord, closed and opened. Quality: On the flip side, this is not the best made EV out there. It is manufactured in China and as an early model (the 2008s are metal, this is fiberglass), it has plenty of character flaws. The body panels look like poorly applied body filler was applied, although it's wavy straight out of the mold. It has a very stiff suspension, and is a quite short wheelbase vehicle. This means that bumpy roads will be quite noticeable. Car and Driver said in a recent article that a particular vehicle's A-pillars could block a forest. The A-pillars on a Xebra could block the entire state in which that forest is located. Keep your head on a swivel as you drive. The original rear-view mirror was mounted to the ceiling, and bounced around, blurring the view. I've installed a mirror directly to the glass. The result is much greater stability and a larger field of view aft. This vehicle has the earlier windshield with the green tint across the top. If you're of average height, red lights turn black as you approach, and you have to look under the tint to see them. The paint has not held up well in the Florida sun. The hood and roof show signs of flaking and a good bit of the paint is gone from the hood. There are scratches in various locations as shown in the photos. Anyone with a bit of skill at painting fiberglass would have no problem with repainting this vehicle. Obviously no rust, since the body is fiberglass. The window trim gaskets shows the same poor quality as the rest of the vehicle. Some of the trim worked free and had to be reattached with glue. This vehicle also has a few dashboard squeaks here and there. I've not been able to track all of them down, so there may be a few screws left to tighten. It's not a Lexus. Click on any image for larger version. Various scratches and paint flaws, plus a good shot of the alloy wheels on the rear. Comfort: There's no air-conditioning, and although there is a resistance heater, it's not particularly effective. The windows roll up and down, the manual method. If you're accustomed to power brakes, build up your brake foot (left foot) because this is full-manual brakes. The first time I stepped on the pedal, I thought something was wrong. No, just a huge mass of small vehicle being slowed by three tiny tires. The interior is leather, but I'm not sure what kind of cows they have in China. It's stained and pretty indeterminate in terms of quality. The seat adjusts for a five foot to six foot tall driver and the backs of the seats recline. The recline adjuster is vintage 1960s Volkswagen, as in "turn the knob repeatedly until the desired angle is reached". Click on any image for larger version. Performance: If you think you have to do 50 miles per hour to "keep up with traffic", keep looking. Best economy, which means best range, is at 35 mph and top speed is about 40 mph, perhaps a bit more with a tailwind or slight downgrade. Once our local drivers got accustomed to seeing the goofy looking Xebra ahead of them, they learned to change lanes and the speed difference was meaningless. if you have to be the first off the line at a green light, get a Tesla EV. Heavy footed drivers equal short lifespan battery packs. If you have to climb great hills, this won't be your best choice either. It's a single speed transmission and the rear wheels have been changed from 12" stock to 13" alloy. This improved the top speed but increased the gear ratio as well, making hills less agreeable to the vehicle. Original 12" wheels and tires will be included if desired and requested. Upgrades and Improvements: One of the early modifications to this vehicle was to replace the incredibly-stiff front shock with an aftermarket unit. The ride improved substantially, but it's still a go-kart on bumpy roads. Both wheels have been replaced with aluminum alloy 13" diameter rims and tires. Increased top speed, and a higher effective gear ratio is the result. On the slightly negative side, the tires rub in the wheel wells with more than one person on board, and rub in the wells when turning a corner at any speed above a walk. The wheel wells have been lined with plastic panels to reduce rain splash from getting to the motor and electronics in the rear bay. That's where most of the rubbing is going on, but it's not wearing through, just making noise. There are also plastic panels to keep splash away from the controller and the charger. I've added a metal guard on the motor, to prevent debris and splash from getting into the brushes of the motor. Click on any image for larger version. Controller on the left, under jack, Charger on the right, above splash guard. Motor cooling fan on left, back up beeper (red), motor on right, with lower splash guard. Splash guard for controller (recycled signs). The dirt is splash-up from a recent hard rain. The spider webs are from once a week use. As noted, the original 12" wheels and tires will be provided if desired and requested. Slower top speed, but a lower gearing for climbing hills. The dash speedometer and voltmeter have the reputation of being notoriously inaccurate. I've added a bicycle speedometer, calibrated for the wheel diameter, which has been operational since day one. It's not recognized by any motor vehicle agency, so the 7001 miles are not "official" just real miles. The voltmeter is useless in general and the CycleAnalyst (below) serves the purpose far more effectively. Click on any image for larger version. Bicycle computer/speedometer with LED illuminator in foreground on left, PakTrakr on right. CycleAnalyst mounted under LED brake light indicator. The brake light switch failed early and was replaced with a generic one from the local auto parts store. I've added a small LED indicator on the dash to let me know that the switch is working. Since the switch replacement, it has worked just fine, so the LED is pretty much unnecessary. It gave my wife the confidence that her brake lights were working, so it remained. The blue gadget in the first photo above is an LED flashlight to light up the bike speedometer. The light is bright white and may affect your night vision. We rarely drove it at night, so I never added red gels to bring it under control. The original brake lights and turn signals were standard incandescent lights and have been replaced with more efficient, brighter SuperBrightLED lights. Click on any image for larger version. The old factory (blue) charger has been replaced with a smarter, more efficient DeltaQ charger. This provides for a better equalization sequence at the end of a charge and has adjustable charging profiles if you change your battery chemistry. It draws less power from the outlet than the original, making a 15 ampere outlet work just fine. The batteries have been wired with a set of PowerCheq equalizers. These devices spread the charging power over the entire pack, shuttling energy to the batteries most in need, without overcharging the fully charged batteries. The pack is composed of Deka Dominator 8G31 batteries, also known as Gel Cells, and overcharging them means frequent and expensive replacement. Undercharging them means reduced range and a greater risk of over-discharge. The PowerCheq equalizers means that each battery is as close to the same voltage as the others as possible. Also installed is a PakTrakr battery monitoring system, with current sensor and data storage and communications adapter. Each battery is connected to a common remote, which communicates to a display mounted on the dash. Individual battery voltage, full pack voltage and current and approximate depth of discharge are some of the data points available on the display. The data storage and communications adapter allows for the collection of these parameters during or after a drive, which can then be transmitted to a computer to be graphed. The graphs provide a good indication of the health of the pack during the loading of a drive, as well as during the recharge sequence. Click on any image for larger version. PowerCheqs visible in both photos, PakTrakr remote in left photo. Messy wiring hidden when battery cover is in place. Most recently, I've taken the Xebra out on an errand, totaling about seven miles. I ran the PakTrakr in record mode and created a graph of the discharge of the pack. The chart below was created on June 22, 2010. Click on any image for larger version. The chart above shows voltage for all six batteries in the pack on the top segment, each with its own color graph line. You can see that the lines are pretty close together, vertically (voltage) over horizontally (voltage) even when there is a deeper drop due to higher current draw. The current draw is displayed to the same scale on the bottom portion of the chart. A damaged battery in the pack will display great separation from the others, especially at high current levels. I attribute this uniformity of pack voltages to the PowerCheq modules. Expensive, but money-saving in the long run. Another accessory installed and included is the CycleAnalyst, with speed and current sensors. This instrument provides a fairly accurate fuel-gauge capability. Lead-acid batteries have a safe discharge limit of about fifty percent. Any deeper and you risk severely reducing the life of the pack. Using the CycleAnalyst allows you to know precisely how many ampere-hours you have removed from the pack and approximately how many more miles remain before you must recharge. We have installed a Battery Life Saver, which is also called a desulfator. If the vehicle has to sit idle for any period of time, using the BLS during the charge reduces the amount of sulfation on the plates, improving the lifespan of the pack. We use the BLS when charging after each drive, as the Xebra has become the least used EV in the household. It gets driven about once a week, perhaps a bit less frequently. If the BLS is left on, it will eventually deplete the battery pack, as it uses the pack power to provide the desulfation action. Once the charge is completed, we flip the switch off. Click on any image for larger version. Battery LifeSaver on battery cover with convenient switch on cup holder housing. The electrical system on the new Xebras are all 72v based, while this older model has a 12v subsystem. There is a small motorcycle-style battery under the passenger side of the vehicle, mounted in a bracket on the frame. I've added a solar panel connected to this battery to keep it topped up and ready to roll. In normal use, the 12v battery is charged by the DC to DC converter. The DC to DC converter has been replaced, as it failed early due to water ingress. The new unit is better sealed and has been working fine for many miles. Specifications: Speed: up to 40 mph (real speed, not inaccurate Xebra speedometer) Range: up to 15 miles, more with intermediate charging Charger: DeltaQ 72v, 15 amp, 110v circuit Seating: 4, but if you're loaded, all range figures are out. Batteries: Six 12v Valve Regulated Sealed Lead Acid (Gel Cells) Deka Dominator 8G31 (best choice for this vehicle) Classification: Motorcycle in most states. Registered and titled in the state of FL as motorcycle, registration is current Resources: There is a Yahoo group supporting the Xebra with thousands of messages and plenty of files containing documentation useful to the care and feeding of the Xebra. Any "service issues" with the Xebra discovered by the owners and provided by Zap have been applied to our vehicle. If you are considering to purchase this Xebra or any other Xebra, it would do you well to join the group and read as much of the files uploaded there. I will also provide reasonable phone support to the auction winner, with respect to the operation of the vehicle, the operation of the various accessories such as the PakTrakr data collection adapter, the CycleAnalyst and other parts of the vehicle, for a period not to exceed thirty days from arrival at the destination. Shipping: I've used a local shipper who operates on a "when I'm in the area" basis to provide very low rates for transport. He has a fully enclosed trailer, for the utmost in protection. If you are not in a hurry to get this vehicle when you win the auction, this is the best option. If you have to have it right away, I also recomment uShip for finding the best price for transport. All shipping arrangements are to be made by the purchaser, but I will assist in every way possible, including working with the local guy. Payment: Initial deposit of US$250 to be made by PayPal or other pre-arranged means within three days of auction close. Remainder of payment to be made within two weeks of auction close. If paid by check, money order or bank check, shipment is not begun until checks clear. Cash in person is accepted. Miscellany: All sales final. No guarantee, although I will assure you that this vehicle operates and runs just fine. I can provide links to YouTube videos of the Xebra in action, although they are many months old. I will take additional photos or video on request, within reasonable limits. If you're not particularly mechanically inclined, you may not want this vehicle. On the other hand, if you have a friend or family member who is, it might work for you. There's an in-dash CD player with AM/FM radio. The antenna is attached to fiberglass, which means no ground plane, so the radio reception on FM is virtually nil. I'm not sure about AM, but if you're buying this for the sound system, your priorities may need to be readjusted. I think the CD player works, but no bets on that one either. One speaker in the door panel, which really wants to come off (the panel, not the speaker) and one speaker in the dash, exposed to the intense heat of the sun. Oh, yeah, an Eclipse sunshade to help keep the sun off things, mostly. I'm sure I've not covered every little detail there is to consider, but I've tried my best. If you have a question, push the button here on the auction for that purpose and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for looking, bid high and win this ugly little egg on 3 wheels. Powered by eBay Turbo ListerThe free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items. On Jun-27-10 at 08:35:28 PDT, seller added the following information: I realized that I've left out a few things, nothing too important, really. The rear hatch release doesn't release. We tend to leave the hatch un-latched, since it stays well enough in place. If the hatch is dropped too quickly, it will latch and require to be released by lying down on your back and pushing the lever from within. The stock vehicle does not have a windshield washer. I added a J.C. Whitney kit and wired it into the correct stalk on the steering column. The wiper has been replaced with a longer blade, but doesn't seem to be as effective as the old one. The glass is amazingly poor grade and appears to collect grime from daily use. It is also "softer" to the touch, which I realize is a very subjective description. We've applied RainX to the windshield with success, but the treatment does not last as long as on other vehicle windshields. In the Florida heat, the charger goes into slow-charge mode, reducing the power put into the batteries, but also preventing overheating, resulting in a longer charge time. When time was important to us, we placed a small personal fan inside the deck to blow on the charger fins. Florida tends to have periods of heavy rain, hence all the splash guards. We've driven in heavy rain, but I would not take this vehicle through any standing water. The Big Red Button, not visible in any photos, is directly at the front of the driver's seat, at floor level. It is in the perfect place to be kicked when adjusting your legs, so I installed a quick-release collar to prevent accidental power loss. Instead of pushing the button in to kill the pack power, now you have to pull the string, then push the button. It's easily removed if you tend to not kick the button. After two accidental kicks in traffic, the collar was created. The parking brake works just fine. Since there's no gears to engage with a stationary engine, the vehicle will roll when parked without the brake. There is an interlock at the first click to prevent you from driving away with the brake engaged. If you hit a good bump in the road that pops the brake lever to the first click, it prevents you from continuing to drive. A minor inconvenience. The throttle pedal is a rotary potentiometer. Because we are conservative drivers, it did not get a lot of travel and has to be "wiped" periodically. All that means is to power off in any manner and pump the pedal through the entire travel a few times. I found that if the power "stutters", the easiest way to resolve it is to lift the parking brake one click, pump the pedal a few times and drop the brake lever to the bottom. Three wheel disk brakes, but under hard braking the front wheel takes most of the load. We've not had to perform any hard braking, so I don't know if it will skid. Thanks for all your questions. I hope this answers the ones I've missed.