Zoomi Life

Shaped very similar to the iMiEV, this car made its debut in 2008. Since then, the Maya 300 has been undergoing road and technology testing and is now ready to hit the streets at large.

Using the new technology from ExxonMobil Chemical, the Maya’s greatest bonus comes from the greatly-increased battery capacity thanks to ExxonMobil’s separators and its implementation in lithium-ion Manganese Oxide (MN) batteries.

The little car will first emerge from hiding in Maryland this August as a fleet vehicle for a car-share and rental program in Baltimore at the Maryland Science Center. Until then, test drives can be had at the MSC for those who have tickets to the unveiling in August.

The Maya 300 is a neighborhood electric, speed limited to 30mph, but it meets all safety standards and Maya Electric, the subsidiary of Electrovaya that makes the car, hopes to have the car in for crash testing and highway approval before year’s end.

This is Maya Electric’s third car (the first being the 100) and it’s the first to use Electrovaya’s new Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery technology.

The little car outputs 12kw/h to a 15kw motor with a 60 mile range per charge. An advanced upgrade is available that boosts these numbers to 27kw/h and 120 miles’ range. Charge time is 6-8 hours at 110v and about half that at 220v. An on-board charger/controller automatically senses which it’s plugged into and compensates.

Electrovaya is the largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries in North America (they’re based outside of Toronto, Canada with facilities in New York). The Maya 300 is the first in what they hope is a series of vehicles of all types and descriptions using their new battery and drive train technology.

In a conference call today, Dr. Sankar Das Gupta, President and Chairman of Electrovaya, told me that they are in talks with various companies to put the new batteries into motorcycles and scooters, larger cars, highway-capable vehicles, and even heavy industrial applications.

Currently, the Maya 300 is available for fleet sales only and the company will expand their presence with the vehicles as demand dictates, negotiating with fleet purchasers throughout North America.