Zero Motorcycles to Quadruple Production With $1.8 Million Government Grant

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

Zero Motorcycles was awarded a $1,815,123 grant from the California Energy Commission. The grant nearly doubles Zero‘s expansion budget to $3.64 million.

The Santa Cruz, Calif., company expects the expansion plans would quadruple the company’s current production capacity and create dozens of jobs in the community. Zero had previously received an R&D subsidy from the Commission which resulted in the upgraded powertrain used in Zero’s recently announced 2013 model lineup.

Zero is just one of 10 companies to receive funding from the California Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology program. Other recipients include Tesla Motors (which received $10 million towards a new electric SUV), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District‘s eTaxi program and lithium ion battery producer Quallion.

“We are honored to receive this generous grant from the California Energy Commission and are excited to continue to expand our manufacturing capacity here in California,” says Richard Walker, chief executive officer of Zero Motorcycles. “This project offers a unique opportunity to keep the competitive advantage of California’s skilled labor force and create dozens of additional jobs during both the implementation and volume manufacturing stages of the project. This grant is a milestone for us because it allows Zero to dramatically increase the scale of our assembly line to meet customer demand for our outstanding electric motorcycles.”

[Source: Zero, California Energy Commission]

Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

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