Zero Opening New Factory

The new facility will be built alongside Zero Motorcycles corporate headquarters in Scotts Valley, Calif. The new plant will increase production space to 34,000 square feet while production is expected to more than double current capacity. Part of the construction for the new facility was funded by a grant from the city of Scotts Valley.

With this exciting new expansion, we reconfirm our commitment to building the best electric motorcycles in the world as well as creating U.S. based manufacturing jobs, says Steve Salyer, vice president of operations for Zero Motorcycles. Quality Control at the highest levels means personally inspecting each bike as it comes off the assembly line. Moreover, in the spirit of continual improvement and innovation, we believe that having our manufacturing and engineering teams collaborating within the same space gives us both an operational and developmental competitive advantage.

In keeping its production close to home, Zero Motorcycles is taking the opposite approach to production from rival electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo which is outsourcing its manufacturing. As Jeff Cobb reported in his interview with Zero Motorcycles Scot Harden, Zero had experimented with having a batch of units produced in Taiwan with disappointing results.

The new Santa Cruz factory is expected to begin operating in late February. Zero Motorcycles plans to hire 25 employees by mid-2011.

Since the inception of Zero Motorcycles, Santa Cruz County has been our home. With many companies looking outside of the U.S. to develop and build their products, we are proud to say we are continuing our support of our local community, says Gene Banman, chief executive officer of Zero Motorcycles. At the same time, we are responding quickly to an increasing global demand for our motorcycles. This investment positions us ideally for further growth, innovation and development as we move into 2012 and beyond.

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Interview with Zero's Scot Harden