ZAP, an Electric Vehicle (EV) automotive company incorporated in California Bay Area, and Jonway Auto just signed an OEM contract on February 2, 2015 for 5000 units of ZAP Jonway's EV Minivans that will be sold under the brand of Dong Feng Motor Corporation, one of the top Auto enterprise groups in China through its partner Shi Kong (SKIO Matrix) Electric Vehicle Company, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Shi Kong is the integrator and agent for Jonway's EV minivan to Dong Feng Automobile, one of the top four state owned auto manufacturers in China and also the second automobile company established by the Chinese government. Dong Feng is the joint venture partner of Honda, Nissan and Citroen/Peugeot.
ZAP Jonway's EV minivan will be typed approved as a delivery van with the enhanced battery capacity specified by Dong Feng Motor Corporation and integrated by its partner Shi Kong. Jonway's type approved passenger EV minivan will be the platform for getting certification for the newly configured delivery van to be sold into Dong Feng's massive nationwide auto dealership network. Jonway's EV minivan will be the first EV minivan to be offered by Dong Feng for mass market in volume production.
ZAP Jonway's EV minivan will be configured as a cargo van with passenger seats removed to allow room for cargo and also additional battery capacity to operate over 300km in range per recharge. The batteries used will be supplied by Tianjin Lishan Battery, which is a long time strategic partner of ZAP and Jonway Auto. This volume contract of 5000 vehicles is for the first year after completing certification of the new configuration. Jonway and Shi Kong are targeting delivery of these EV minivans for Dong Feng in June 2015. Therefore, the sales of Jonway's EV minivan with the Dong Feng OEM label will begin second half of 2015, through its partner Shi Kong (SKIO Matrix).