Frequently asked. Never Read.

Read at your own risk. Still Confused? Ask here.

Company Questions

  • Entropy and time. Together they form the second law of thermodynamics. With classic vehicles in general selling for higher and higher prices, more are being taken out of circulation and into private collections as a form of currency. The unlucky survivors are rusting and falling apart every minute of every day with fewer and fewer people qualified to prevent their decline. More classics will be lost than repaired or restored. Entropy will win. Time will win. In statistical mechanics, all structures will have a gradual decline into disorder. We can’t stop them, but we can delay their impact on at least our vehicles by rebuilding them for tomorrow.

  • We have great respect for the talents of many of the high-end builders in the classic vehicle space. There are already far too many knockoffs of these builders’ fantastic work. There is no honor in this. Zero Labs is committed to producing 100% original work with absolutely no resemblance to other rebuilders' designs or approach while keeping the spirit of the original vehicle being restored. This wasn’t easy, but for us to establish our own category, we had to take our own path.

  • No Zero Labs is an independently owned and operated business.

  • No. Zero Labs is an independently owned and operated business.

  • Unfortunately no. Our Llama and Alpaca do not meet the very strict lack of height requirements so we are instead speaking at the National Towering Llama Association, American Association of Elevated Lamoids, and The Ultra Leggy Alpaca Association annual meetings instead.

  • Presently we do not do public tours, our facility is closed for general public viewing due to confidentiality, insurance, and covid health risks. If we work with you on a professional level something could be arranged but for now, we suggest you send a request through one of our provided contact forms with an outline of what you are looking for.

Platform Questions

  • The complete-builds are classic vehicles that we completely rebuild and restore to modern show car quality seamlessly powered by our platform (a covert all-electric drive system). The platform is the same all-electric drive system used to help transform “as-is” existing vehicles without requiring them to be rebuilt or restored.

  • We are planning 4 primary formats each with numerous makes, models, and size configurations. These formats are unique to that class of vehicle: classic 4x4 SUVs, classic pickup trucks, classic 2-door coupes, and classic muscle cars.

  • No. Our rollout plan is to provide instruction and support for authorized service partners to convert their own clients’ vehicles but to ensure quality and safety we will not be able to support DIY projects until a later date.

  • Both. We assemble and shoot photos of the car using psychokinetic powers from our team at the Hawkins National Laboratory, however - the final car and the platform are in fact attached before delivery thereby closing the Upside Down dimensional gateway and preventing Demogorgon attacks.

  • We have not released pricing, but we will do our best to provide final pricing, specifications, options, and delivery times that will be announced before the manufacturing start date.

  • We began incorporating the platform in every new build since 2021, for authorized service partners we will do our best to provide final pricing, specifications, options, and delivery times for complete conversion packages that will be announced before the manufacturing start date.

  • Yes. We will sell our conversion technology including platform and all supporting software. Our rollout plan is to provide instruction and support for authorized service partners to convert their own clients’ vehicles. Rollout plans, final pricing, specifications, options, and delivery times will be announced here.

  • Absolutely. To become an authorized service partner sign up here.

  • No. While the core components will be very similar for each similar class. Each model has specific lengths, height, track widths and wheelbases made specifically for that year/model.

  • No, that would be completely silly. We only focus on vintage and classic vehicles, re-engineer and rebuild them with modern components and make them completely electric.

  • Um … No. Perhaps the reason it never occurred to us is the fact that if we sold gas versions of our electric platforms they would not be, you know, electric.

Charging Questions:

  • We use two common onboard charging systems. Level 2 Charging and Level 3 Charging. You will not need a separate wall charger. How each works is described below.

  • Level 2 charging uses 240 volts Alternating Current (AC) and was invented by Nikola Tesla. Most US homes use 240 volts for appliances like a washing machine and dryer, which is simply putting two 120V circuits together. If you would like to add Level 2 charging, any licensed electrician can come in and add the outlet. Level 2 charging can typically deliver 80 percent full charge in 2-10 hours depending on the state of charge. These are typically left to charge overnight.

    Level 3 and 4 charging; most commonly known as “DC Fast Charging” used direct current (DC) popularized by Thomas Edison in the 1880s. DC refers to the original form that electricity comes in, a form which is usually changed in nearby transformers before it reaches your home. Level 3 Charging is considered “fast charging” because it bypasses the onboard charger and feeds the power directly to the battery. Level 3 charge time can typically deliver 80 percent full charge in 30-45 minutes. Level 4 charging is essentially “ultra-fast charging” because it’s, you know, “ultra-fast”.

  • No. We use onboard charging systems so you do not need a wall charger for this to work. You will be provided a cable to connect to an 240 volt outlet or if you have a wall charger you can use that too. We will supply you with a cable that will fit a variety of NEMA outlet sizes.

  • Level 2 charging uses 240 volts of Alternating Current (AC) found in nearly every home. Level 3 charging requires a level 3 charging station. To locate one near you we suggest searching “level 3 charging station near me”. There are a growing number of very well-funded national level 3 charging station providers such as ChargePoint and EVgo.

  • No. Our rechargeable electric car batteries are constantly monitored and have built-in safeties to prevent overcharging. After 80% of charge at any level, the battery will start to trickle charge. This means that once the battery reaches 80% of capacity, all three levels will charge at roughly the same slow speed by design. For this reason, many Level 3 charging stations automatically cut off at 80%.

  • No. Well, at least not yet. Tesla Superchargers are proprietary chargers for Tesla vehicles. They use a unique software/hardware “handshake” to connect so outside vehicles would not work. That is not to say that attempting to charge an electric Bronco or Land Rover at a Tesla Supercharger station isn’t hilarious and leading scientists and climatologists tell us taunting our neighbors is critical for reducing C02 levels.

Hybrid and Hydrogen Questions:

  • No. Zero Labs only develops all-electric drive systems. Hybrids use combustion engines in combination with electric drive systems adding significant complexity and reduced reliability. Moreover, due to their reliance on petroleum, hybrids still emit pollutants such as NOx, Methane, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbons, Formaldehyde, and ROG which is why we are against it.

  • No.

  • Still no.

  • Oh, in that case. No.

  • Not for our goals. Similar to the added complexity of Petroleum Hybrids, high-value classic vehicles are not suited for this purpose. Hydrogen storage is inefficient, energetically, volumetrically, and with respect to weight. Hydrogen is converted to stored energy which is a knowingly inefficient process and results in an average of 60% energy efficiency. That’s not including the drive looking for a location. Also - Hydrogen systems still require batteries. The heavy conversion loss from electricity to chemical fuels drastically impacts the distance that can be traveled per unit of energy depending on the source.

  • You want this guy — Click here.

Free Vehicle Questions:

  • Unfortunately no, we can not pay our bills with cool reactions to food trucks.

  • Unfortunately no, we cannot pay our bills with the future value of your Instagram likes or retweets.

  • Unfortunately no, we cannot pay our bills with Instagram likes or retweets.

  • All your followers? Oh well in that case... still no.

Complete Vehicle Questions:

  • It’s time to get over that. How about we work together and find a way to love the classics without destroying the future.

  • No. We build a limited number of custom classic vehicles remade to be electric. Our flagship model uses an authentic classic 1966-77 Classic Ford Bronco that has been re-engineered and assembled with modern components and made completely electric. We have since applied this approach to a number of other classic models.

  • No. Tesla, Rivian, Nio, Byton, Lucid, and other EV mass manufacturers have and will continue to spend tens of billions each to produce millions of electric cars per year at the lowest price for everyone. Zero Labs Automotive, Inc (or Zero Labs) is a privately held automotive design, technology, and engineering firm based in Southern, California which restores and modifies existing classic vehicles.

  • While they are very cool, no, that would be completely silly. We only focus on vintage and classic vehicles, re-engineer and rebuild them with modern components and make them completely electric.

  • For those new to the EV space or who are considering an EV purchase, it’s important to remember that a 50-year-old rebuilt classic vehicle - especially an electric one - will never be in line with the costs of a mass manufacturer, for the same reason a gallon of paint will always be cheaper than a painting in a gallery. The 1966-77 first-generation Ford Bronco only sold 225,000 total units over a 12-year period, and that was more than 50 years ago. By contrast, Tesla with nearly $20 billion in funding and $13 billion in debt, mass-produced nearly twice that many in 2019 alone. Mass-scale automakers achieve lower prices by producing volume in the hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year often at a huge public debt. Many of our customers already have an EV as a daily driver, so do we, and so do our neighbors, that scale comes at a loss of sentiment or uniqueness.

  • On a Mac, the keyboard shortcut for the Undo command is Command-Z. For PC users, the keyboard shortcut for the Undo command is Ctrl+Z or Alt+Backspace. You will need to do this at least 118,520 times. If you decide you did actually like the classic electric vehicle, the shortcut for Redo is Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z. Currently, we do not offer cloud backup services for prior versions of your classic vehicle.

  • No, we do NOT use e-crate drop-ins. We have an appreciation for the general concept of this approach, companies that tell you it’s easy are in business to sell you parts but there is a lot of misrepresentation here. This isn't as "drop in" as it's claimed. Often the vehicles used to demonstrate this concept are complete restorations that have been in development for years and are not "as is" rusted 50-year-old originals. Some are photoshopped gas cars. A vehicle needs more than a motor swap to be safe. The architecture of electric vehicles requires consideration of thousands of related parts. Our classic electric platform is 100% built for perfect balance and performance and is design specific for each model to maximize modern range and performance. That said, while we would never use them, we still think there is value in this approach for the environment as at least it is electric.

  • Ah. Yes. I think we would all like to know: Bronco.

  • Please, if that is really within budget, you should absolutely do all of those things. If you’re having a hard time deciding, you can’t go wrong with 18,518 boxes of Franzia. Please send us photos we will feature you on our site!

  • When your vehicle is delivered, it will look and smell like new, but it is still a classic car and will be registered as a classic car. The year of registration and VIN are based on the original vehicle selected for your project. The odometer on your vehicle will show around 500 miles. These correspond to miles accrued during our testing and tuning process.

  • Global passenger car sales in 2019 fell 4% to around 77.5 million new vehicle sales. New cars in the U.S. are in a 2% decline in U.S. sales to down to 16.9 million in 2019 the demand for “new” mass-manufactured vehicles is in a decline. Given that we are limited by the pure volume of vehicles we could make by hand compared to a publicly funded mass manufacturer, we can’t appeal to everyone. This means even if everyone wanted and could afford one, then we could only provide 0.0002% of the world’s new vehicle demands -so they are going to be rare regardless. No rebuilder can rebuild a rare classic vehicle for the same price and volume as a mass manufacturer can stamp our new ones. By contrast, our category of Premium Classic Electric Vehicles is special in the classic and EV space, with high sentimental value to the driver who doesn’t want another mass-produced car. Handcrafted classic vehicles are like art, it is not for everyone, and if it is for everyone, it is not art.

  • These early Broncos are leading the collectible vintage-SUV market for the 6th year in a row, the first-generation models, built from 1966 to 1977, are red-hot. Over the past decade, their value has increased by some 200 percent. There is no sign of slowing down, with a 27-percent increase in the past six months alone with a “drivable” condition value of more than $31,000. REMEMBER, this is only the costs for the “starter” foundation of the vehicle. We then rebuild your vehicle with custom-engineered independent front a rear suspension, batteries and electric, and more than 1,000 newly created parts and designs, and motor. The process takes around 6,000 hours to handcraft each vehicle from the original classic to a perfected premium electric classic. Zero Labs made a commitment to build the absolute best version of each classic vehicle we could, not low-quality aftermarket parts typical in the industry. We focus on the highest quality materials, original designs, upgradable, and built to last decades while simultaneously producing an extremely safe but covert electrical drive system. We use 24/7 self-monitoring, safety, and telematics to let the driver know the state of the vehicle anytime by mobile or hidden displays. The result is a clean energy vehicle with the soul of a premium classic. Our goal is to offer everything you love, minus everything you hate. To be enjoyed now and well into the future.

  • At the higher end of the restoration market, other makes and models of popular combustion, vehicles can cost $650,000+ with waiting lists lasting up to three years. We expect our customers to have owned classic vehicles in the past and done their homework knowing pricing for a premium Ford Bronco restoration can run from $160k – 600k. To focus on quality, only a limited number of these first-edition premium classic electric vehicles can be produced at a time, and additional models will be announced every year. Our vehicles are special with high sentimental value to the driver. To create the new category of premium classic electric, we had to make them the best that can be. We hope it is apparent, our vehicles are quite different, and we expect the price of the first edition Zero Labs production models to start at $185k, depending on customization and choice of finishes. Final prices, designs, and features will be determined by customer requirements and specifications.

  • James Caleb Jackson in 1863.

  • Hand-built motor vehicles and classic car restorations are going to be a low-volume ambition for anyone. This is dictated by today's quality standards and the limitation of available donor vehicles. For Zero Labs, we build classic electric vehicles that honor classic designs and represent the growing battery electrical vehicle car market. To achieve both, there are no shortcuts, especially with electric vehicles. We realize this isn’t for everyone. That’s OK because we could never make enough for everyone. We respect there are many restoration shops out there that pride themselves on offering restorations at the lowest price using cheaper aftermarket reproduction parts. For our quality and safety standards, we would rather do a better job for our clients on fewer premium electric vehicles than make thousands of mistakes by cutting corners at scale.

  • We have already started delivery. All vehicles are delivered in the order received.

  • They are restored, designed, and handcrafted in Los Angeles, California, near SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Tesla and countless leading Aerospace and defense companies.

  • No, they are NOT Kits, reproductions, or replicas. Every one of our vehicles is a restoration PLUS modification built from an original classic vehicle which must have a legally registered VIN and title that is then inspected by the DMV before and after restoration. This is also why we are limited in how many we can make in a given period. Most of the customer-supplied donor vehicles are nearly inoperable or long beyond use and we prefer this as we generally do not want to restore mint condition survivors which we believe should carry out their lives in their original condition. We have turned away several excellent originals to honor this. This is an excellent opportunity to give them a second life. These are not kit cars or for-sale conversion packages.

  • No. We rebuild a limited number of original classic vehicles if they look new that just means we are doing our job.

  • No. There are still many opportunities for improvement and additional options. We will work up to the last minute to make sure we have produced the best design we can, given our customers’ needs and timeline goals. We will publish updates on final specifications and designs long before we begin final manufacturing.

  • Most of our vehicles are built to the custom specifications of our clients, based on the features and options available.

  • Thanks, mom. It’s actually a 50-year-old 1966-77 first generation … that has a tig welded frame with … and the dual AC induction motors have regenerative … Jeep, yep, totally a Jeep … nailed it, mom.

Saftey Questions:

  • Our vehicles do not have all modern safety features. They do not have autonomous driving features, early crash warning systems, airbags, stalker Siri radio subscriptions, etc. We sell classic cars with modern performance components.

  • Our vehicles are restorations so we can only go so far with modern safety standards. We will have optional headrests (as close to the period as we can get), and all vehicles will come with a full steel "family" roll cage, modern glass, and front and rear 3-point shoulder belts. We have also added several features for protecting the batteries from impact including advanced battery management systems. Front, side curtain airbags and breakaway bumper sensors are not legally allowed to be installed on classic vehicles. The required structures and testing are not possible for classic vehicles and have varying levels of safety even on modern cars, especially with many recall studies still underway. We invite you to visit NHTSA’s site regarding airbag safety but always urge our customers to drive responsibly with this knowledge.

Career Questions:

  • Yes. We like to think of our classic electric vehicles as “reserviced vending machines on wheels” so you are more than qualified to lead the team.

  • Yes, however, we presently only accept applications for Senior Director of Manufacturing Engineers with Tanning Salon management Experience from Taipei City.

Pricing Questions:

  • Much.

  • That’s not a question. Try again.

  • You are not under any obligation to buy this or anything else you see in the world. If something speaks to you great; if it does not, also great. No company can make enough of everything for everyone so we want to make them only for those most excited about this. 18,518 boxes of Franzia is also a safe alternative. Please send us photos!

Other Questions:

  • We do not sell any individual parts, designs or components used in our restoration. Yet.

  • Yes, we are planning on shipping cars all over the world which is made easier because there are no emissions. Keep in mind that registering a vehicle outside of the U.S. is your responsibility and expense. Every country has different rules for importing classic vehicles with extensive modifications, we will help but you are always advised to do your homework before placing an order.

  • We don’t sell unrestored vehicles. In the future, we do expect to have clients who want to resell a vehicle their vehicles and upgrade to a different model. We will publish this list when made available.