A Zap Xebra truck sits outside Lititz Car Co.
Mike Cronin is tired of spinning his wheels.
For a month, the Lititz car dealer has been trying to get PennDOT's approval to sell all-electric vehicles — an approval he thought he had this spring.
Meanwhile, his first shipment of five Zap Xebra trucks sits on his South Broad Street lot, drawing a steady number of potential customers but unable to be sold.
"It's excruciating. Right now, I have two different sets of people looking at them," said Cronin, as he gazed out his dealership's window Thursday afternoon.
"People want to drive them. They want to drive one home tonight. But after I tell them all about (the vehicles), I have to say they can't have one and I really can't explain why," he said.
Cronin, who owns the Lititz Car Co. used-car business, decided to begin selling the three-wheeled electric vehicles after visiting Zap headquarters in California in January.
He said a PennDOT official told him in March the department was "fully satisfied" with the vehicle, so he placed orders.
Then, as the first shipment of the small "green" vehicles was about to arrive, he heard from other PennDOT officials who raised a series of questions Cronin thought had been answered.
When he resolves one issue, PennDOT raises another, according to Cronin, leaving the car dealer weary, frustrated and puzzled that 40 other states haven't confronted their Zap dealers with the same concerns.
"I want all this to go away and get in business," he said. "I don't mean to be the frontrunner in a big environmental fight. I'm not a tree-hugger. I'm just Mike in Lititz.
"When I went to California in January, the last thing I thought was that I'd be in any kind of fight at all."
A PennDOT spokeswoman said the department is working every day on the Zap case, but needs to complete "additional research" before concluding whether Cronin can sell the vehicles and how they should be titled.
"We are trying to work with (Cronin) and get to a resolution as quickly as possible. But we don't have all the facts at this time. ... Until we do, we can't make a decision," said spokeswoman Danielle Klinger.
As Cronin works through the approval process, he's expecting a second shipment of Xebras — three cars and three trucks — within a week to join the five trucks he got Aug. 8.
Should he get the go-ahead from PennDOT, he'll be the only car dealer here offering all-electric vehicles. Both the $12,500 trucks and $11,500 cars run as far as 40 miles on a single battery charge and as fast as 40 mph.
Cronin said he has made considerable progress addressing PennDOT's concerns in the past four weeks, through meetings, phone calls and e-mails, though fresh issues keep arising.
First, he established that the vehicles, which technically are motorcycles, met federal safety and state inspection requirements. Then he showed the vehicles were registered with the federal government and had vehicle identification numbers (VINs).
Next he got Zap to change the vehicles' titles to show the make as their Chinese manufacturer, rather than the make as Zap. Now PennDOT tells him the vehicles' VINs incorrectly label the vehicles as gasoline-powered. Zap says the VINs are right.
"Four weeks ago, they had a problem with its compliance, and we solved it. Two weeks ago, they had a problem with its make, and we solved it. Now it's the VIN number, which was not a problem two weeks ago. ...
"I'm going to address every issue I can," said Cronin, "but I'm wondering if the issues will ever end."
Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.
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