Zero Motorcycles was founded by Neal Saiki in January, 2006 as Electricross Inc. Neal designed the Drift electric mini-moto motorcycle and built and sold 24 of them during the company's first year. Based on the feedback and excitement he got back from these early customers he decided to build a full size dirt bike and find a new name which better reflected the potential of the electric powered motorcycle idea. After an extensive name search and winnowing process the name Zero Motorcycles was chosen and the new full sized dirt motorcycle became the Zero X. The Zero X was first shipped to a customer in January, 2008. It was announced to the public in March of 2008.