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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor Some Drivers, an Electric Motorcycle Could Be the Best of Both Worlds
Me Want!
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SAN FRANCISCO Zipping around on a motorcycle can be fun, but being in a downpour or an accident on one is not. Driving a car is safer and more comfortable, but traffic and parking can be annoying. What if you got rid of the bad parts of both?
You might end up with something like the C-1, an electric motorcycle that looks as if it came out of the movie Tron. For protection, the bike is encased in a metal shell, and it is controlled like a car, with a steering wheel and foot pedals. Two big gyroscopes under the floor are designed to keep it from tipping over, even when a car hits it from the side. The C-1s top speed is 120 miles an hour, and it can travel 200 miles on a full charge.
A small start-up called Lit Motors is developing the C-1 in a three-story warehouse here. Its 33-year-old chief executive, Daniel Kim, was tinkering with a biodiesel sport utility vehicle eight years ago when a 500-pound chassis nearly crushed him. The experience got him thinking about cutting out the bulk.
Most people drive alone, Mr. Kim said in an interview. Why not cut the car in half? I was really into bicycles at that time and I thought, Why cant we have the efficiency of a bicycle and motorcycle but all the amenities of a car?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/technology/start-ups/for-some-drivers-electric-motorcycle-could-be-the-best-of-both-worlds.html
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Whovian
(2,866 posts)Pretty sure I couldn't afford it though.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)progressoid
(50,000 posts)HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)Our neighborhood is small enough that we can get away with it. If the cops get pissed, there are fences between a lot of the houses and room between them. It wouldn't be hard to hide.