NOTE: Welcome, BoingBoing readers! And thanks very much for the link, Cory.
Yamaha has announced the new EC-02, a tiny motorcycle just about powerful enough for scooting around town.
Here's a picture of it I snapped at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show earlier this month. Bear in mind that it's raised up on a pedestal, so it looks larger than actual size:
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There's even a "concept" model, not available for sale (yet?), that has a special iPod docking cradle, amplifier, and loudspeakers built into the body, with a remote control by the right handle grip:
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The whole thing weighs just over 100 pounds, and the handlebars fold down for easy storage. (Because it uses no gasoline or oil, it can even be laid flat on its side.) It seems like an updated version of Honda's old Motocompo, although the gas-powered Moto had more oomph. It'll be interesting to see if the electric EC-02 has enough juice to catch on.
4 comments:
What's the expected price? It's awesome!
Posted by Stefan
About $2,000.
Posted by GaijinBiker
Disagree. Looks less than awesome to me.
Six hour charge for 25 miles at 19 miles an hour?
Say you work 12 miles from home. It's going to take you 45 minutes to get to work, and at the end of the day if you couldn't find a place to plug in your bike, you just might not make it home!
Until they make an electric engine that has more go than a hamster, I think I'll stick with terrorist-funding gas, thanks.
And anyone who knows me knows how much it pisses me off to fund terrorists, so that's saying something...
Posted by Brian
It isn't the electric motor (they use electric drives in battleships) they are generally (permanent magnet) efficient and powerful. The battery is the limiting factor. LION is the newer teck (laptops etc) fuel cell next?
Posted by elco
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