568 let's go for an e-ride!

Why? Why do I keep at this whole ridiculous Bike & Battery endeavor? It's not like I'm doing a great job providing in depth coverage or anything. Half the time, ok, most of the time, it's just a collection of juicy screenshots without much detail.

Ultimately, I guess it's for the same reason I do any writing, or we do any talking: to make sense of the world around us. Here I am witness to what I perceive to be a major shift in our world. Really. Hopefully. I think. 

So here I am, wondering when we're going to come out with a really useful, smaller-than-a-car electric hauler/get around. 

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, we've been making tuk tuks for decades. Hmm. And there are already plenty of electric options.

This one is made in India.

It looks like they pulled a Tesla, adding batteries to an existing chassis.

Personally, I would totally drive that!

Every time I open a new door, I find a room already crowded with fellow travelers.

But whatever, let's carry on reinventing the wheel. This thing looks more bicycle based than scooter based, but it's sweet that the lines are being blurred. (Also, did anyone see how badly Arcimoto's stock did last year? Imagine Tesla's stock, but with only three wheels.)

Like the rest of the stock market, I guess now that the stimmy money is gone, the smart players cashed out of the pandemic bubble.

Anyway, back to micromobility. What was that last trike anyway?

I don't know, but here's how big it is. In metric. About 9-10 feet long.

Some investment company bought the RCA brand and is slapping it on bikes. Also, did you hear the news about Rad Power Bikes? Their founder stepped aside as CEO, and the new CEO sent out an email explaining how they've faltered and their plan to make things right. 

My take? Don't be so hard on yourself, but also, good on you. The past few years have been uncharted, and they were straight up pioneers in US ebikes. When you're blazing a trail, you're likely to get off track here and there.

We're just getting started here, so maybe stand up on those mental footpegs for a minute and get a stretch in.

As part of my own pledge to "do better" I added some info to these screencraps. Now we know this moped-style-ebike (is there a better name than that? Like E-ped?) is from Ride1Up, and costs $2499. I've seen another one of their bikes and was impressed by the design and finish. Of course, it's still really hard to actually experience any of these bikes before buying one online.

Uh, yeah, the kid in me still looks lustfully at objects like this.

Dude. 220Nm of torque is like, f-ing nuts.

It's pretty sweet too, except for that thing on the back wheel.

But I guess it will help tree branches get stuck in your spokes or something.

Ok, so I've been looking at greener alternatives to getting to to the ski area. It's about a 20 mile round trip, which equals a gallon of gas each time we go. Skiing isn't exactly a green activity to start with, but that little fossil fuel burn is the ribbon on my self-loathing. A friend (Wassup Tommy!) recommended an ATV as the ultimate snow transport. This 4*4 electric version looks pretty nice. Now triple the price to actually get one into the US.

This one looks like it would be hella fun, but maybe not so safe on a road, where, like, an F-350 needs to see you.

But look, it's got half the torque of that dirt bike! (Don't worry, that's still a ton of torque.)

For example, this Renault Twizy, actually for sale in Europe (or will be soon), has less torque.

I think. Apparently my "write it on the screenshot" technique is still in development, too.

Oh, there we go.

Finally, one to grow on. Why have trucks gotten bigger? Everyone points at the use as a family vehicle, or gas guzzler legislation that made it cheaper for manufacturers to keep the same power train but upsize the body. Those may be true, but I'm guessing that the growth in size also corresponds pretty well to our bellies, too.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!