Confederate Motors President Matt Chambers says that they reached the limits of what they can do with internal combustion engines in their crazy-looking mechanical design motorcycles.
So they are changing the name to Curtiss Motorcycles and going electric with the help of leading electric motorcycle maker Zero Motorcycles.
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Electric powertrains are already quite common in two-wheel vehicles – thanks to electric scooters, which are already extremely popular in Asia, somewhat popular in Europe, but less popular in North America. Now a relatively new segment of electric mopeds is coming and should make two-wheel electric vehicles significantly more popular.
We could argue about the differences between motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds, which can also be different with an electric powertrain, but generally speaking a moped will look more like a motorcycle than a scooter and it will have weaker powertrain which generally results and less stringent licensing requirements and therefore, it makes them more accessible than motorcycles.
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Zero Motorcycles, a maker of battery-powered motorcycles, is at the American International Motorcycle Expo in Orlando, Florida today to unveil its 2016 lineup and announce 2 new models.
On top of the new models, the company is also presenting a new motor design, a faster charging infrastructure, a new lithium-ion cell chemistry for more capacity and efficiency, and it will lower the price on two base models while adding more features and performance throughout its lineup.
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Today is the last day of Burning Man 2015 in the middle of the Black Rock desert of Nevada. Black Rock City, a temporary city of thousands, will dismantle tomorrow. The festival is known for its display of art and gifting economy, but also for the often extravagant vehicles use to explore the city.
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[kickstarter url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly-smart-wheel width=704]
It is hard not to like this idea: You replace your rear bike wheel with this special FlyKly wheel which houses a motor, a controller, and some batteries. You set the speed with a smartphone or Pebble app.
On the downside, you are also replacing your rear gear sprockets and shifting mechanism and it doesn’t seem like you can have too much control with a smartphone for changing speeds while biking.
Estimates look like the product will hit production late next year.
