| In response to this HellForLeather article. I'll try not to have a moan about US-Centric thinking, but I can't help but think that electric motorcycles don't make a whole lot of sense there, while they make huge amounts of sense elsewhere. And I think at least part of this is the almost complete disapearance of the bottom end of the PTW (powered two wheel) market. Can you imagine people buying a C50-C90 cub or an Elite-125 scooter. Now go back to 1984 and Terminator. It seemed completely natural that Sarah Connor should go down to the neighbourhood store to buy some milk on a Honda Elite. That's exactly the usage pattern that makes complete sense for an electric version of the same thing. But as that store gets further and further away and is visited less often, it just becomes a damn sight easier to wheel out the SUV. So how did PTWs stop being at least partly a utility and become exclusively a life style gadget? Maybe that's one big change that Electric could bring in turning one aspect of PTW use back into straight utility. Now translate all this into urban and suburban living in Europe, South America, China, India with the electricity coming from wind and solar generators on the roof. The Electric PTW is now a big step up from bicycle or pedestrian leg power rather than a huge step down from a sports bike or a hog. Which perhaps explains why a search for electric bicycle on Alibaba returns 10,000 entries. |
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[ 30-Dec-09 8:52pm ] [ motorcycles
, Scooters ] 