Hello, dear readers and riders. Welcome back to your news hub for all things EV. This week we’ll be taking a look at an e-Bike made out of plants, an electric backpack helicopter, Kawasaki’s plans for an electrified future, and fully electric restorations of some iconic classics. Be sure to send your tantalizing EV tips to stephanie@thevintagent.com. Let’s roll.
A Folding e-Bike Made from Plants
The Hummingbird Flax is light in the hand and attempting to be light on the planet, using only sustainably-grown plant fibers for its frame. [Hummingbird]What’s more eco-friendly than an electric bicycle? One made from plants! Meet the Hummingbird Flax, a new folding e-Bike outfitted with a frame made from sustainable flax plant fibers. Weighing just 22 pounds, the Flax e-Bike features a 250W rear hub motor and is powered by a 158Wh battery, giving it an electric assist range of about 31 miles.
Electric Backpack Helicopter Concept is the Future of Personal Transportation
Dreams dreams and more dreams. We love that people build stuff like this: it’s no surprise that making helipacks commercially available is pretty much impossible, despite startups and promises, but we can dream, no? [Copterpack]Forget personal aircrafts. Australian startup CopterPack created an electric prototype that allows you to fly through the sky using a bookbag. The company’s electric-helicopter backpack features a self-leveling autopilot and lightweight carbon fiber honeycomb airframe that becomes a natural extension of the pilot’s body, enabling them to take flight. How cool is that?
Kawasaki Looks to an Electric Future
Looks like and e-Kawi on test to us. Will they style it conservatively like most other OEM bids to join the future, or will they try something ultra stylish? Methinks it will have a ‘gas tank’ etc… [Kawasaki]Kawasaki is readying itself for an electric future with two new e-Motorcycles, codenamed
Following the brand’s traditional pattern, the ‘X’ is used to designate a sport bike while the ‘R’ represents a naked roaster. Both models are expected to be unveiled next year.
DeLorean Unveils Omega 2040 Concept at Pebble Beach
Not your daddy’s cocaine-fueled stainless roadster! We’ve moved to stronger stuff here – look out world. [DeLorean]DeLorean recently revealed its wild Omega 2040 Baja-themed electric off-roader at Pebble Beach. The new EV features huge wheels, a lifted stance, and futuristic styling. But is it a pickup or SUV? The automaker also showcased its new Alpha5 Plasmatail that boasts a streamlined fastback design and gullwing doors.
Lightning Tachyon Hopes for an Electric Speed Record
The Lightning Tachyon, designed to hit 250mph, which will snatch the ‘world’s fastest production motorcycle’ securely back in the hands of this small California company. [Lightning]Lightning Motorcycles recently announced that it is going after the e-Motorcycle speed record with its Tachyon Nb. The brand claims that the Tachyon can reach speeds in excess of 250mph. The bike’s namesake is a nod to the hypothetical particle that can travel faster than the speed of light, which is scientifically impossible. The “Nb” is the chemical symbol for niobium, which is the main product of Lightning’s project partner, CBMM. The Tachyon’s fairings were made in collaboration with motorcycle saddle maker Corbin, whose founder, Mike Corbin, set an e-Motorcycle speed record in the 1970s.
Bandit9’s Electric Sports Car Concept is Easy on the Eyes
Tired of those Instagram clips of some ultrawealthy dude driving his unregistered F1 car on the freeway recently? Bandit9 caters to the dream, bringing you an F1 inspired street car to your door. [Bandit9]Bandit9 recently dropped its new all-electric sports car concept, the attention-grabbing Monaco. Encased in stunning black carbon fiber monocoque, the sexy EV is powered by the same electric engine and LPF batteries that are under the hood of the Tesla Model S. The Monaco churns out 526 horses and 445 lb-ft of torque thanks to having its batteries and engine positioned in the rear. Sprinting from 0 to 60 in just 2.7 seconds, this car can cover 250 miles on just one charge. “That’s faster and stronger than most modern muscle cars,” Bandit9 stated. The Monaco, also featuring an ultrawide tactical camera and jet-like cockpit, starts at $150,000 and ships worldwide.
Kindred Motorworks Electrifies Iconic Classics
We all love the looks of vintage cars, but in truth they’re filthy! No emission controls, leaky engines, poor carburation. Keep the style, swap the motive power, make ’em ‘lectric. [Kindred Motorworks]California-based Kindred Motorworks is transforming beloved classics into eco-friendly EVs. The company has turned a Volkswagen Bus, Chevy Camaro, and Ford Bronco into fully electric restorations. Prices for the updated classic vehicles range from $149,000 to $199,000 and include a guaranteed 200-mile range.
Stephanie Weaver is the EV Editor at The Vintagent, and a Philadelphia-based freelance writer. When she’s not locked to her laptop, she can be found riding horses and motorcycles.
Yet another round of ” Consumption Junction ” pretending to be ‘ green ‘ when in fact its anything but
Unfortunately, most electric vehicles (and their energy sources) that I come across today online appear to me as sad equivalents of those clumsy video discs from the 90ies: awkward formats, crippled by premature and over-designed choices, accessible mostly to the rich, a half-measure between well established but obsolete technology, and the future uncertain. The ones who pay now will pay the most, and for all the bugs yet to be sorted out. All this to make the richest even richer, with this fabricated economic warfare built to exploit the costumer, only providing service as a by-product of their profit.
The first generation of petrochemical powered vehicles featured the same “premature and over-designed choices, accessible mostly to the rich, “
Yes, indeed. And they were already competing with EV’s to sort out which would become the norm. I do hope EV’s today vanquish those same hurdles from long ago and become truly democratic, but only time will tell.