Treehugger: eGo Cycle 2: Great style and fewer emissions than your Vespa

Treehugger: eGo Cycle 2: Great style and fewer emissions than your Vespa

Also over at TreeHugger, an indepth user review of the eGo Cycle 2. If you are unfamilar with this vehicle, it is one of the most successful and highly regarded, of the current flood of two-wheeled electric vehicles. It doesn't fit my needs right now (or perhaps it would be accurate to say, it's a bad fit for the suburban infastructure of my commute. If I was able to recharge it at work, and had a complete route with bike lanes, I'd be golden.) but it is interesting nonetheless. Besides the fact that it is an extremely well built and designed machine, what is alluring is the uniqueness of it's approach. While having design nods to both bicycles and motorscooters, it is decidely neither. This is a design approach that more electric vehicles should take, avoiding the obstacles of building an electric car, by not trying to build a car at all. Build a four wheeled electric vehicle, and make the form fit the function. I mean, how silly do those old autos that were truly "horseless carriages" look to us now?

Driving-wise, the eGo is somewhere between a regular bike and a motorized scooter. You likely won’t be riding at the same speed as traffic (top speed is 24 mph), so you have to ride to the side and be careful negotiating traffic. The LX model – designed for heavier traffic conditions – includes signal lights, an odometer and a horn, which give a greater feeling of safety. If you stick to ‘bike lane’ roads, there’s a bit less concern about the same-way traffic, but watch for parked cars opening their doors. I prefer to use residential streets when possible, because you can stay a fair distance from parked cars and not slow down traffic.