Category: Green Scooters

CDOT’s Chicago Scooterist Roundtable: May 4

After gathering input from Chicago scooterists last month, the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Department of Environment are hosting a Chicago Scooterist Roundtable at the Chicago Center for Green Technology (445 North Sacramento Boulevard) on Friday, May 4, 2007 from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Our contact Charles Roesner tells us, “At the session, scooterists will be encouraged to discuss the potential positive impacts of increased use of scooters in Chicago. Scooterists will also have the opportunity to detail the challenges and barriers that they face while riding scooters in Chicago. They will be able to make suggestions and recommendations to CDOT and DOE as to how the environment for scootering in Chicago could be improved.”

This meeting is something many of us have dreamed about for years, so mark your calendars and take the afternoon off work. For more information and action plans, email 2SB, or check the CHIscooterList.

News Bits, Jan 8, 2007

We’re still catching up on news reports from our holiday break. This should bring us up to date:

  • Authorities have banned the Segway from public streets and sidewalks in the Netherlands, citing their lack of a mechanical brake as a safety hazard. It’s easy to make jokes, and we should, because Segways are ridiculously stupid, but this does pose an interesting question about how governments will react to the many alternate-fuel vehicles coming to market, especially those that don’t conform to standard vehicle categories. Few companies can afford the luxury of developing and marketing a product that may likely be banned on streets, just one more reason why huge companies already armed with lobbyists and lawyers will probably continue to dominate the market. In other words, good luck getting licence plates for your new Vectrix electric motorscooter (what’s the displacement, sonny?), and welcome to 2007.
  • New Honda Metropolitan rider tells the Arizona Daily Star how much she loves her scooter.
  • “At one point I was going to lease a BMW to try to meet women,” Jeff Schultz tells the Louisville Courier-Journal. Luckily, he came to his senses and bought a Kymco People 250. We assert that scooters’ environmental impact is notable, yet generally overstated, so we found both comments pretty funny.
  • Kymco has expanded its relationship with ARI to improve customer relations by streamlining warranty claims and product registration.
  • Following up the results of an earlier report, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries confirms that scooter sales are kicking ass in Australia. While several Australian companies, notably Bolwell, have been importing rebadged scooters from Asian makers, Vmoto has gone a step farther and bought their Chinese supplier, Freedmoto, outright. (That’s ONE way to ensure decent quality control from a Chinese company.)
  • Motorcyclenews.com reports on a 112-horsepower Italian racing scooter built by Team Cristofolini Racing. The custom-made aluminium 4-cylinder 350cc engine is mounted in what used to be a Malaguti F12 frame.

Rome bans “Euro 0” scooters

The city of Rome will begin enforcement of a ban on “Euro 0”-rated scooters and motorcycles within a large area of the city on January 1, 2007. Most pre-1999 scooters, likely 120,000 vehicles, will not be permitted within the “anello ferrovario” area of Rome. Residents of the area may continue to ride Euro 0 bikes in the zone until November, 2007. Roman officials cite research that finds one Euro 0 vehicle can emit the same quantity of pollutants into the atmosphere as 63 uncatalyzed cars. Collectors can register vintage machines for an exemption from the ban. Reimbursements and rebates are also available to encourage riders to upgrade or scrap their older vehicles.

Green bike shorts

“Green” bikes and scooters have been showing up more than usualy in the news, probably with Vectrix making a splash in Milan, everyone else thought they better get their PR in motion. Here are a few we noticed:

  • BusinessWeek reports on the ENV fuel-cell prototype. It’s handsome and full of neat ideas, but a quick read of the comments will show you what the makers of fuel-cell vehicles are up against (mainly, an ignorant public, and the expense of fuel-cell technology).
  • Pasadena, CA e-bike and Go-Ped retailer UrbanScooters.com has announced their offices are now “carbon-neutral,” which sounds nice even though they seem to be selling mostly Chinese electric scooters and some 2-stroke Go-Peds. I guess even a nominal commitment to the environment sets them apart from the other thousand online retailers of electric bikes, the site seems more professional and organized than most online stores selling similar products.
  • ShinyShiny reports on the new eGo Helio electric bike. Through a long, strange set of coincidences, we acquired a prototype of eGo’s first model at my day job a few years ago. It’s pretty well-made, but after riding a scooter, it’s not very exhilarating to crawl along with caliper brakes and no suspension. Every time I’ve ridden it, I’ve though a regular bicycle would be faster and more useful (and about 100 lbs lighter). That said, the newer model is prettier and more powerful, and might be worth checking out.

Electric vehicles, while technically emissions-free, generally use power generated by fossil fuels, but until better technology become affordable, the Vectrix seems to be rising above most alternate-fuel vehicles, at least in media attention. Whether that’s the result of a good PR team or a good product will be clear when they go on sale, allegedly soon. Other manufacturers’ experiments with fuel cell, electric, CNG, biodiesel, and hybrid vehicles are a good sign there’s a market and a future for green bikes, but Vectrix looks to be the first large-scale test of their commercial viability.

Vectrix to debut in Milan, manufacture in Poland

It seems like ages (and it has) since we last heard about the Vectrix, the electric scooter with the power of a 400cc gas scooter. Now, Treehugger reports Vectrix’ first production model will be on display at the Milan show and available soon. Vectrix has built 50 units at their Massachussets plant (capacity 12,000 units/year) and is preparing their facility in Wroclaw, Poland (capacity 38,000 units/year) to start production before the end of the year. (Thanks to Mr. Maddox.)

News briefs

Smoky two-strokes clobbered by SUV in emissions test

We overlooked this story from Portland, OR’s Williamette Week, assuming it was just another rehash of the “Vespanomics” story. But the Scooter Scoop read it and brought it back to our attention. Suspicious of all the pro-scooter hype out there, they did their own tests, comparing a “Piaggio-made” (ha) Stella, a 1968 Vespa, and a Subaru Tribeca. The results weren’t pretty for rotary-valve 2-strokes, but it should also be noted that the Tribeca is hardly the worst offender in the SUV kingdom. A 4-stroke Vespa LX or a Bajaj Chetak vs. a Ford Expedition or Hummer would have been an entirely different story, we demand a rematch!

Scooternista does the math

Scooternista, a new scooter blog, follows “Modelcarguy” and his quest for two (or three) wheels. The perspective is interesting as he’s not really sure what he wants (he’s leaning towards an Ape or Bajaj threewheeler at the moment) and he’s not entirely sold on the scooter concept to begin with, so his indecision is our gain. Like us, he was dubious of the “scooter economy” promised by Piaggio’s Vespanomics site (and every other scooter company, dealer, and newspaper article). He did the math related to his situation and found what we suspected– in most cases, there are better reasons than economics to buy a scooter.

We’re working on a story outlining the successes (we’re happy to report there are some!) and shortcomings of Piaggio’s “Vespanomics” and “Open Letter to Mayors” PR campaigns, look for it later this week. Please get in touch if you have any insight.

Vespanomics

VespaUSA finally shifts into second gear and comes above the surface with their “Vespas are ecological” PR campaign thats been such a success in getting them press: Vespanomics. There is certainly some economy, and maybe ecology, in scooter-riding, but they’re glossing over an awful lot of math, science, and common sense to hype it to this level. Still, it’s nice to see them actually selling some scooters. More later.