I want one! My electric motorcycle doesn't keep me dry.

The company website says the all-electric Venture EV has a range of 120 miles, 200 is just a mistake in the article I guess.

t -

I find the 100mpg equivalent prediction confusing. Power plants don't burn gasoline. They typically burn coal, natural gas or they run off nuclear fission. Therefore, it would indeed make more sense to compare similar vehicles based on miles per kWh of primary energy.

The efficiency of energy production, distribution and charging of the battery is probably around 30%. Therefore, 17kWh in the battery means around 57kWh of primary energy.

The nearest comparable gasoline vehicle is the original Carver One, which van den Brink claims gets 40mpg US. One US gallon of gasoline represents around 33kWh of primary energy. That implies around 1.2 miles per kWh of primary energy.

Now, Venture Vehicles claims 100mpg equivalent for its PHEV version, so that's 2.5 times as efficient relative to primary energy input, i.e. around 2.5*1.2 = 3 miles per kWh of primary energy, or 3/0.3 = 10 miles per kWh in the battery. That's a little less than the 11.76 you calculated based on their range claim, but then I made some very rough assumptions.

The point is, their claims of 100mpg and 200 mile range are consistent. Whether they hold true remains to be seen, a factor 2.5 improvement in primary energy efficiency is, after all, quite ambitious. Note that deep discharging the battery to achieve the full range would almost certainly shorten its life expectancy, so I would expect useful range to be perhaps 100 miles.

I like it, I like it a lot! There's no reason why EVs and HEVs have to look like they were designed by people who hate cars.

"Why is the BMW C1-200 BMW C1-200 not availble in the USA. Does anyone know?"

Because BMWUSA doesn't sell vehicles that would harm their "premium luxury" brand image. Supposedly they'll start selling a 1-series in the US in 2009, but only the performance version with the 3L twin-turbo.

How wide is it - can you fit two in the space of one car ?
Can it get through gridlocked traffic ?
The way a motor bike or scooter or bike can ...

If it in not thin enough to fit between cars, then the only advantage you have is economy and performance.

One of the main benefits of bikes is that you can move through stationary traffic, which you will probably lose.

However, it sounds very economical and unlike many very economical vehicles, looks cool enough that people might want to buy it.

So it would be a good thing - if they can deliver.

I have a similar 2-tandem-seat vehicle design some years ago that is even more compact and more streamline aerodynamically than this design. For details, look at the following link:
http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=06170847&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D3%2526p%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPTXT%2526S1%3Dpham-roger-$.INNM.%2526OS%3Din%2Fpham-roger-$%2526RS%3DIN%2Fpham-roger-$&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page
hint: copy and paste this link into the address box of your browser. (to copy anything in GCC, you must first select the whole webpage and paste it in a text program such as Wordpad, or MSWord, and then select the desirable text) You'll need a tiff file viewer such as alternatif to see the patent image page.

Of course, living in the land of SUV's and at the time when gasoline was cheap, this design did not go anywhere. But, for use in the high-density cities, to get around the traffic and find parking space, designs like these would have higher utility than a 4-wheeled automobile.

Typical claims for electric mileage run between .2 kwh per mile (5 miles/kwh) and .4 kwh (2.5 miles/kwh) so yes the claimed range is very optimistic. So the actual AER for the Hybrid is probably about 10 miles and the BEV range is probably about 75 miles.

Lensovet -

because van den Brink built their concept around a front that tilts and a rear that does not. Putting the drivetrain in the back provides the counterweight necessary to tilt the front of the vehicle back to the vertical as it emerges from a bend. It's not a motorcycle - it's a trike with a hydraulically actuated computer-controlled lean angle.

It would be fantastic if this vehicle could be tilted up and paked standig upright, i.e. with the the front wheel uu and the rear wheels on the ground.

Sign me up!

If you build it, they will come. Or I will anyway!! Venture Vehicles, if you are listening, get this thing into producible form, get past all the red tape, and sell it!

Van, this vehicle will probably be minimum 1/2 the weight of a typical electric vehicle capable of hitting 100mph and 0-60 in 6 seconds.
It will probably be 1/2 the weight of a BEV with less performance.
It should consume considerably less energy if it is 1/2 the weight.

Mahonj,

"Splitting Lanes" is a great way to have an accident on a motorcycle. There is a reason why the fatality rate for motorcycles is insanely high compared to cars: Drivers don't pay attention much to anything that isn't directly in front of them (even worse with distractions in the car and the small size of motorcycles). It is not legal to split lanes in every state either.