As the video pasted after the break points out, running a 26 mile marathon is a tough task as it is. Though this writer couldn't hope to complete one anyway, doing so while bracketed by pollution-spewing cars and motorcycles makes it that much harder. So, we love the idea of using Vectrix electric scooters as the pace-setters and support vehicles for the just-finished Boston Marathon.
The video also mentions lighter but higher capacity batteries on the horizon. We can only assume that this refers to lithium ion packs. Take note of the electric MP3-style scooter that we've mentioned before which is slated to go on sale in eight months along with the electric sportsbike that could go on sale within a few years, depending on the interest level. The video concludes by making mention of the Brammo Enertia (see our ride here) and Zero Motorcycles off-road bike.
If you live in California and have a hankerin' for some quality electric maxi-scooter action, it's time to grab your checkbook and head for your nearest Vectrix dealership. The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) has been busy dishing out rebates for a select few rides and there is only so much cash left in the kettle.
The "Fueling Alternatives" program lists a small number of natural gas-powered vehicles that qualify for the rebate but apparently the money reserved for those has already run out. The only other eligible vehicle manufacturers left are GEM and Vectrix and, unless you live in a gated community or on a golf course, I would go with the 62 mph-capable Vectrix.
If you live in Northern California, there is a San Francisco-based dealer, British Motor Cars Distributors, who would be happy to take your order and, according to their website, they deliver. San Rafael residents might want to give Marin BMW Motorcycles a ring. For the rest of California, hang tight, help may soon be on the way. More info after the jump.
Anyone who knows even a little about Jay Leno knows that not only is he a car nut, but he's also environmentally aware. His large vehicle collection includes a 1909 Baker Electric and many of us know he has a biofueled super car project under way. It's not a surprise then, that on his video-centric website, Jay Leno's Garage, the Tesla Roadster is now being featured. Leno also, not so long ago, did a segment with the Vectrix two-wheel and three-wheeled maxi-scooters.
Leno starts the presentation by chatting with Tesla Big Cheese Elon Musk and goes over lots of basic information about the electric Roadster such as the origin of the chassis, the battery pack, the transmission situation and so on. The best part is when he hits the road. Because the car is so quiet, Jay can easily be heard by the camera in the chase car as he tells and shows us how much fun the thing is to drive. He quickly leaves the camera behind. Again and again.
In the Vectrix clip, Leno talks with chief marketing officer, Jeff Morrill while Dana (family name unknown), head of service, hangs out in the background ready to pounce into action should he be needed. He isn't. They cover everything from range and speed, to the starting procedure and then finally go for a drive on a couple of two-wheelers and the soon-to-be-released three wheeler. Jay admits, "I didn't want to like it but I do." He seems to have a good time but does voice a desire for a bit more speed and range. He doesn't try out the three-wheeler as he thinks it's a little dorky but allows it is fascinating engineering. I think he was just being nice.
Senator Kerry usually likes to drive his Harley-Davidson Wide Glide when he feels the need for the wind in his bouffant and bugs in his teeth. (Someone get that Senator a helmet!) Monday though, found him on the back of a Vectrix scooter while visiting their New Bedford, Massachusetts operations where, according to a report on SouthCoastToday, he spoke of going "beyond fossil fuels" and "really exciting great possibilities" and "a Vectrix for every blogger". (Ok, I made that last one up.) He reportedly did proclaim the bike a "vehicle of the future." Whether or not there was an electric scooter in his future went unstated.
What I'm sure really got his audience excited was his discussion of potential future federal tax incentives for zero-emissions vehicles. Vectrix wants an amendment on legislation ensuring that such an incentive extends to include two and three wheel vehicles. They are serious enough about it to include a new political outreach section to their website. And serious they should be since they need to get these bikes out of the factory and onto the streets!
According to a news item posted on the Vectrix website, California will be offering a $1,500 rebate for purchasers of the electric Vectrix scooter. Early adopters will not be punished either, as the rebate is retroactive to purchases of these $11,000 EVs made as far back as May 2007.
In other news, and as a follow-up to our recent article regarding police in the U.K. riding on Vectrix scooters to patrol parking lots, we decided to let you know that the city of Sacramento, CA, has also chosen to use the all electric maxi-scooter for certain enforcement duties. We imagine that the choice was made easier by the fact that the scooters were practically given to them, cosing only $1 each for four months, but whatever. The City of Sacramento is the first to take advantage of the offer from Vectrix but, at that price, they may not be the last.
Despite the fact that Vectrix has posted extremely disapointing sales numbers so far, there are certain uses for the electric scooter which just make too much sense to ignore. Ask the NYPD, for one. Or take, for instance, as a parking lot enforcement vehicle. The police in Strathclyde, U.K, have found that the Vectrix suits them perfectly as a runabout to enforce parking measures and control traffic at the Glasgow Airport. They like the fact that the machine can be recharged in an hour using a 13 amp plug, along with being able to reach 62 miles per hour, more than fast enough for this scenario. "We have two other motor scooters just now which are both petrol driven but they are coming to end of their life. We felt that to go for the green option would be the proper thing to do," says Inspector Colin Pearson, chief of Glasgow Airport Police Unit. Right on.
With Vectrix's electric scooter's sales extremely disappointing there are plenty of questions about where the company goes from here. One interesting possibility could be a tie-up with Tesla Motors. Besides the price ($12,000!), range and performance are among the other complaints about the two wheelers. Tesla on the other hand has their own issues to deal with. If they do get production of the Roadster kicked off in March as they plan, they will still have only one vehicle to sell in their stores for at least a couple of years until the WhiteStar sedan becomes a reality. Tesla has developed a lot of expertise in the area of electric vehicle performance. If Tesla's engineers were to work with Vectrix, they could potentially make the scooter more appealing to customers. While driving the Roadster recently in California, I raised the idea of some kind of cooperation with Aaron Platshon. Aaron said that the idea was interesting and had been raised before, but no discussions had taken place and none where planned. Nothing is currently in motion, but it's an interesting idea to consider.
It isn't all depressing news for Vectrix these days. I mean, colorful sailboats make everyone happy, right? If the electric scooter company can't sell (many) of the expensive rides, then perhaps they can give them away. This is what happened in Melbourne, Australia on Monday when, according to Sail World, twenty sail teams competed in the "Vectrix King of the Docklands Regatta." The prize? Why, none other than a MAXI Scooter. Sail World doesn't say who won the race and Google didn't help either, but I like the consistency of a zero-emission race for a zero-emission scooter.
On January 15, Vectrix released a regulatory announcement titled "Preliminary Results." Thanks to some ABG reader comments that pointed out some just how bad the news is in this report, I thought it'd be a good idea to mention this on the front page. The short version: In 2007, Vectrix built 2,002 vehicles (the $12,000 scooter seen above) but sold just 123 of them and now has had a lot of debt.
Here are some key quotes from the statement:
During the 2007 financial year, we built 1,775 vehicles and sold in to dealers 462 of which 68 sold out to consumers. Through calendar 2007, we have built 2,002 vehicles and sold in 550 to dealers of which 123 sold out to consumers. The key financial impact of this is that for financial 2007 production and sales were not aligned and, as a result, both accounts receivable and inventory are much higher than expected. As we began financial 2008, we adjusted production due to slower than expected sales and we are increasing the number of dealers in our distribution network to accelerate vehicle sell through. [...]
While the Company has launched an innovative vehicle and created significant product awareness with consumers, dealers and government officials in the EU, North America and Australia, we have been slow to convert enthusiasm into consumer sales and as a consequence our sales results are running significantly below management's pre-IPO expectations. As a result of lower than expected sales and higher that [sic] expected inventories and a U.S. GAAP requirement that we forecast in a manner consistent with historical sales and trends, we incurred a US$9.1 million charge in cost of goods sold related to batteries and finished goods.
You can read the entire thing at the London Stock Exchange website. The question for us is, how long should we wait before we put Vectrix in the has-been pile? 2007 saw the launch of the MAXI Scooter, and Vectrix does have dealerships in seven countries now - will 2008 be the year these expensive but cool electric scooters catch on? And what's happening with the 1,879 unsold scooters?
Cycle World already wrote a little online piece about the Vectrix scooter, which we showed you here. I checked their site today and was rewarded with another short article about the machine, this time from David Edwards on their staff blog page. According to the article, Edwards will be writing something up for an upcoming print edition of the magazine, which is great. Unfortunately, he regurgitated most of the same points that are mentioned over and over whenever electric vehicles are written about, namely the fact that carbon emissions are still produced when the machine is built and that the batteries still need to be charged using a powerplant. These issues have been covered a few times already, as you're probably aware. Those points should continue to be made, of course, but it would be nice to see an article which mentions those issues and their solutions... but, oh well.
The New York Police Department will road test four Vectrix electric scooters next month reports Newsday. Vectrix scooters have a range of 60 miles, a top speed of 60 MPH and, as Vectrix president Andrew MacGowen tells Newsday, his scooters are the first all-electric vehicles to be certified to travel on any highway, street or road.
The NYPD currently has a handful of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles but they are planning more ways to go green. Vectrix's silent running, plug-in scooters has advantages other than zero emissions though: "You could easily sneak up on somebody if they don't expect it" says Detective Derek Siconola, the happy guy on the Vectrix in the picture.
Sure, there've been times when diesel gets attacked here on AutoblogGreen, but in general, we're pretty keen on the high-mileage power of the gasoline alternative (see this review of the BMW 535d, for example) while we wait for something better and cleaner. For Nathan Burchfiel over at the "free enterprise" Business & Media Institute, diesel is just an opening to attack Hollywood for its "hypocrisy."
I'm not that familiar with BMI, but whenever I hear someone talking about "free enterprise," I feel the need to get my sodium levels checked. I need to take whatever they say with such a large dose of salt it's not even funny. Why do people insist, in 2007, that "free enterprise" is possible, much less desired? I'll just make the most basic point that no one at BMI could get to work without government-funded roads, roads without which all their economic models would fall into the public sewer system. Anyway, here's how the shallow see Vectrix's attempt at creating greener transportation with an booth at the Hollywood Goes Green conference: ...Vectrix Corporation (SEA:VCX) was displaying its electric scooter. [...] The scooter costs nearly $12,000. Salesperson Tansy Brook said the comparable gasoline scooter would be about $4,000 cheaper, but said that maintenance costs would make up the difference over the life of the scooter. [...] The Vectrix scooter, Brook said, will travel about 40-60 miles on one charge. A full charge takes about 3 hours on a standard electrical outlet. But you might be surprised at how the "green" scooter on display got to the hotel. In typical Hollywood "do as I say, not as I do" style, it arrived in a diesel truck adorned with ads for the "zero-emissions" scooter.
Just one question, BMI: how should Vectrix have transported the scooter to the show?
Our site has not been short on news about the Vectrix electric scooter... but here's another report on it anyway. The fact that Cycle World found it fit to test ride and offer an opinion is a good thing, considering the fact that Cycle World is a major publication and their opinion is likely to carry a good deal of weight to many cyclists. So... what did they think?
Chris Worden of Cycle World found that the bike was comfortable and that it rode well. Being that the only comments that the rider made regarding the operation of the scooter was that it worked well, we'd say that the review was rather positive.
When AutoblogGreen reported on the new $11,000+ Vectrix Scooter from the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo, people rightly whet "whew" when they saw the price (a quick side note, as a freelance writer for the past 17+ years, I doubt I have ever written three "whe" words in a row. OK, that's quite geeky enough, I'd say). But, what do you get for your money? For $11,850 you not only get what Vectrix calls "this year's hottest form of transportation," you get it delivered at your house (in the state of California, anyway). Just watch the video above and congratulate Vectrix for entering the same realm as furniture delivery people. One difference between a couch and this scooter: the couch doesn't stay plugged in during the ride and arrive at your home ready to go 0-50 in under seven seconds.
For more on the Vectrix Scooter and Vectrix in general, check out the links below or read the email announcing this delivery service (with pics) after the jump.
Following the recent debut of the Vectrix electric scooter at the Alt Car Expo, their new "superbike" concept debuted to an odd choice of music at the Milan motor show. Vectrix themselves have not yet posted any information on it on their website yet, but according to Motorcycle News, this "superbike" can reach 125 mph. The reason I have "superbike" in quotes is because, unfortunately, the only thing super about it is its looks - more cut from the standard crotch-rocket mold than the EV-X7, but just as cool - as you can only go 43.5 miles on a charge. That means if you're planning on going a distance, get to that top speed as fast as you can so you can coast the rest of the way after the battery dies.
In reality, bikes like these are rarely used to go great distances, so Vectrix may have a winner here. Vectrix says they can start building them if they get 500 deposits, so start saving your pennies... or sell plasma so you'll make less of a mess if you wipe out.
Despite the fact that Vectrix has posted 
