Van Eko’s New Bio-composite Electric Scooter is GORGEOUS - VIDEO

The Van.Eko Be.e is the somewhat pretentious name of the sexy scooter you see above, and it might just be the greenest thing you’ve seen on these pages. For starters, the design features a composite monocoque that serves as the bike’s frame, and holds the electric motor, batteries, suspension, and instruments in place. That composite body looks great, in my opinion, but it’s objectively great for the planet, too: it’s made from the same sort of plant-based plastics as Coca-Cola’s new Plantbottle, which I became more familiar with at this year’s Further with Ford trend conference.

The rest of the spec sheet on Van.Eko’s electric scooter reads like a scooterist’s wet dream, with a MASSIVE 70 lb-ft of torque (!!?) coming from the Be.e’s 4 KW electric motor and high-end components like telescoping front forks and disc brakes front and rear (With that much power, you’ll certainly need them!). You can get a better sense of the electric scooter’s specs, below …

… and then join me in wondering what, precisely, a nano-coated windscreen can do for you. I have no idea.

Van.Eko’s Be.e joins the electric scooter ranks along with 2-wheeled industry giants like Mercedes’ Smart brand, BMW, KTM, and Indian manufacturing giant Matra, who are all vying for electric scooter supremacy. I’ll say this, though: the Be.e has them all beat on style and – with 70 lb-ft of torque available at 0 rpm! – performance, too. We’ll see whether any of that helps get the Be.e to market soon enough – until then, you can see the first Be.es on the street in the photos and video, below. Enjoy!

Source: TechVehi

ZBee Electric Tuk Tuk Begins Series Production - Video

As anyone who’s spent time in Southeast Asia will surely tell you: tuk tuks are a thing. In case you don’t know, a Tuk Tuk is, essentially, a 3-wheeled Vespa scooter with a utility/van body strapped to the back – and they are everywhere.

Recently, however, people throughout Asia have decided that they don’t want to die from cancers and heart attacks caused by the kind of harmful particulate emissions that the tuk tuk’s 2-stroke motors generate. Since consumers are basically big babies that don’t want to fight cancer and the manufacturers of said tuk tuks are typically business people who don’t want to be hung in the streets by a wrathful government, then, companies are scrambling to deliver a proper, low-emisison alternative to these ubiquitous 2-strokers.

Enter the ZBee electric tuk tuk. The latest in a push to commercialize the electric tuk tuk concept (following Indian manufacturing giant, Matra, and smaller-scale conversions of existing vehicles), ZBee’s concept certainly looks the part, and takes the regions horrific weather and the Vespa’s tendency to rust into consideration by offering a modern-looking, rust-proof composite body with plenty of room for stickers and advertising. Small touches like this, and the virtually identical-to-the-gasoline-version controls should help the ZBee carve a nice little niche for itself.

The batteries and powertrain of the ZBee were designed by Swedish company CleanMotion. Production is set to be overseen by Bajaj in Indonesia (who also manufacture Genuine Scooters’ Stella model) at a rate of 10,000 per year. You can see the ZBee in action in the video, below. SPOILER ALERT: it looks crazy fun!

Source:Motorpasion

Matra to Build Electric Delivery Bike

Matra’s innovative, battery-swapping line of pedal-electric bicycles continues to expand throughout Europe. If this latest prototype is any indication, the next phase of Matra’s expansion will see the company enter the commercial delivery market.

Matra sold over 5000 electric bikes last year, but hopes to expand its business with “pure” (read: non-pedal) scooters that include electric delivery bikes like the trike shown, above, which combines readily-available scooter parts (like tires, brakes, and suspension) with the kind of huge cargo capacities that should make the vehicle a natural fit for local produce and meat markets, pizzarias, and more. The full roof and “safety cell” should help offset some liability concerns that fleets may have, and allow for all-weather operation.

I’m not sure it’s got the appeal of the electric Tuk-tuk I reviewed earlier this year, but it’s definitely a lot cleaner than the current crop of 2-stroke delivery scooters running around Europe! Expect more details and pricing at the next EICMA show.

Source: Matra, via TechVehi.