Well, it is Jeremy Clarkson sitting in it, so I doubt you are alone in having those thoughts.
Jinx!
Well the non-production prototype is, supposedly. As an old 70cc cub owner, I also like that they retain the original look and feel.
Unfortunately, this version would likely cost $9K and have 1/10th of the range.
True the world over - and an artificial soundtrack will have to be legally mandated so that the scum whose theft/assault MO is ‘by scooter’ (too much of that recently in London, for example - or much more being reported, anyway) can illegally remove any audible warning of approach. There’s more than one kind of public safety that needs engine noise!
Every time you post this little car, I’m dangerously close to buying a plane ticket to get one of those!
Being on the left side of ‘The Big Pond’, I have no idea who this UK chap is (which should indicate to one and all the – unusualness – of my sense of humor; any occupant would have worked!)
Good to go for overhead storage.
He is a sometimes funny, but mostly obnoxious, motor journalist and television presenter famous for being part of the original new Top Gear team.
He got kicked off Top Gear for racially abusing and punching a producer because he got a plate of cold meat instead of a steak. He now presents The Grand Tour on Amazon with Richard Hammond and James May, who refused to continue Top Gear without him.
That was my thought. The underseat space this designer eliminated was the storage. Or it was on my distinctly Vespa- styled Honda. So this design would get a hard pass from me.
Ten years? Next major software upgrade, more likely.
to add to what @anon73430903 said he is 6’ 5" which is why they stuffed him in the tiny car.
My old EVT168 was pretty Vespa-ish. My husband and I each had one (he had a maroon one) that we bought about ten years ago now. Alas, no lithium batteries. Each one has four lead acid batteries that weighed 60kg. The total scooter weighed 130kg without rider. It could ride top speed of around 57kph at full charge and this slowly dipped as the batteries drained. It could go around 30km on a charge. We sold them a few years ago after several years of non-use and bought our first electric car around two months ago (2011 Nissan Leaf). I guess we were early adopters from way back.
I want an Ape Elettrica now.
Here’s a photo of my actual bike. It had a box on the back for the helmet (could fit a full face one in there) as under the seat it was batteries all the way down.
An electric version of the Chinese Milano, kind-of cloned from the Yamaha Vino, which was inspired by classic Vespas.
Tricking out that sterile Vespampère with seat covers, carriers, stickers, or going full Quadrophenia, would probably give designer Giulio Iacchetti a heart attack. And the Japanese scooter modders would give him a stroke.
I KNOW right!
You could fit a massive lithium battery under there, and probably get about four times the range.
Small electric scooters are common here in Toronto, some with vestigial pedals that make them legally an assisted bicycle or something, but few of them can keep up with traffic. Hugging the curb at 25 kph, on a street where the speed limit is 40 and most traffic is going 50, is not recommended for long-term survival.
I’d love a scooter with the performance of, say, a 150cc gas engine. They probably exist already and would be great urban transportation.
You never go full Quadrophenia.
It does seem to be pretty well placed for watching YouTube and Facebook videos while riding in traffic. Who wants a boring old speedometer??
Too bad this museum is gone now.
Several years ago we investigated a lithium conversation. It would have costed around $4000 New Zealand dollars. And we’d need a new charger as well. It would have drastically reduced the weight of the scooter and increased the range (and the speed, meaning it would legally then be a motorbike and not a moped as it was registered). But, obviously, that was far too expensive. It would be substantially cheaper now.