smarterplanet:

BOXX electric bike: two wheels, four corners, all-electric transport for one — Engadget

Has bicycle design reached its pinnacle? Or are electric bike manufacturers just not trying hard enough? The YikeBike begs to differ, and here joining it is BOXX Corporation’s diminutive BOXX. Coming in at just under a meter (or 36-inch inches) long, the 120 pound aluminum “bike” has a top speed of 35 miles per hour and can even haul up to 300 pounds of heft. Yet, despite that compact footprint, the company hasn’t skimped on tech, as it boasts traction control, anti-lock brakes and yes, even LED lights. Available in one of ten colors, $3,995 nets you a base 40-mile range model, which can optionally be doubled to 80 by ticking the $599 CORE 2 box.

Hama Zero’s Solar Bike Fujin runs thanks to the sun, not on it (video)

Upon hearing the name “Solar Bike Fujin,” designed by a Japanese space rover engineer, we leaned back in our chairs and dreamed up dramatic images of a futuristic bicycle dashing across the void before cruising the turbulent surface of the sun. However, when we watched the rest of the video below we realized that the bike will instead conquer rather more terrestrial routes at speeds well short of escape velocity (72km/h, or about 45mph). It is, however, powered by the sun, able to run 220km on a full charge or, thanks to its aerodynamicaly profiled solar wings, can give itself 50km worth of juice just by sitting in the sun while you put in your 9-to-5. This is helped by incredibly low rolling-resistance wheels, the front one able to keep rotating for 20 minutes on its own with just a gentle spin, technology borrowed from creator Mr. Yamawaki’s Minerva rover that was part of the Hayabusa probe. Hopefully this bike manages to get a little further than that rover did. 

Engadget

BlackTrail BT-01 is the $80,000 electric bicycle of your dreams (video)

When Germany’s PG-Bikes sets out to build a cruiser, it doesn’t mess around — the contraption above may look like an electric bike, but when it goes on sale in the US this year, you may have to register it as a motorcycle. Constructed of lightweight carbon fiber, aerospace aluminum, titanium and magnesium, the BlackTrail BT-01 travels up to 65MPH with a 1.2 kilowatt motor embedded in its 44 pound frame, and can carry you across 120 miles on a single 2.5-hour charge of the leather-clad 17Ah Li-ion battery pack. Of course, those sorts of numbers don’t come cheap — the company’s marketing it to the likes of West Coast Customs, The Sharper Image and a vehicle enthusiast named Jay Leno — and each of the 667 limited pieces will cost $80,000, the better part of a Tesla Roadster and far beyond a Brammo. Still, if anyone has an offshore bank account they care to donate, we call dibs on 666 — the number of the beast. Video after the break. 

Engadget

Weighing in at 42 pounds (still way heavy compared to most bikes, let alone peak gear) and charging in 3.5 hours, Sanyo’s CY-SPK227 electric bike (the first carbon fiber model in the world) achieves 62 miles of assisted motor range through an integrated lithium ion battery and dynamo-based recharging that kicks in whenever you cruise downhill or brake. Of course, all of this fancy blacknerness comes at a price: $6,700 when it hits Japan October 1st. For that much, we might prefer to indulge in a full-out electric motorcycle. But if Batman chooses to chase down the Riddler on this thing just so he has a change at shacking up with Poison Ivy and her posse of Greenpeace sidewalk solicitors, so be it. [Sanyo via CrunchGear] (via Carbon Fiber Electric Bike Drives Batman Environmentally Conscious - sanyo CY-SPK227 - Gizmodo)