VentureOne: Car or Scooter-mobile?

Have any of you Huddlers heard of Venture Vehicles and their crazy vehicles?  If not, go to the video page and watch some of the driving demos.  Some folks (i.e. those from VentureBeat) have called VentureOne a glorified scooter.  There are for sure some scooter like properties (there is only one front wheel, the vehicle body where the passengers sit)can tilt as you go around curves). 

 

But what do you think?  Where should it go in this Huddle?  In the Automobile section or in the Motorcycle/Scooter section?

This is definitely a crazy edge case - that thing is crazy awesome. It looks like so much fun and if they can make them even remotely affordable, I think they'll appeal not only to Electric Vehicle nuts, but people looking for a fun hobby. I guess if I had to choose car or scooter, I would put it in the car category because it's enclosed and can carry another passenger/small amount of cargo. Regardless, it's cool.

Edited by deej - Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:20:04 GMT

I would for sure call that a cycle.

Legally, probably in all US states, that will be a cycle.

Over seas, not sure.

 

I like this one more than Aptera.

This one could catch on.

Aptera, I think will always be museum pieces.

-John

I'd say it's more like a motorcycle than a car due to the size.

 

I also think that due to the size and people's safety concerns, the Apteras will be more popular.

What does it matter if it's a car, a motorcycle, or a scooter, since it's only a prototype, and probably won't be available for a very long time? Same thing with the Aptera. If they were both available I'd prefer the Aptera for having passenger space. If either one was available I'd buy it, just to break away from the 35-mph top speed (40 mph on a downward incline) of my Xebra. But they're not available and might never be. There are a lot of good ideas out there. But ideas are cheap. Wake me when there's something I can actually buy!

I hear you Daniel - who cares what the category is until we can go out and get in one, but I still think it's really cool to be aware of what's on the horizon. The more interest there is in the market, the more money will get put into developing these technologies.

 

We're also working on adding a status type for products so that we can all distinguish between what's currently available, what's on longer being produced, and what's on the horizon - would this be helpful/interesting to folks?

 

Right now the only place we have to do that is in the "Description" field on product pages, so if you have information on when things will be released - go ahead and update those descriptions!

 

dan

For those who are actually interested in the new developments in technological innovation and future products...here's what AutoblogGreen had to say when they saw a prototype at the X Prize announcement:

 

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When we saw the distinctive shape of the VentureOne under wraps before the start of the Progressive Automotive X Prize announcement, we were pretty psyched. While the appearance of this vehicle on stage does revive our hope that we'll be able to drive one of these high-mpg hybrids one day, the bad news is that this is just a full-scale model. While it looks good, it's not going to get anyone anywhere. Yet.

Venture Vehicles' founder and CEO, Howard Levine, was happy to be back on the AutoblogGreen radar and gave us the rundown on where his company goes from here and how the VentureOne - which is a codename for the vehicle, not the final moniker - will move into production. He explained that the lack of media attention hasn't meant they haven't been working, just that they have been focusing on the vehicle, not on building hype. One of the big decisions the company has made is to offer only a hybrid version at launch, the pure electric option will have to wait until battery prices come down.

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In an interview Levine told ABG the alpha will be done in 45 to 60 days.  And the target is to have five betas (yes, we love the betas) by the end of the year.  But it's definitely worth listening to the whole interview which you can do over at  AutoblogGreen.

 

(Oh, and there are some pretty sweet pictures in the ABG gallery too)

Edited by stins - Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:08:17 GMT

Apteras are scheduled to go into production in October of this year.

 

Deej - yes, I think it would be helpful to include details about whether or not a product is currently available, and when companies are planning to go into production.