As we already revealed, car manufacturer Mercedes is ready to make the leap into the two wheeled world with an electric Smart scooter.

The concept will be presented at the Paris Motor show that takes place October 2nd to 17th and where we will probably find out more about this new urban e-scooter, which is believed to have autonomy of at least 100km thanks to its lithium-ion batteries.

Mercedes is hyping this scooter. Just the other month, at the annual meeting of Smart owners at Zell am See in Austria saw a naming contest for the Smart scooter with Smartronic, Smart Ego, Trotti, and 135 Smart, Move-e coming up as possibile names, however the official name will only be revealed at the Paris show.

Source | quattroruote.it

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Correos, Spain’s postal service with their bright canary yellow scooters is going green. The public company has bought one hundred electric scooters dubbed ScooterCargo ITR 120 from ITR Intermurcia.

These scooters have an operating range between 80 and 90 kilometers and can reach a maximum speed of 80 km/h and carry 100 kilos of mail.

Scource | masmoto

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We first saw the Yamaha EC-03 concept at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show (see video after the jump) now Yamaha will launch the e-scooter on September 1st in Toyko and a month later in the rest of Japan and then will start exports to Europe in 2011, but has no plans so far for the U.S.

This zero-emission e-moped is targeted for for city use and can travel 43 kilometers (26.6 miles) on a single six-hour charge from a household power outlet, however Yamaha has already said that 43km is in regular road conditions, but riders should not count on more than 25 km.

The EC-03 will probably find its biggest market in China, who already has an estimated 20 million electric bikes in use.

Japan’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer Honda, has already shown us the electric EV-neo, which will be leased for use in Japan and targeting exclusively delivery companies.

Source | mcn.com

Continue reading: Yamaha Releases EC-03 Electric Scooter

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In attempts to revive and diversify its Smart city car brand, Mercedes Benz has announced it will develop a two-wheeled vehicle which will likely take the form of an electric scooter. It’s the first step in a new diversification plan that will see Smart enter other segments than the city car niche. A two-wheeled environmentally-friendly vehicle is seen as fitting in perfectly with Smart’s urban mobility philosophy. It will be produced in collaboration with component supplier partners of Smart, and will possibly even see production in other parts of the world, including China, India and Thailand.

Mercedes-Benz has already initiated the first steps, with a new project with German energy supplier ENBW which sees 500 electric scooters appearing on the streets of Stuttgart in the next months. The new Smart scooter will then take advantage of the new charging stations being developed, with field tests in the city being planned with the new infrastructure in the next 12 months.

While Autocar has revealed that the Smart electric scooter is seen as a response to BMW’s C1 revival efforts, the new vehicle will have other competitors in the market, too. Among its scooter range, Peugeot has the e-Vivacity electric which was developed as a concept with production plans set for a 2011 debut.

Piaggio also has its own USB hybrid concept model, and as a production scooter, there is the Piaggio MP3 Hybrid. The hope for us is that with something like the Smart electric scooter, we will see more production and less concept models. It also has the advantage of addressing the very real problem of electric recharge infrastructure. Ecological urban vehicles are becoming more mainstream and this can only be a good thing.

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Econogo is a UK company that has launched an electric scooter called the Yogo available in 50cc and 100cc engine sizes and is the world’s first electric scooter that is powered by removable batteries.

Using a detachable and portable lithium battery will make recharging a much simpler and a faster task (it takes just one hour, far less that other batteries that take from 4 to 8 hours) and you can store a charged spare that can double your mileage range.

Econogo claims that the Yogo’s 11kg 50V battery will power the scooter for 22 miles with top speeds of 30mph and 40mph respectively.

Prices start at £1,999 and for more info just click here.

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“Quiet and clean” are the key words that Honda is using to promote their new EV-neo, an electric scooter with zero CO2 emissions, specifically designed for business use by delivery companies.

The Ev-neo was first seen as a concept at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show in 2009 as one of Honda’s new-generation personal mobility products.

The scooter is equipped with a lithium-ion battery manufactured by Toshiba and is rechargeable using a household power source and charged in approximately 4 hours (100V power source) with a cruising rance of 30 km (19 miles) on one charge

The mass-market model of EV-neo is currently under development and Honda plans to release the scooter in December 2010 and Japan will be the primary initial market, but with the vast Chinese market in its sight.

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The Peugeot e-Vivacity electric scooter concept was at the EICMA 2009 show, and if all goes to plan it will debut on the market in 2011. The e-Vivacity is a 50cc electric scooter using lithium ion battery technology.

It’s another example of just how far motorcycling is coming in terms of electric technology, especially in the scooter segment. The Peugeot e-Vivacity has power of about 4000W and a comfortable range of approximately 100 km.

The e-Vivacity batteries take about four hours to recharge, separated into two hours of actual recharging and another two hours to ensure the batteries will run at maximum efficiency. In what’s a first for me, because a lot of companies don’t do this, Peugeot has released figures that indicate battery life. It’s a good thing because often it isn’t concerns about range, but about battery life and cost that don’t get people on board with hybrid technology.

Peugeot e-Vivacity scooter

Continue reading: Peugeot e-Vivacity hybrid in "a scooter a day" part two

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In reports from the Soloscooter site, it looks like BMW might be introducing an electric scooter to the market as early as 2011. This is after reports last year of BMW working on a Rotax-powered scooter.

Piaggio has just released its MP3 hybrid scooter and these reports of an electric BMW scooter can be seen as further proof that urban motoring is seriously taking on the challenge of less emissions and more environmentally friendly options. The BMW development may mean that the company abandons its twin-cylinder, petrol, and F800 modified engines.

While no official news is available, the lithium ion batteries would apparently produce a 200 km range and a speed of about 120 km/hr. We might see a prototype produced this autumn, while the vehicle wouldn’t be ready for the market until late 2010, early 2011. The above image has been designed by Oberdan Bezzi.

Source | Motoblog

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This unusual contraption is an electric scooter that was presented for the Lucky Strike J. Designer Award Italy, one of the most prestigious design awards for students and graduates. It’s called the “½ Equino” and reached the finals with an honorary mention.

It was presented by Marcello Pirovano from the Milan Polytechnic University, and is a scooter designed to recharge while riding it like a bicycle. This makes it a kind of assisted bike, and the ½ Equino (half horse) stores energy, maintaining the energy reserves at a constant level.

The riding mechanism works when the riding stands up on the pedals, weighing down the rear suspension in brief stints of one to two minutes. The energy produced in this way is collected by a generator that transforms it for battery use.

Continue reading: Scooter sharing: ½ Equino electric scooter design with big ideas

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The slogan of Italy’s latest scooter model is “are you smarty?” Smarty scooter is the company that produces this electric scooter, which is 100 percent electric and has no emissions. It’s even designed for two people.

Apparently fast and powerful, it can get uphill with plenty of pull and is manageable in city traffic, with double disc brakes. Figures show that it costs one euro for 200 km thanks to revolutionary batteries, and has a range of more than 80 km with a fast recharge.

The battery pack has a system that manages energy flow based on speed, and the overall power is 4hp. Smarty has no transmission or clutch and the electric motor is incorporated into the back wheel, with its axis being that of the wheel itself.

It doesn’t appear to be currently on sale or have any distributor network but we’ve asked for some extra info and the change to try one, so stay tuned.

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Here is a preview of an electric scooter on sale in Milan, which needs to be seen in person to get a proper idea of it. While the brochure makes no mention of the country of production, you could probably make an educated guess.

The electric scooter is on sale under the Country Lion brand, imported by an Italian company from Verona and available in two different “Elettra” models of 1,500W and 2000W. Both have a top speed of 45 km/hr, while the former has a range of 60km and the latter a range of 55km.

The weight of the scooters is 160 kg, due to the 8×12V battery (20Ah). Battery recharge time is four hours. Other features include a front disc brake and rear drum brakes.

While the range of these kinds of scooters is still quite scarse, the advantages are obvious: no polluting emissions, access to city centres with a non-pollutant vehicle, and registration deals. The price starts at 1,920 euros with registration included. For more details, see the Country Lion site.

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