YO, it’s an electric byke

I’d read about an electric scooter some time back, but I didn’t get a chance to find out more. In yesterday’s Deccan Herald, there was an advertisement for YObykes, which is supposedly “India’s largest selling no-petrol two wheeler”.

The first impression I got on seeing the site was that the bikes were geared towards a younger crowd. Then, reading the different YOs reminded me of Yo Momma jokes. An unfortunate coincidence perhaps.

The bikes looks sleek though and there are different models available. I went through the website and one of the models, YO Speed, seems to have a maximum speed of 45 kmph, but the others are restricted to 25 kmph. The FAQ explains it thus:

Why is the speed of the vehicles limited to 25 km/hr only?

It is observed in city limits, that the average speed of the vehicle doesn’t exceed 25km/hourdue to traffic congestion. Also as per ARAI norms, rules and regulations, any vehicle which has power less than 250 watt and speed below 25 km/hr does not require any license or registration.

I wonder if this will restrict the sales of the vehicle given that a maximum of 25 kmph is pretty slow. It’s probably okay in peak hour traffic but at other times you’re pretty much crawling. I could live with 45 kmph but 25 kmph seems a bit low.

The good thing about this bike though is that you’re not dependent on petrol (or any other oil-related fuel) but on electricity. What’s more important is that the bike doesn’t produce any exhaust fumes to Bangalore’s exhaust fume bank. I would love to see this bike in action but I haven’t seen any on Bangalore’s roads. Or, maybe I’ve seen the bikes but have not been able to discern that they are electric bikes.

I’m also unable to find out the price of the bikes but if the bike is as popular as the Reva, we should know more. (I wonder why product websites don’t provide representative prices so people can get some idea of what to expect.)

Check out the media centre for pictures from ads and news clips. Anybody own one of these bikes?