SOLAR TODAY Blog

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor

Parked across the street from our office this morning is a bright yellow Can-Am Spyder. This machine is, in effect, a three-wheel motorcycle, with two steering wheels in front like a car. It's driven by a 100-hp one-liter V-twin engine and weighs about 700 lb.

The thing looks like a lot of fun to ride. Obviously, it doesn't handle like a motorcycle, and won't tip over. But you ride out in the wind. The closest analogies would be riding a snowmobile or jet-ski. And it's not especially frugal: thanks to the high-performance engine it gets 30 mpg at best.

Nonetheless, it may be a big step forward toward the commuter transport of the future.

Equipped with electric wheel-hub motors on all three wheels, and with a weatherproof shell, a machine with this configuration could make a 50-mile roundtrip commute for less than 10 kilowatt-hours of charging. Top speed would be about 80 mph, easily enough to accelerate and flow with freeway traffic. Registered as a motorcycle, it could use high-occupancy commuter lanes. You could park three or four of them in a single conventional parking space. Best of all, it could be safe: stable as today's small cars, with airbags for good crash protection. With battery technology adapted from Chevy's Volt project, a light commuter car like this might sell for less than $20,000 and operate for about two cents per mile. Well, three cents if you count tire and battery replacement.

In a typical American town, the EV Spyder could recharge from a 2-kw PV array.

The EV Spyder would be a modern version of the two-seat microcars -- basically weather-protected motoscooters -- that sold in hundreds of thousands in fuel-constrained postwar Germany. They were made by bombed-out aircraft factories, notably BMW, Messerschmitt, and Heinkel.

As it happens, Can-Am is made by Bombardier - a Canadian company that makes every sort of vehicle except cars. It makes snowmobiles, motorcycles and jet aircraft. It's possibly the only North American company positioned to compete with Toyota, Nissan and Honda in the race to build the high-tech lightweight EV of the future.