Fast, individual, effortless and almost free of charge transportation - that's every urbanite's dream, and currently, there's only one way to achieve it: by using a bicycle. That is if you take (really fast) walking out of the equation, of course.
Electric cars do check some of the imaginary boxes above, but at the end of the day they're still cars and we all know what happens to cars caught in traffic jams. And besides that, they're expensive. I mean like really, really expensive, more so than a regular car.
When it comes to urban congestion, leave it to the Indians to find a solution. In the case of the Mahindra GenZe 2.0 Electric Scooter, it was more of a joint effort between them and the Americans: GenZe is a California based company specializing in electric two-wheelers owned by the Mahindra & Mahindra Indian conglomerate.
The Mahindra GenZe 2.0 Electric Scooter has already received 300 pre-orders costing a mere $100 each, and will soon make its US debut as well. It will only be available in a few states at first, but that may change depending on market reception. Upon launch, people from California, Michigan and Oregon will be the first to get the chance to ride one of these.
The Mahindra GenZe 2.0 is built on an aluminum exoskeleton with a minimal amount of body panels for obvious reasons - while aerodynamics is important at higher speeds, low weight is much more vital for an electrical scooter with limited top speed.
At the rear, it comes with a decent storage space equipped with a charging port for laptops or other mobile devices, while at the front there's a full LED headlight and a seven-inch touchscreen instrument panel.
The GenZe 2.0 gets power from a hub-mounted, brushless, permanent magnet motor developing 96 lb-ft (130 Nm). The 1.6 KWh Li-ion SmartPack battery offers a range of 30 miles (48.3 km) with a full recharge requiring only three and a half hours. The whole rig weighs 105 kilograms (231 pounds), and it comes with a restricted maximum payload of 125 kg (275.2 pounds), so if you want to ride in a pair, some careful diet planning is in order.
We'd lie if we said we didn't leave the best parts last on purpose: first of all, the GenZe 2.0 only costs $2,999, which is decent for something that can zip you around town with ease with minimum extra costs. Secondly, it doesn't require a specific motorcycle driver's license, so you can just hop on it, put on your helmet and get going. It really is that simple.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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