What you're seeing here looks like the upgraded Scarpar off-road powerboard, a contraption that married motocross bikes with skateboards. And it not only looks like it, but that's exactly what this is. The new powerboard, dubbed the Ungoverned Vendetta, was designed and took shape in Australia, where it is no stranger to some of the most rugged terrains.
The skilled hands behind this machine belong to Dan Baldwin, a surfer/ skater/ snowboarder who also invented the Scarpar powerboard. A little more than a year ago, he redesigned a few things, including the vehicle's geometry, and as a result, the Ungoverned Vendetta was born.
It features a skateboard-like deck where the rider can simply jump on and ride away. However, what lies underneath the deck is what sets the design apart, giving it a twin-tracked articulated tank style. Vendetta is propelled by centrally mounted internal drive brushless hub motors within the drive rollers.
The motors are powered by a swappable central battery pack, which has a run time of about 40 minutes, based on a 75 kgs (165 lbs) rider that travels at the average speed of 25 kph (16 mph) on a flat circuit. The vehicle can glide effortlessly over the most rugged terrains, all thanks to its puncture-proof tracks, and it can reach a top speed of 50 kph (31 mph).
The transition from 4-stroke internal combustion to electric made the powerboard lighter than its predecessors, tipping the scale at just 19.5 kg (43 lbs). Dan says that it has four times more surface drive area of a motor cross bike, but just 20 percent of its weight.
Currently, the Vendetta is just a prototype that is being assembled mostly by hand on the Coffs Coast (East side of Australia). For now, Dan is building a small run of just 10 vehicles to help perfect the engineering. The contraption is also the subject of an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that might help accelerate the process of jumping from prototype to bar-cod. The vehicle's standard retail price is $6,995.
If you want to see the electric powerboard in action, here's a clip recently released by Dan:
Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature. Full profile
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