I have seen so many slideshows of electric heavy machines selling cars, but the sci-fi Sondors Metacycle is not showing up. The US market has really started to deliver cars, which shocked the electric motorcycle market.
With a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour and a battery life of 130 kilometers, the electric scooter with an asking price of US$5,000 looks like a heavy-duty car, but the fuel tank part is completely hollowed out. It looks like the Sondors Metacycle, a sci-fi fictional product, has actually been delivered.
In the past ten years, there have been many new electric vehicle innovations, no matter two-wheeled or four-wheeled, with gorgeous prototypes and world-leading data, attracting investors for financing everywhere, but very few of them have achieved results in the end. After releasing the first electric bicycle in 2016, Sondors has continuously launched new products, and Metacycle will be released in January 2021.
At that time, this electric scooter with its cheap price as the biggest selling point caused a lot of topics. Is a $5,000 scooter considered cheap? It depends on who the opponent is. In the large electric scooter market, the main competitor is Harley’s subsidiary LiveWire, which charges $30,000 for an electric scooter.
Metacycle is equipped with a conventional 8kW motor with a peak output of 14.5 kW, coupled with a removable 4kWh battery. The urban cruising speed is 50 kilometers per hour, and the battery life can reach 130 kilometers.
SONDORS Metacycle was supposed to start delivery at the end of last year. Although it was delayed for almost a year, the first batch of vehicles has been delivered in California, USA, and is ready to be delivered to pre-order owners all over the United States.
The number of the first batch of cars delivered is still unclear, but for friends who did not participate in the pre-order at that time, if they want to buy a car now, the price of the car has risen to US$6,500 (about NT$200,000). However, there are still many bottlenecks to be overcome in electric motorcycle technology. Since its release, the specifications of this car have continued to change, the weight of the car body has increased by 50%, and the top speed has changed from “cruising” to “short-term top speed.”
Even so, there is good news. The new design introduces optional extended-range batteries and additional storage bags to make the vehicle more suitable for the owner’s use situation. I have to say that the NT$200,000 electric scooter with such battery life and speed, paired with a futuristic shape, is really exciting.
