Would you take this pedalled electric motorcycle on the Autobahn?
The eROCKIT pedal-power assisted electric motorcycle is quick enough to ride on the Autobahn... if you so wish
We’ve featured a number of electric motorcycles over the past few months on Visordown – some clever/dafter than others – but the eROKIT motor-pedal-cycle is perhaps one of the more curious.
We know some e-motorcycles are ultimately a hard sell for a lot of people because of the obvious drawbacks of owning a machine that doesn’t quite look, feel or smell like a petroleum-powered beast, but ultimately there is room for more than one motorcycle in our fantasy garage.
However, open-minded though we like to think we are, the eROCKIT might be a bit of a stretch for us.
Wedged somewhere between an e-motorcycle and a push bike, which may explain why it looks a little like a naked-cum-‘Boris bike’, e-ROCKIT is perhaps best described as a high-performance urban mobility machine complete with its 52-volt lithium ion battery motor that can go all the way to 85km/h (around 56mph).
Look beyond the beefy and not terribly disguised battery pack though and you’ll notice something you won’t normally see on a motorcycle… pedals.
However, while you may think this is merely one of those battery-powered manual cycles you see more and more of in the urban jungle, the pedals actually serve as giving you the boost of acceleration in lieu of twisting the throttle.
Do some light pedalling and it pushes the eROCKIT on to ensure you can keep up with the traffic and, apparently, even overtake cars ahead of you.
The German company has even gone to the effort showing that not only can you crack the speed limit in the city if you so wish, you can take to the Autobahn on it as well. Quite why you’d want to is up for debate, but I guess if you make a wrong turn one day and are faced with the intimidating prospect of getting back off the highway, you should be fine… just.
With a range of 75 miles on a single charge, you can go pretty far on the Autobahn but at 11,850euros, it’s a fairly hefty commitment to the Earth over purchasing a bicycle or, well, a motorcycle.
That said, it'd be a good workout for your legs...
