This is the Johammer J1 , a cruiser like no other. Designed and built in a small Austrian factory near the Czech border, the distinctive shape has been likened to a giant peanut, a prewar Junkers airplane or even a medieval jousting steed.
The outrageous design seems more at home in the living room than the garage.
“This is a natural return to the concept of the horse, before there was noise and pollution from engines,” says Johann Hammerschmid, founder of Johammer e-mobility GmbH for Bloomberg.
While it’s the first electric motorcycle to cover more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single charge, what comes next might make it even more revolutionary. The next generation, now under development, while parked might also double as battery storage behind home solar-power panels. A prototype—think of a Tesla Powerwall on wheels—is already in use in Switzerland.
A crowdfunding campaign has just started to help fund expansion.
“The change of pace will be quicker than we currently imagine,” says Hammerschmid.
Fifty-six-year-old Hammerschmid first thought of an electric vehicle in 2007, and it took shape over the years as essentially a weekend project.
The bike’s top speed is limited to around 75 miles an hour to avoid energy-sapping wind resistance. Acceleration is fun, not fast, but you forgive its limits to sheer performance. It’s like ditching a motorboat for sailboat—both are pleasurable in their own ways.
There’s some clever engineering. The J1 has no dashboard, instead data are displayed on the rear-view mirrors. A reverse twist of the throttle turns the drive motor into a generator that acts as a brake and quickly scrubs speed. It’s so efficient the disk brakes are relegated to helping with slow-speed stopping. And it’s got a reverse gear for parking. Safety-certified items—wheels, tires and brake disks—were sought commercially, and most of the rest was built in house.
Check out the video!
This is the motorcycle of the future …and it could also power your home https://t.co/NyqTmlhz6H pic.twitter.com/Dh5sSxb1rH
— Bloomberg (@business) December 4, 2016
Read more at: Bloomberg
Would you ride it?
