Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! This electric trike is small enough to fit in bike lanes and bike paths, has an enclosure that offers some protection from the weather, and includes a variety of car-like features such as headlights ... [continued]
Im a bit torn. This will shelter for light rain and snow. Basically for precipitation without heavy winds. It would seem to be better if it at least had some sort of removable side. On the other hand without climate control completely enclosed becomes problematic. You need good air flow. Also im betting in most cases where this version becomes unacceptable a lot of folks would still want to go with fully enclosed. Also there is large benefit to the profile assuming they have done the work to make it properly aerodynamic. think about dry eye and wind burn and such that you get when cycling or how cold can be amplified from the wind. I sorta would prefer almost a bike cab so you could transport people or goods but it does have “60 Litres of onboard cargo storage”.
Coming at it from a perspective as a Swede who used to bike 16 kilometres as a daily commute all year round, the conditions for it to actually be weather proof is so specific. If there’s even a little bit of wind coming from either direction, or you god forbid don’t drive in a straight line parallel with the rain/snow, you’ll still get wet.
On the other hand, if it is windy, and the wind is blowing in the right direction it could catch on the shell of it.
Though, in the late summer season when you frequently get bugs in the eyes while biking, unless you wear goggles or sunglasses, I can definitely see a point to the shell. It is also a very cute vehicle, the design is appealing. Though if I wanted something like this for cargo, I’d opt for one of these instead I think.