General Motors & Segway Partner to Present the Two-Wheeled EN-V

General Motors has teamed with Segway to create one of the coolest concept vehicles on earth. The two companies are planning to show the vehicle to everyone at the upcoming World Expo 2010 in May. The World Expo is an annual event in which companies from around the world showcase their latest creations. General Motors & Segway's creation is going to be called the Electric Networked-Vehicle (EN-Vs) and is the latest attempt to offer a vehicle with two-wheels.

The EN-V will have a unique carbon-fiber shell for it's body. It's max speed will be about 25 mph because it will be considered a pedestrian vehicle and not an on-road vehicle. Also, the vehicle has the ability to go about 25 miles on one charge. Some of you may be looking at this statistics and might be hesitant to believe it is anything special. However, these specs are pretty solid for an electric vehicle that will only be running on two wheels.

Since General Motors is one of the companies behind the EN-V it was only natural that some other technology would be incorporated in. This vehicle will have built-in GPS and an adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise control is a feature that is growing in popularity because it allows the driver to basically sit back and let the car do all the work. The cruise control will change accordingly depening on the driving conditions.

More spec information is that the vehicle will be considered light in the auto industry due to only weighing around 1,000 pounds. To put the weight in perspective, this means that the EN-V will weigh about 1/6^th the weight of traditional automobiles. Also, the vehicle will be a two passenger one. There is no room for additional passengers because the vehicle has only two wheels. Any additional passengers could weigh down one side more than the other and that would be disastrous.

Industry insiders will see the EN-V concept vehicle as a major breakthrough. Manufacturers understand that offering other means of transportation to consumers is the next evolution of automobiles. They also understand that the message of being ecologically conscious should not be lost in the process. Hence why the two companies joined together to bring forward a vehicle that is a unique hybrid on two wheels.

Currently this vehicle is considered to still be in the concept stages. This basically means that it could be another two years until we see the vehicle even released in Japan. However, you never know how quickly the vehicle could reach the open market once consumer reaction is gauged. The reaction from the World Expo 2010 will be an important one for the two companies. Until then we will sit in anticipation for the launch of General Motor & Segway's EN-V.

Sources:

(1) DVICE, http://dvice.com/archives/2010/03/gm-and-segway-s.php, 2010