14 DAY TRIAL // Famed American automotive company General Motors has recently released a new type of electric vehicles, on which it has worked with scooter manufacturer Segway. The new prototype, which GM hopes to roll out of the assembly lines by as early as 2012, is meant to provide people looking for a clean alternative to driving and who currently only use their cars for commutes with a clean and pleasant way of going about their businesses. The vehicles only have two wheels that touch the ground, and their design is, indeed, futuristic, but many wonder about how many people would actually buy them.
The platform for the PUMA project is the same as that used on the other products Segway has rolled out thus far, namely the PT (personal transportation) platform. The difference is that the new machine is a two-seater and that it is shaped like a car, in that it has doors, a windshield and a roof. Plans for this new invention are grand, especially considering that the financial crisis will prevent a lot of Americans from buying average cars in the future, and that awareness about global warming and climate change will drive an increasing number of people towards electric vehicles.
Power will be supplied from a lithium-ion battery pack, able to propel the vehicle for about 35 miles on a single charge. The top speed will be somewhere around 35 miles per hour, and it's unsure at this moment if a faster version will be produced. The name of the vehicle stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility. Apparently, this is another of GM's moves to secure its doubtful future in the midst of the economic downturn, as gas-guzzler cars, which, unfortunately, are its trademark, are expensive both as basic costs and operations go.
“We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility,” the Chief of Segway, Jim Norrod, said. Having already received 1.3 billion dollars in bailout money, GM is currently on the brink of going bankrupt and is now looking for novel methods to stay afloat. That's why it has turned its attention to electric vehicles, as more and more of its clients start abandoning their large SUVs and sedans, in favor of hybrids or all-electric cars.