Margaret James unplugged her Twike from an outlet in her garage, lifted the roof–the “canopy,” she called it–and told me to climb in. We were about to embark on the inaugural ride of the first Twike in Illinois.
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So after the run-in with the motorist, James became smitten with the Twike, which she discovered on the Web. “It’s just a brilliant vehicle,” she says. “Charging up the battery fully costs less than 20 cents.” Batteries, however, cost around $5,000 and need to be replaced every five years or so. They can be fully charged in about two hours, according to James, and a computer console notifies drivers when it’s time to do so. The distance you can travel between charges depends on the type of battery, how much you pedal to maintain momentum, and whether you use the regenerative braking system. With nickel-cadmium batteries, James says, most people can expect to go about 20 miles. The newer nickel-metal hydride batteries can take drivers about 50 miles, and she’s heard rumors of a 90-mile battery in development. She thinks that, battery aside, her Twike will pay for itself in what she’ll save in gas in five years. She plans to use it for her commute to Oakbrook, and has mapped out back roads and gotten permission to recharge it at the theater.
James couldn’t find anyone in the States who imported them, so she decided to go to Europe to buy one. While saving her money, she read up on the Twike at twikeworld.com, started last March by a Cincinnati Twike pilot as a way to exchange information about importing, operating, and maintaining the vehicles. Last fall James saw a post from Kent Hermsmeyer, an electric-car dealer in Portland, Oregon, who had a couple of Twikes for sale. His dealership, ZEEmobile, had joined forces with S-LEM before it went bust in an attempt to bring the vehicle up to U.S. Department of Transportation standards. The companies modified a handful of vehicles, adding seat belts, mile-per-hour readings, and hydraulic brakes in addition to the electric brake, just a button on the tiller. They also made the headlights bigger and the vehicle compatible with U.S. electrical outlets.
Back in the alley James declared the trip a success. I must’ve looked puzzled, because she quickly added, “A, we didn’t get arrested. B, we didn’t crash into anything. And C, we actually went around a little bit.” She promised to give it a full charge and invited me back another day to accompany her to the bike shop.
“My butt’s kind of cold,” she remarked when we were about halfway to the bike shop. “My toes are cold too.” The Twike doesn’t have a heater–pedaling vigorously makes one unnecessary, according to James. Nor, for environmental reasons, does it have an air conditioner, but in warm weather you can snap off part of the canopy like an old convertible top. The Twike, however, does have a defrosting system: two miniature hair dryers mounted beneath the windshield.
