Electric or not……

Endless discussions have been held about it, images of deviating means of transport. Is it a car or a motorcycle? Nowadays we have the question whether an electrically driven 2-wheeler/vehicle may still be called a motorcycle.
Well, again we have a new category, of which the Corbin raven is the most recent representative. This car-like 3-wheeler, invented by Mike Corbin (indeed, the man behind the motorcycle seat / buddy seat brand), has place for one person, has 2 (steered) front wheels and 1 (steered) rear wheel and is propelled by an electric motor and batteries.

It also has a combustion engine, but differing from a hybrid vehicle, this engine can not drive the vehicle. The engine is more like a generator that can provide the electric motor with power, in fact a riding electrical power unit thus. It also leans over somewhat in corners, thus almost the real thing. According to the specifications this cart can easily drive 100 miles (160 km) on 1 gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol, thus 42 kilometres per litre. Not bad.
But okay, point of discussion is: does it belong to our collection or not???? All this electrical stuff makes it difficult anyhow. For instance a Segway, what to think about that? We already have a stamp with it. Over a long period this 2-wheeler had to be insured as a moped in the Netherlands, and which criteria do you use? The insurance law?

An electric 2-wheeler that looks like a real motorcycle and while whispering easily reaches a speed of 170 km/hr, the so-called E-bike, may to my opinion be regarded to be a motorcycle. The FIM (worldwide motorsports association) already has embraced these vehicles too.

Roehr electrical Superbike

But what do we do with an electrical bicycle like the Sparta-ION-RX or Batavus Wrist-Twist-Go?

Sparta ION

A tiny 'mini-Harley' like the Solex or Spartamet may take place in out stock books, or not? So why should an electrical powered bike not?

At this moment we can still avoid a discussion about this subject, but I really believe that this kind of vehicles will be present on our roads in large numbers in 10 years, and thus also appear on our stamps. Therefore I already reserve an album for them now.

Hans de Kloet

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