ZAP (fka ZAAP)

[exoticbiker]

It's A Car! It's An Egg! No, It's A Twike!

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EDINA, Minn. (WCCO) ― If you see something driving down the street that compact and looks a little bit like a gigantic, mobile egg, you're probably gazing upon a Twike.

The odds of seeing one in the Twin Cities aren't particularly high, though. There are only three of them in the area, and all three are owned by one Edina, Minn. man.

"This is one of 20 in the USA," said Carl Gulbronson, owner of an Edina Bike and Sport. "People will follow you to your driveway and they'll say, 'I'm not stalking you, please tell me about it'"

Many find the most surprising feature is that bicycle pedals are inside.

"Right now, I am pedaling and I'm getting an aerobic workout," Gulbronson said.

Due to vehicle performance limits, Carl pedals less than 10 percent of the time. The vehicle's top speed is 60 miles per hour, so it can drive on the freeway.

"The beauty is that is accelerates to 35 mph at the same rate that a regular car can, so I'm not slowing anyone down," said Gulbronson.

The driver uses an extension cord and plugs it in each night to get 40 miles of driving range the next day. The German-made vehicle is about $35,000, but Gulbronson said the weak dollar has made it more expensive in recent years.

A different electric vehicle with a far lower sticker-shock value is the Zap from China. It's a mini-pickup truck that costs about $12,000.

Gulbronson actually sells the Zap. Its demand is increasing with the skyrocketing gas prices, but he also admits the very pricey Twike will likely remain a novelty.

"Don't get an electric vehicle unless you like the attention," he cautioned.

The Twike has the horsepower of the typical lawnmower. There are a few hundred of them in Europe.