A New Kind of Fun: The Electric Three-Wheeled Vehicle

We've got a range of around 150 to 200 miles, maybe a little bit less if you put your foot down as I like to do. This is a whole different kind of animal, you know - an electric version of what was originally a gas car. It's a three-wheeler, it's an open car, it's basically pretty much like a motorcycle but the electric customer is a little bit different. Our target market wants something that's guilt-free, you know - they can drive it without polluting, without using fossil fuels. And this is a pretty good example of that.

There are a lot of fun to drive, and they have just about equal power to gas cars - not quite the range, but something like this, you go out and you zip around the hills, you have some fun. You can go 150 maybe 200 miles on it, and people who say electric cars lose weight don't know what they're talking about. To build an electric car uses more pollution than building a gas car - but once they're on the road, the pollution stops. Okay, something like this is just using electricity - you could run this indoors without doing harm to anybody. It's like running a hairdryer or an iron or something like that.

All the pollution is in the manufacturing process - and then from that point on, it doesn't pollute at all or hardly at all. When you buy a toy like this, you have to justify it to your spouse - you know, come up with good reasons why you need it. "It doesn't pollute," "it's made in America," "it's made by American workers," "it brings money into the country," "you're helping the economy." Any excuse you can come up with to get something like this.

This is the kind of car you take out to go look at Christmas lights or do anything like that - just a little ride to the beach, go to the park. It's sort of guilt-free motoring - you know when you're driving electric, nobody can get mad at you. When you pull it over, vegan restaurant patrons will be applauding - and kids love this thing. "This is the coolest dad," gives me.

A lot of cities in Europe are banning automobiles, so electric vehicles now get a free pass. And when you think of electric vehicles like a Prius or something, we think of practical - but this is really just about having fun and having a good time. If you can't afford a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, this is a fun alternative. It's a lot of laughs with it - and going through these twisties, it actually handles pretty well. Look at this.

The kid born today will probably very rarely drive in a gasoline car because this electric thing is going so quickly now - almost every manufacturer has an electric version of their car, and those are intro models. And we say enjoy until they take the fun away - I mean, it handles pretty good. It's got regens when you go downhill, it puts more electricity back in the battery. As soon as I go down this hill, I probably pick up a mile or two. It's like running a gasoline car going downhill, and putting maybe another pint or two of gasoline in the tank - basically what you're doing with regen.

It makes its electricity. I love the fact that it's an American thing - that I find really a good selling point. There's no roof there's no doors, you can't lock it. And I gotta admit, it's a lot of fun. You know, "I'm gonna run to the store." This is one of those vehicles you just want to go out and drive around. The fun thing about three-wheeled vehicles is they're technically not a car - so they're not subject to all the same rules and regulations that automobiles have.

So you can be a little bit more open. It's a fun vehicle, it's pretty guilt-free. Look when you put your foot in it goes alright.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyou know we long week at work or ever it might be that's the perfect vehicle to do it in it's really like a sports car it's fun to drive it's reasonably lightweight it handles terrifically and it's a lot of fun and look it's got good acceleration what me but episode of Jay Leno's Garage let me tell you what's happening here you know we got pretty short notice about this coronavirus thing so we wanted to shoot as many cars on the road moving with cameras on him as we could which meant we couldn't do some of the indoor walk-around stuff you may have seen one video with the Maserati where that happen and we have one more we've working around it and we're trying to get it all back together again and it will be very soon the car was shooting today is the vanderholt Edison 2 is an electric car designed by van de Hall out of utah's a fascinating company they make these three wheelers and when they first brought it to me I thought it'd be the price of a Morgan like forty five or fifty thousand dollars but there apps actually in the mid twenty-five to thirty thousand dollar range I thought was very reasonable what it was and now they have an electric version and since we were not able to get into technical aspects of it because I just wanted to drive it because we just had to move very quickly I thought I'd show you a really old electric engine this is a Nikolai Tesla alternating current motor now Edison and Tesla were rivals Edison was vastly more successful I think it's fair to say Tesla was really a genius but not a very good businessman in fact a Tesla at one point was selling his alternating current idea to George Westinghouse and he had a deal to get a dollar for every kilowatt of energy have produced and then Westinghouse called and said listen I can't do that deal it's gonna break me can we just forget that I test today okay yeah don't worry about it yeah well Tesla would have been a billionaire today if he'd hold George Westinghouse to that deal now alternating current a direct current or different Edison like direct current Edison believed that every house would one day have its own power station and make its own power direct current flows in one direction alternating current flows back and forth with direct current if you were to grab direct current you would get electrocuted because you wouldn't be able let go would hold you there alternating-current Graham and then it was good throw you off that was sort of the difference plus alternating current can travel great distances where a direct current can't I'm not electrician I don't understand the ins and out of that but I love the beauty of this simple motor well it's not simple it's actually quite complicated but it's beautifully made it's from the late 1800s I think the patent is nineteen hundred on it but it's obviously developed before that is made by Emerson and well here let me let me turn it on for you and show you how smoothly it runs now these are all the original windings it's just a beautifully put together thing I love this stuff from the Industrial Age you know it's so incredibly well made and obviously there's no plastic or anything and it's all beautiful metal and it's I've had this for thirty years forty years I've really done nothing to it other than just run it every now and then it seems almost bulletproof but it's a even got the original brushes on it so it's a hundred and twenty-two years old something like that so this is just the dawn of electricity and I just found it to be a fascinating kid thing and well the truth is I want to add a little time to the video I felt bad that this video is going to be ten minutes long so I thought I'd show you an electric motor kinda you know just juice it up a little bit if you like for the whole you'd like this it's electric it's the same thing you know something let's go for a ride in the car this is the very definition of an adult toy not that kind of adult toy I mean a fun kind of drive around adult toys there's no door there's no roof it's only got three wheels this is called the van to haul Edison - it's electric it's got two electric motors one for each wheel up front and you have a third wheel on the back puts out about 140 horsepower they make a gasoline version of this car - you know what electric vehicles first came on the market they were extremely boring dull and slow and then as people got used to it they realized hey let's put some pizzazz into it you know as my dad would say let's make it more fun let's make it more exciting and this is the culmination of that that effort you know it's really like a sports car it's fun to drive it's reasonably lightweight it handles terrifically you think having three wheels would make it somewhat unstable but not at all I mean it drives and runs like a real sports car and it's a lot of fun and look it's got good acceleration this one I think is maybe more fun because it's guilt-free you know being electric you're not polluting you're not using fossil fuels it's just about as fast as the gas car you charge it up at home and it's fun you go vice cream you run some errands you know long week at work or ever it might be that's the perfect vehicle to do it in especially if you live in California you get out like this engine makes no noise at all all you hear is the rubber tires going around you can hear the birds chirping and all that kind of stuff you know I like vehicles that are extreme either really noisy or really quiet and this is really quiet you know as much as I like the sound of a big v8 sometimes on a day like this when you going through a canyon and there's no other traffic you hear the birds you can hear the sounds of the wind you know it's kind of fun we've got a range of around 150 200 miles maybe a little bit less if you put your foot in all the time as I like to do I'm thinking like this is a whole different kind of animal you know this is an electric version of what was originally a gas car it's a three wheeler it's an open car it's basically pretty much like a motorcycle but the electric customer is a little bit different I like your customer wants something that's guilt free you know you can drive it without polluting without using fossil fuels and this is a pretty good example of that you know there are a lot of fun to drive they have just about equal power to the gas car not not quite the range but something like this you go out and you zip around the hills you have some fun you can go 150 maybe 200 miles on it and people who say electric cars to lose more really don't know what they're talking about to build an electric car uses more pollution that build a gas car but once they're on the road the pollution stops okay something like this you're just using electricity just the fact that you could run this indoors without doing harm to anybody is a pretty good example if you're at a gas car in a closed garage would be you'd be dead in a couple hours this it's like running a hairdryer or an iron or something like that all the all the pollution is in the manufacturing and then from that point on it doesn't pollute at all or hardly at all you know when you buy a toy like this you have to justify it to the spouse you know and you got to come up with good reasons hey it doesn't pollute it's made in America it's made it it's all built by American workers they export them it brings money into the country you're helping the economy any excuse you can come up with to get something like this you got to use this is the kind of car you take out to go look at the Christmas lights or do anything like that just take a little ride to the beach go to the park you know it's it's a whole different customer and in markets like Europe where gas cars have been banned especially in in urban areas and in the cities it's the perfect choice but there's just something that you can go out and enjoy yourself it's sort of guilt-free motoring you know be an electric you're not using any fossil fuel so nobody can get mad at you you know when you pull it over vegan restaurant they're gonna be applauding it all the way and kids love this thing gives me the coolest dad dropping the kids off at school when this the coolest dad you know a lot of cities in Europe now are banging the automobile so electric vehicles get a free pass and when you think of electric vehicles like a Prius or something you think of practical or whatever where is this it's really just about having fun and having a good time and let's play this would be an extreme toy you know if you can't afford the Lamborghini the Ferrari this is a fun alternative it's you can have a lot of laughs with it's a lot of fun until the cops knew you at least they won't hear you coming that's the good thing about it and going through these twisties it actually handles pretty good look at this yeah you know I've said this a million times the kid born today will probably very rarely drive in a gasoline car because this electric thing is going so quickly now almost every manufacturer has an electric version of their car and those are intro models you know until they finally go all like probably about the year 2050 almost all automobiles in the electric and I say enjoy until they take the fun away I mean it handles pretty good it's got regens when you go downhill it puts more electricity back in the battery as soon as I go down this hill I probably pick up a mile or two it's a bit imagine a gasoline car going downhill you putting maybe another pint or two of gasoline in the tank and that's basically what you're doing with regen it makes its electricity I love the fact that it's American Way that I find that really a good selling point is it practical not really there's no roof there's no doors you can't lock it and I gotta admit it's a lot of fun you know I need excuse honey I'm gonna run to the store you know this is one of those vehicles you just want to go out and drive around the fun thing about three-wheeled vehicles is they're technically not a car so they're not subject to all the same rules and regulations that automobiles have so you can be a little bit more open you know it's a fun vehicle that's pretty guilt-free look when you put your foot in it goes alright look at hey see you guys next weekyou know we long week at work or ever it might be that's the perfect vehicle to do it in it's really like a sports car it's fun to drive it's reasonably lightweight it handles terrifically and it's a lot of fun and look it's got good acceleration what me but episode of Jay Leno's Garage let me tell you what's happening here you know we got pretty short notice about this coronavirus thing so we wanted to shoot as many cars on the road moving with cameras on him as we could which meant we couldn't do some of the indoor walk-around stuff you may have seen one video with the Maserati where that happen and we have one more we've working around it and we're trying to get it all back together again and it will be very soon the car was shooting today is the vanderholt Edison 2 is an electric car designed by van de Hall out of utah's a fascinating company they make these three wheelers and when they first brought it to me I thought it'd be the price of a Morgan like forty five or fifty thousand dollars but there apps actually in the mid twenty-five to thirty thousand dollar range I thought was very reasonable what it was and now they have an electric version and since we were not able to get into technical aspects of it because I just wanted to drive it because we just had to move very quickly I thought I'd show you a really old electric engine this is a Nikolai Tesla alternating current motor now Edison and Tesla were rivals Edison was vastly more successful I think it's fair to say Tesla was really a genius but not a very good businessman in fact a Tesla at one point was selling his alternating current idea to George Westinghouse and he had a deal to get a dollar for every kilowatt of energy have produced and then Westinghouse called and said listen I can't do that deal it's gonna break me can we just forget that I test today okay yeah don't worry about it yeah well Tesla would have been a billionaire today if he'd hold George Westinghouse to that deal now alternating current a direct current or different Edison like direct current Edison believed that every house would one day have its own power station and make its own power direct current flows in one direction alternating current flows back and forth with direct current if you were to grab direct current you would get electrocuted because you wouldn't be able let go would hold you there alternating-current Graham and then it was good throw you off that was sort of the difference plus alternating current can travel great distances where a direct current can't I'm not electrician I don't understand the ins and out of that but I love the beauty of this simple motor well it's not simple it's actually quite complicated but it's beautifully made it's from the late 1800s I think the patent is nineteen hundred on it but it's obviously developed before that is made by Emerson and well here let me let me turn it on for you and show you how smoothly it runs now these are all the original windings it's just a beautifully put together thing I love this stuff from the Industrial Age you know it's so incredibly well made and obviously there's no plastic or anything and it's all beautiful metal and it's I've had this for thirty years forty years I've really done nothing to it other than just run it every now and then it seems almost bulletproof but it's a even got the original brushes on it so it's a hundred and twenty-two years old something like that so this is just the dawn of electricity and I just found it to be a fascinating kid thing and well the truth is I want to add a little time to the video I felt bad that this video is going to be ten minutes long so I thought I'd show you an electric motor kinda you know just juice it up a little bit if you like for the whole you'd like this it's electric it's the same thing you know something let's go for a ride in the car this is the very definition of an adult toy not that kind of adult toy I mean a fun kind of drive around adult toys there's no door there's no roof it's only got three wheels this is called the van to haul Edison - it's electric it's got two electric motors one for each wheel up front and you have a third wheel on the back puts out about 140 horsepower they make a gasoline version of this car - you know what electric vehicles first came on the market they were extremely boring dull and slow and then as people got used to it they realized hey let's put some pizzazz into it you know as my dad would say let's make it more fun let's make it more exciting and this is the culmination of that that effort you know it's really like a sports car it's fun to drive it's reasonably lightweight it handles terrifically you think having three wheels would make it somewhat unstable but not at all I mean it drives and runs like a real sports car and it's a lot of fun and look it's got good acceleration this one I think is maybe more fun because it's guilt-free you know being electric you're not polluting you're not using fossil fuels it's just about as fast as the gas car you charge it up at home and it's fun you go vice cream you run some errands you know long week at work or ever it might be that's the perfect vehicle to do it in especially if you live in California you get out like this engine makes no noise at all all you hear is the rubber tires going around you can hear the birds chirping and all that kind of stuff you know I like vehicles that are extreme either really noisy or really quiet and this is really quiet you know as much as I like the sound of a big v8 sometimes on a day like this when you going through a canyon and there's no other traffic you hear the birds you can hear the sounds of the wind you know it's kind of fun we've got a range of around 150 200 miles maybe a little bit less if you put your foot in all the time as I like to do I'm thinking like this is a whole different kind of animal you know this is an electric version of what was originally a gas car it's a three wheeler it's an open car it's basically pretty much like a motorcycle but the electric customer is a little bit different I like your customer wants something that's guilt free you know you can drive it without polluting without using fossil fuels and this is a pretty good example of that you know there are a lot of fun to drive they have just about equal power to the gas car not not quite the range but something like this you go out and you zip around the hills you have some fun you can go 150 maybe 200 miles on it and people who say electric cars to lose more really don't know what they're talking about to build an electric car uses more pollution that build a gas car but once they're on the road the pollution stops okay something like this you're just using electricity just the fact that you could run this indoors without doing harm to anybody is a pretty good example if you're at a gas car in a closed garage would be you'd be dead in a couple hours this it's like running a hairdryer or an iron or something like that all the all the pollution is in the manufacturing and then from that point on it doesn't pollute at all or hardly at all you know when you buy a toy like this you have to justify it to the spouse you know and you got to come up with good reasons hey it doesn't pollute it's made in America it's made it it's all built by American workers they export them it brings money into the country you're helping the economy any excuse you can come up with to get something like this you got to use this is the kind of car you take out to go look at the Christmas lights or do anything like that just take a little ride to the beach go to the park you know it's it's a whole different customer and in markets like Europe where gas cars have been banned especially in in urban areas and in the cities it's the perfect choice but there's just something that you can go out and enjoy yourself it's sort of guilt-free motoring you know be an electric you're not using any fossil fuel so nobody can get mad at you you know when you pull it over vegan restaurant they're gonna be applauding it all the way and kids love this thing gives me the coolest dad dropping the kids off at school when this the coolest dad you know a lot of cities in Europe now are banging the automobile so electric vehicles get a free pass and when you think of electric vehicles like a Prius or something you think of practical or whatever where is this it's really just about having fun and having a good time and let's play this would be an extreme toy you know if you can't afford the Lamborghini the Ferrari this is a fun alternative it's you can have a lot of laughs with it's a lot of fun until the cops knew you at least they won't hear you coming that's the good thing about it and going through these twisties it actually handles pretty good look at this yeah you know I've said this a million times the kid born today will probably very rarely drive in a gasoline car because this electric thing is going so quickly now almost every manufacturer has an electric version of their car and those are intro models you know until they finally go all like probably about the year 2050 almost all automobiles in the electric and I say enjoy until they take the fun away I mean it handles pretty good it's got regens when you go downhill it puts more electricity back in the battery as soon as I go down this hill I probably pick up a mile or two it's a bit imagine a gasoline car going downhill you putting maybe another pint or two of gasoline in the tank and that's basically what you're doing with regen it makes its electricity I love the fact that it's American Way that I find that really a good selling point is it practical not really there's no roof there's no doors you can't lock it and I gotta admit it's a lot of fun you know I need excuse honey I'm gonna run to the store you know this is one of those vehicles you just want to go out and drive around the fun thing about three-wheeled vehicles is they're technically not a car so they're not subject to all the same rules and regulations that automobiles have so you can be a little bit more open you know it's a fun vehicle that's pretty guilt-free look when you put your foot in it goes alright look at hey see you guys next week\n"