日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Reporter's Journal

Beijing company serious about getting its two-wheeled car on road

By William Hennelly in New York | China Daily USA | Updated: 2018-06-07 22:46
Share
Share - WeChat
The 1961 Ford Gyron concept car. Photo by FORD MOTER CO

It looks sort of like an enclosed motorcycle, but it's actually a car, a two-wheeled electric car.

It is the dream of engineer Zhu Lingyun and his Beijing Lingyun Intelligent Technology Co, which plans to start building the gyrocar, dubbed the 1703, this year and selling it by 2020.

Zhu got his inspiration from a 1961 Ford Gyron, a "concept car" that used gyroscopes to stay upright, which the Detroit automaker never produced.

That Gyron was quite a sleek-looking number. I would compare it to a classic Ford Thunderbird on two wheels.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a gyroscope is "a wheel or disk mounted to spin rapidly about an axis and also free to rotate about one or both of two axes perpendicular to each other".

On its website in Chinese, the company says the car is "more handy, flexible, energy-saving and has advantages of no curve vibration force, less bumps or vibrations and less wind and tire noises".

Lingyun toots its own car's horn: "Over the past 100 years, many automobile enterprises established some prototypes, but none of them were put into production, including the Ford. We are confident that we can get our two-wheeled vehicles into production."

The one-seater gyrocar is about 10 feet long and 3.3 feet wide. It can reach a top speed of 62 mph. The prototype can drive autonomously - as demonstrated on the company website by a model taking a selfie during a test drive.

"I was told by a potential investor that I have zero chance to make the idea work," Zhu, 40, said in an article published Monday on Hyperdrive, an auto section of bloomberg.com. "But I firmly believe this is the future of urban transportation because it is exquisite, energy-saving and easy to manage. I have to make it."

Zhu said he was fascinated upon seeing the Ford's Gyron on the internet about five years ago, Bloomberg reported.The Gyron was on the cover of Car Life magazine in May 1961, and displayed at that year's Detroit Motor Show.

Zhu was so impressed with the Gyron that he started a company in 2014 to develop his own version. Lingyun began with around $500,000 in angel investments and a staff of four.

He subsequently raised $10 million from investors such as China Broadband Capital Partners LP, Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital Group and GSR Ventures and is looking to raise another $30 million for mass production, Bloomberg reported.

The company also has a version with a steering wheel and brake. The car will cost less than $16,000 if assembly lines can produce about 5,000 to 10,000 a year, Bloomberg reported. The gyrocar's battery has a range of a little more than 60 miles, and the goal is to have removable and rechargeable batteries.

Dave Zoia, director of research for WardsAuto in Michigan, is skeptical of two-wheeled cars.

"We've seen concepts like this before, essentially enclosed motorcycles, but they've never really taken off, and I still don't foresee big demand for this medium-term in a mature market such as the US," he told China Daily. "They don't meet the same safety requirements as cars and of course they don't offer the passenger room and flexibility of a car.

"Elio Motors is one US-based company that has a similar, slightly larger concept it is planning to produce in Louisiana that will test the market for such vehicles in North America," Zoia said.

"But bottom line, I don't see these types of vehicles becoming direct replacements for conventional cars in appreciable numbers in the medium-term future and believe they will remain only a niche part of the transportation sector, particularly here in the US."

As for China, Zoia said the gyrocar "probably could have better play there as a market more in tune with motorcycles. But unless cities outlaw regular cars or there's some other such action to encourage their use, I think consumers still will be more inclined to want four-wheeled vehicles."

Contact the writer at [email protected]

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 色婷婷综合久久久中字幕精品久久 | 天天爱夜夜爽 | 色a综合| 久草网在线观看 | 亚洲午夜精品aaa级久久久久 | 欧美一级网址 | 欧美天天视频 | 日本人毛片| 午夜免费小视频 | 日韩精品久久久久 | 久久福利青草狠狠午夜 | 国产亚洲精品日韩香蕉网 | 国产91色在线 | 亚洲 | 99久久99九九99九九九 | 成在线人免费视频一区二区三区 | 国产乳摇福利视频在线观看 | 精品国产不卡一区二区三区 | 亚洲国产精品一区二区三区久久 | 亚洲一级在线 | 69视频成人 | 亚洲第一区第二区 | 国产福利网 | 欧美精品久久久久久久久老牛影院 | 亚洲欧美二区三区久本道 | 色综合天天色综合 | 免费观看国产大片资源视频 | 日日干夜夜干 | 亚洲一区中文字幕 | 天天噜夜夜操 | 老头巨大校花体内驰骋小说文 | 欧美一区二区在线观看 | 国产一区二区久久 | 成年免费视频 | 亚州午夜 | 国产精品久久久久aaaa九色 | 一本色道久久综合狠狠躁 | 日本一级在线 | 一级片 在线播放 | 久草在线观看首页 | 日韩欧美亚洲 | 日本高清一区二区三区不卡免费 |