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: 久久精品黄色 | 国产精品国产三级国产专区5o | 日本九九精品一区二区 | 中文字幕精品一区久久久久 | 91久久国产视频 | 亚洲精品三级 | 国产精品一区二区三区久久 | 天堂一区二区三区 | 亚洲热线99精品视频 | 热99在线| 欧美三级美国一级 | 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久蜜桃91 | 精品一区二区免费视频视频 | 性少妇videosexfreexx入片 | h视频在线免费 | 免费一级网站 | 色妞色视频一区二区三区四区 | 黄色免费网站在线观看 | 国产在线精品一区 | 日本高清在线观看视频www | 成年网站在线播放 | 男女xx| 久久人| 一区二区影院 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品高清 | 在线视频中文字幕乱人伦 | 亚洲第一男人天堂 | 91精品国产高清一区二区三区 | 排球少年第四季樱花动漫 | 欧美日韩精品一区二区三区在线观看 | 亚洲国产欧美91 | 999久久久久久久久6666 | 男人添女人下面免费网站 | 久久99国产综合精品 | 国产精品香蕉 | 精品久久中文字幕 | 日韩在线看片 | 成人免费毛片aaaaaa片 | 天堂在线观看中文字幕 | 福利视频网页 | 精品热久久 |