Electric motorbikes all the rage in Vietnam

As the price of oil goes through the roof, people the world 'round are responding. Here in America many have reduced their driving or traded in their SUV for a hybrid. Others, horror of horrors, have even started taking the bus. In Vietnam, where many folks have been riding 50cc "motorbikes" for years, the reaction has been to switch to electric versions. According to state-owned e-newspaper VietNamNet, "they are selling like hotcakes." One retailer (name not given) interviewed for the story, whose shop is on Vo Thi Sau Street in HCM city, claims to be moving 500 units a month. That's a lot of scooters, excuse me, motorbikes. Typically the parts for these machines are originating in Taiwan and China with assembly taking place in Vietnam. Prices are between VND 6-7 million (US$377-$442).

How goes the electric scooter in America? Most of our faithful ABG readers are quite familiar with the situation with Vectrix sales. The only other scooter manufacturer importer of any note, is Zap, who sell the Zapino. I actually read a very positive initial review of the newest batch of Zapinos (only the ones with ABS) by very knowledgeable electric scooter guy, usatracy, on my favorite EV forum. Strangely, no press release was issued by ZAP to inform us of the improvement in their product.

[Source: VietNamNet]

Is the scooter scene in need of freshening?

We mention scooters more and more often in these days of expensive gasoline, because for the right person, they can save some money when it comes time to fill up (We've also created a new "On Two Wheels" category for these type of posts). But, I have heard from numerous people that they just hate the way that most scooters look. Some people like the racy looks of modern sportbikes, some people like the retro designs from Italy, such as the Vespa. Of course, some people just don't care, as long as it's cheap and reliable.

For those of you who do care what your automatic transmission'ed four-stroke scooting machine looks like, why not take a moment to check on the sketches drawn up by an Italian man named Oberdan Bezzi at his scooter design blog, which is aptly named "Scooter Design". If your tastes lean more towards motorcycles and shifting for yourself, you can also check out his other site: "Motosketches", which we mentioned at Autoblog. I don't read Italian, so I just like to look at the pretty pictures. You?

[Source: Scooter Design via Motorcycle News]