Segway still exists, you may be shocked to hear, and is on a roll making a bunch of weird products, from hybrid ATVs to robots that can handle last-mile deliveries. Its latest creation is an electric motorcycle that gets its watts from a fuel cell rather than a lithium-ion battery pack.
Segway is stingy with the details, but it says that the motorcycle will be good for 80 horsepower and a top speed of 150 km/h. It’ll even dash from 0 to 60 mph in about four seconds.
The big difference compared with any existing EV bike: Saddled in the frame is a fuel cell that produces electricity from stored hydrogen. The hydrogen is contained under pressure in swappable canisters, according to this RideApart report, which also says that the bike is scheduled for 2023 production.
Motorrad, the German motorcycle magazine, reports that fuel economy will be one gram of hydrogen per kilometre, but Segway hasn’t published any range estimates.
Before China’s Ninebot acquired Segway in 2015, the company was best known for those self-balancing scooters that you probably laughed at 20 years ago. Now, the Segway name is slapped on all sorts of strange goods that seem like they’ve been dragged through a Sharper Image store.
Segway unveiled the Apex electric motorcycle concept in late 2019. Then the bike disappeared without an update. This new Apex H2 is an evolution of the previous bike, and if nothing else the renders look fantastic. This machine is like a Tron light-cycle mashed together with a Husqvarna Vitpilen 701.
But the quirks of the Apex H2 don’t stop there.
The Apex H2 carries an unusual suspension design. Look at the picture of the left side of the bike and you’ll notice that the front and rear wheels are suspended by single-sided swingarms.
Connecting the front wheel using a swingarm is unusual and only a few motorcycles like the Bimota TESI 3D, Yamaha GTS1000 and Vyrus 985 have a similar design. Operationally, it shares some of its moves with the BMW Telelever and the double-wishbone front end of the latest Honda Gold Wing.
It all sounds great, but the hydrogen fuel cells raise some questions. There isn’t much of a hydrogen infrastructure to speak of outside of a few stations in California and a bunch in Japan, so how would refilling the machine’s hydrogen canisters work?
Segway has set a price of $US10,700 ($14,037). That’s not bad for what sounds like a lot of tech, but we’ll see if this ever leaves the concept stage.