The onslaught of 2024's Consumer Electronics Show continues! I'm checking out more new vehicle tech and interviewing even more exhibitors. Check out the above video for the full scoop, and keep reading here for the highlights and some of my off-camera musings.
Missed Part 1? Here it is.
When people ask me "What was your favorite thing at CES?" I'll probably respond with Vinfast's adorable micro SUV, the VF3. At just 125 in (3.18 m) long, it will easily be the smallest production car in the US market. It's fully electric, of course! The Vietnam-based manufacturer is also bringing some full-size electric cars and trucks to the US, as well as a minibike-style electric bike. The latter has been criticized for ripping off Super73... but what the heck, who isn't ripping off who in the e-bike market these days anyways?
Phantom GoGo has a beastly off-road electric scooter with a sturdy double-stem design. "Okay, but I've seen a million of those", I thought to myself... and then they revealed how it can transform into a winter shredding monster, swapping out the wheels for a huge tread drive and a front ski. Between this beast and Cyrusher's electric snowboard I may never need to pay for a ski pass again! Phantom also had a wide range of scooters, a compact electric bike, and a full size dirtbike with a top speed of ~ 60 mph (97 kmh). All their stuff looked very well designed and their exhibit reps were excellent, happy fielding many questions both on and off camera.
I've never heard of the brand GROOR but I had to admire their courage with their Onewheel-inspired boards; if you haven't heard, Onewheel manufacturer Future Motion is quite aggressive about protecting their patents. These GROOR boards might just be different enough though, as they're quite a bit smaller and feature some unique design elements. The larger board has free spinning wheels on the nose, which strikes me as an ingenious way to address the biggest safety problems with Onewheels (the nosedive). Their smaller board is almost laughably tiny and folds up for compact storage. Unfortunately, the prototype boards have a ways to go; I couldn't get them to activate when trying them out, and the GROOR rep took quite a few tries to get it rolling for a demonstration. I'd still love to test one out when they're further along!
Horwin Motorcycles brought their production-ready electric motorcycle, the SENMENTI 0. It's built like a maxi-scooter, but it's definitely a motorcycle; with a 0-60 time of just 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph (201 kph), this thing will leave most ICE motorcycles in the dust. It's accepting pre-orders and coming to the US market! Horwin also showcased some futuristic concept motorcycles, which were extremely fun to look at but didn't look like they were anywhere near the "rideable prototype" stage. I really hope they get to manufacturing the SENMENTI X, its design is inspired by Akira and it looks like it rolled right off an interstellar spaceship.
Other companies featured in this video: Zoox, Kugoo, Hyper, Smilee, Navee, Yadea, and AI Backpacks.
