Honda is moving forward with its Fastport delivery quadcycle, and we got a chance to see it up close and take it for a quick spin.
We told you about Honda’s 4-wheeled delivery vehicle back in June, and we were excited about the idea of right-sizing delivery vehicles in urban centers that are often clogged with car traffic.
To catch you up, it’s a four-wheeled electric cargo vehicle that Honda has been working on for short-range, intra-city deliveries. It has 650lb capacity and a 12mph top speed, with 23 miles of range.
That’s not a huge range number, but we’re talking about cities here – Manhattan is 13×2 miles, San Francisco is 7×7 miles, for example. Also, the 2 x 1.3kWh batteries are 22lbs each and easily swappable if you need a little more juice.
The main concept here is that the vehicle is small, built to fit within the width of a bike lane, and to be treated as one in vehicle regulations. This means you can get cargo around in a smaller package than big delivery trucks, causing less traffic, congestion, road wear, and pollution.
Its presence in the bike lane is the reason for some of those limitations above – EU regulations mean the motor can only go up to 250W continuous draw, which also leads to a 12mph top speed for a vehicle that could be laden with ~1,700lbs of bike, cargo and rider (there is also a “small” version which is narrower and shorter, with 320lb capacity, for smaller roads).
But all that is nice on paper, what’s it like in person?
More in the article.
Just feels hostile to me.