San Francisco mobility firm Lit Motors has introduced a brand new manufacturing plan for its self-balancing, fully-enclosed C-1 electrical bike. We acquired to see a functioning prototype for ourselves, again in 2021.
Editor’s word: Readers typically ask us for follow-ups on memorable tales. What has occurred to this story through the years? This text was initially revealed in 2021 however has been re-edited and up to date with new data present as of Could, 2025. Get pleasure from!
There are undoubtedly a whole lot of daydreamers and massive thinkers on the market, exhibiting off their 3D renderings of innovations that “must work” – in the event that they had been to really exist. It’s comprehensible, subsequently, that many readers reacted with skepticism after we first reported on Lit Motors’ C-1.
The designers of the fully-enclosed electrical bike claimed that it could be capable of get up by itself, because of electronically-controlled onboard gyroscopes. Nicely, whereas there is probably not a C-1 in a showroom close to you simply but, the parents at Lit did certainly achieve constructing a functioning prototype of their automobile. We made the journey to their San Francisco workspace 13 years in the past, to take a look for ourselves.
Lit Motors
The quite steampunk-looking proof-of-concept prototype was electronically restricted to a velocity of about 10 mph (16 km/h), and its two scaled-down gyros generated solely half of the roughly 1,300 lb-ft (1,763 Nm) of torque deliberate for the manufacturing model. It turned out that that was nonetheless sufficient, nevertheless, to maintain it upright whereas being piloted across the native streets – and even when being yanked sideways by a van, as you will see within the following 2024 video.
Balanced on two wheels | Lit Motors AEV of the long run
Whereas the automobile that we noticed was nonetheless very a lot a piece in progress, Lit Motors president Daniel Kim stated that they realized loads from making it, significantly when it got here to maintaining the load down on the ultimate model. “I’ve a few concepts for our subsequent revision,” he instructed us. “I’ve acquired some tips up my sleeve for what the actual potential of this automobile can be.”
Kim had hoped to be promoting C-1’s by 2014. By that point, it was envisioned that the automobile would have a high velocity of 125 mph (201 km/h), a battery vary of as much as 200 miles (322 km) per cost, and house for a second passenger – all for US$16,000.
Lit Motors
For sure, issues have been delayed a bit, due primarily to finessing of the gyroscopic balancing system. That stated, the corporate is now ending up a WeFunder campaign, and has introduced a nine-year manufacturing plan – starting now.
Amongst different issues, a brand new beta prototype ought to be prepared throughout the subsequent 12 months, adopted by take a look at rides for potential patrons and present backers inside two years. Preliminary manufacturing is anticipated to begin in 2029, with a focused output of 300,000 items per 12 months by 2034. Watch this house for updates …
A model of this text was initially revealed in 2021.
