I am wondering about this trend of motorizing perfectly efficient human powered vehicles? Adding batteries and motors adds weight and problems with charging. Another thing is reduced exercise. But if this type of invention gets lazy people out of their couches and cars to experience outdoors and have some healthy exercise, I am for it.

"... Adding batteries and motors adds weight and problems with charging.
Another thing is reduced exercise ..."
Adding batteries and motors INCREASES the exercise I should say.
Why would one want to "get away from it all" with a vehicle which needs to be recharged if ridden without pedalling, and goes so fast you miss the scenery? Why not go for a smaller motor (say 250 watts) and then add some photovoltaic panels to the vehicle so the battery is recharged as the vehicle is ridden?
This trike has been on the road since December 2009 and has not taken any power from the grid since that date.
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/saxeharp/trike/P2190002_zps1a0aa0a0.jpg

I agree that a smaller, lighter, PV panels-powered battery that can be used just to climb serious slopes is a good alternative to commute... provided people work within just a few miles/kms from their home.

It is plain government stupidity to limit electric bikes to 25mph.
My 7 yr old godson can do 30mph+ on his push-bike down a hill near where we live. Why is this allowed and uphill/flat is limited to 25 which is a slower speed than most normal bikes ride at???!!!
Plain idiocy. I bet no member of any Government involved with draconian law making like this has ever even ridden an electric bike!
Madness!

$8,000-$10,000 for a bicycle? Someone needs to pull their head out because there is NO WAY they are going to sell these at that price. Like all GizMag articles, either not yet in production or exorbitantly overpriced. I was going to say without even looking at the price that this was another $4,000 bicycle but decided to look first. Good thing I did, wouldn't want to look stupid...
To ride the bus to and from work 5 days a week, 52 weeks per year, at $2.50 per ride, I could do so for over 7 years before this thing would be a cost effective alternative. That's assuming it lasts 7 years with no maintenance costs (especially like replacing the batteries which definitely won't last 7 years).

@sutski123
I'm a sprinter and it's hard for me to sprint 30mph+ on a bike let alone sustain it for long. Bicycles are permitted on sidewalks with pedestrians so I can understand why you would limit speeds to 25.
What do you propose, have motorized vehicles going 45 down the sidewalk?

maybe PV cells a smallish motor and a flywheel with a clutch? any traffic lights and it spins backup- like a thumper (thresher) diesel does. I'd heard stories of the old steel wheel tractors running all day on a quart of kerosene (grain of salt...)

These vehicles, and others like them, aren't being used for pedaling. They, for the most part, are being used as electric vehicles. The problem with these particular ones is cost. $9 or 10K. For that kind of money you can buy a safer, 4 wheeled, albeit gas powered ATV, and not have to worry about pedaling at all. The ATVs also get phenomenal gas mileage ( ~ 60 MPG ) so the only reason to buy something like this is for the cache of having an electric vehicle.

@sutski123
In Virginia, motorized or not, any two or three wheeled vehicle going over 35 is a motorcycle.
If you speed on a bicycle, and said speeding was over 35mph, then you can also get a ticket for operating a motorcycle without a license.
The law isn't so much about safety of the rider, but a few hundred pounds at 35 MPH can injure or kill other people.

***I am wondering about this trend of motorizing perfectly efficient human powered vehicles?*** As someone who spends a lot of time being sedentary and will never waste time or money on a treadmill or in a gym, I get my exercise by using an electric bike for my transport. With 50+km round trips through lots of hills, that's never going to happen with me on a motorless bike. Whereas I can pedal all the time if I want and put in as much or as little energy as I want . It's not a bicycle, it's not an EV. It's a human/electric hybrid and yes, I get all the exercise I need. It not only replaces bus fares (if there were any buses here) it replaces gym membership too and is far more pleasant than either.