Three Wheel

Rickshaws are a part of life across much of Asia for tourists and locals alike. Japanese company Terra Motors has developed a new, electric rickshaw it hopes will improve environmental degradation and also save on fuel costs for drivers.

Take your favorite three-wheeler from childhood, flip it around and give it the power and handling of a motorcycle with the comfort and stability of a car and the look of something out of a futuristic comic book. The result is the brand new Polaris Slingshot.

Auto parts manufacturer SFD Industries is at the forefront of a rise in motorized trike drifting, and is staking its claim in the form of the Big Wheel Drift Trike. Packing a whopping 26-inch front wheel, it runs on a 6.5 hp motor and is proportioned to make an adult feel like a child once again.

The French city of Grenoble is introducing a fleet of shared electric cars from Toyota and the car company’s Ha:mo (Harmonious Mobility) system as part of an integrated transport management solution.

Segway has announced that its family of patrol vehicles is about to get a new member. Developed for the security, law enforcement, emergency response and military markets, the new SE-3 Patroller differs from its self-balancing stablemates in that it has a third wheel out front.

One of the classic microcars, the Messerschmitt KR200 continues to have a following half a century later, so much so that a pair of designers have developed a unique tribute. The Veloschmitt is Messerschmitt-influenced pedelec velomobile.

Since originating in New Zealand in 2009, the sport of trike drifting has spread to hilly regions all around the globe. Now, Arizona-based Local Motors has developed an electric-powered drift trike dubbed Verrado, which aims to extend this recreation to residents in flatter parts of the globe.

Narrow track vehicles are evolving and sprouting up all over the place, but Yamaha’s brand new Tricity represents the first production effort by a major motorcycle company – and it seems to be focused in all the right areas to make it a huge success.

Mihail Klenov and Martin Angelov have taken minimalist bicycle design to the next level with their aptly-named Halfbike. Aimed at inner-city individuals in need of something to go distances of 5 km (3 mi) or less, the compact three wheeler ditches the traditional seat and handlebars.

Narrow-track vehicles are almost certainly part of the solution for traffic congestion. Now Toyota is undergoing research in pioneering EV-sharing schemes for last mile multi-model transport in Japan and France using it's i-Road car-motorcycle combination and its Japan-only COMS EV.

Elio Motors is taking the next big step toward the production of its 84-mpg tandem three-wheeler. It won't quite make its original Summer 2014 start, but it plans to get Elios rolling off the lines next year at the former General Motors Shreveport Assembly and Stamping Plant in Louisiana.

There's nothing quite like leaning into a turn on a motorcycle. That said, there's also nothing quite like wiping out on one. That's why leaning trikes were invented. One of the latest to catch our attention is the snazzy-looking DiamondBack, which may hopefully soon be entering production.