We're not entirely sure how to categorize this weird electric three-wheeler, but it seems to offer impressive off-road capabilities on top of scary top speeds and a practical commuting range – if you don't mind taking a wide stance.
It's probably best understood as a monowheel hoverboard that's been relieved of its self-balancing duties by means of a wideish pair of outrigger wheels on the front. The large 13-inch rear wheel is sprung, damped and driven by an electric hub motor peaking at 1500 watts, enabling a top speed around 40 km/h (25 mph), and its 624 Wh onboard battery is good for a range up to 60 km (37 miles) with a featherweight rider going slow on a flat road.
If you're a tad porkier and playing with it off-road, you're looking at more like 32 km (20 miles), which still seems like a very usable range figure to us, and opens the YX One up to urbanites as a means of commuting, and putting the fear of god into old ladies on the footpath.
You place one foot in between the two front wheels, and the other back behind the motor, allowing you to throw your weight back and wheelie the thing to get over obstacles the front wheels might struggle with. Pulling a wheelie also lets you turn the thing around with a minimal turning circle.
You lean to steer it, and use a control handle to work a throttle switch, as well as a hydraulic brake lever that works a 160 mm caliper on the back wheel. The handle itself can be yanked on to help turn the thing harder by forcing more tilt out of the front suspension, and the creators say you'll be glad to have a third point of contact when you start jumping the thing, a point which we won't argue.
The YX One is a weird, interesting and fun-looking electric getabout. Its weight of 22 kg (48.5 lb) will make it a bit of a pain to get in and out of the trunk, or to haul about, which you can do by folding the control handle down and dragging it along on its freewheeling front wheels, but it's one of the more capable sand, dirt, grass and trail chompers we've seen in a while and we reckon it would give an off-road electric skateboard a run for its money on a multi-terrain commute.
YX One is now live on Indiegogo with a "launch exclusive" price of US$1,099 and a projected retail price of US$2,290 once deliveries begin in mid-2020. Standard crowdfunding disclaimers apply, check out a video below.
Source: YX One Indiegogo
