It’s a bike…it’s a car…it’s an Elf. Posted on August 9, 2013 by Amy Donin Comments Off on It’s a bike…it’s a car…it’s an Elf.

I was recently in Chapel Hill visiting some family when my uncle told me about the Elf, Durham-based Organic Transit’s bike-car hybrid. The OTV (Organic Transit Vehicle) comes from Rob Cotter, who formerly worked for many luxury automobile brands including Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.

Source: Organic Transit

The Wall Street Journal describes it as “an ovoid, semi-enclosed, solar-chargeable, plug-in, bike-lane-legal [though this varies from place to place], electric pedal car… With a 1-hp (750-watt) electric motor in the rear wheel hub and a lithium battery pack, or two, snugged into the center frame rail aft of the front wheels—and a plastic canopy to keep the weather off drivers—the Elf proposes a solution for urban commuters who want to leave the car at home but can’t quite hack the rigors of a conventional bicycle.”

Organic Transit boasts that Elf drivers (riders?) can still enjoy certain benefits that come with driving, such as getting to work clean with the assistance of the electric motor for the morning commute, staying safe thanks to headlights, taillights, signals and side mirrors, and having the benefit extra cargo space for things like multiple bags of groceries. However, users of the Elf will also get many of the benefits that come with bicycling including burning calories, helping the environment in a big way, and saving tons of money on gas, car insurance, and the vehicle itself (the Elf’s base price is about $5,000).

Read more about the Elf on the following sites:

http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/are-these-the-most-efficient-vehicles-on-the-planet

http://www.wral.com/durham-man-s-green-machine-business-attracts-celebrity-clientele/12114337/

http://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/7038/20130801/elf-bike-new-green-hybrid-organic-transit-vehicle.htm